You are correct that Ford and Honda made sweeping changes to their viscosity recommendations that had nothing to do with changes to the design of the engine.
I would also tend to agree with the argument that says that vehicle manufacturers, in an attempt to eek out a few extra percentage points on the MPG scale (for CAFE compliance) are willing to sacrifice just a bit on the engine protection side of things and are not necessarily designing the engines all that much different to accommodate the lighter viscosities.
With that said, understand that when you move to a 0w oil, you are almost certainly working with a synthetic oil (worst case scenario, a synthetic blend), which means that, from a protection standpoint, it is likely that you may actually be in BETTER shape than if you were using a 5w30 petroleum oil, especially if the 0w20 oil you’re using is actually PAO and/or Ester based as opposed to Group III petroleum oil based.
Moreover, understand that, viscosity is kind of a funny subject and most people would probably be VERY surprised to learn just how much variance there can be in the true “thickness” (bad word but best available without a long discussion) of two or three oils of the exact same SAE viscosity classification (ie. all 5w30 oils). So, it’s not exactly an exact science.
Interesting then we largely agree. I changed the oil a few days ago at 1000 miles and decided to swap in some Mobile 1 5w-30 I had lying around to see what it did. The first thing I noticed right off the bat is the truck seemed to idle a bit lower when initially started in the cold. The final drive ratio is very low at 3.31 and 2nd gear would cause lugging below about 1500rpm (about 18mph) requiring me to double clutch into first coming out of sharp turn. With the 30 weight I can now use 2nd as low as 1200rpm without causing lugging. The motor also seems much smoother than it did with 20 weight. I’ll be doing oil analysis after the oil has 1000 miles on it and has had time to pick up some particulates. I’ll see if it’s wearing ok and post it up here. I wish I’d saved some of the 20 weight for comparison.
TheMotorOilEvaluator.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
You are correct that Ford and Honda made sweeping changes to their viscosity recommendations that had nothing to do with changes to the design of the engine.
I would also tend to agree with the argument that says that vehicle manufacturers, in an attempt to eek out a few extra percentage points on the MPG scale (for CAFE compliance) are willing to sacrifice just a bit on the engine protection side of things and are not necessarily designing the engines all that much different to accommodate the lighter viscosities.
With that said, understand that when you move to a 0w oil, you are almost certainly working with a synthetic oil (worst case scenario, a synthetic blend), which means that, from a protection standpoint, it is likely that you may actually be in BETTER shape than if you were using a 5w30 petroleum oil, especially if the 0w20 oil you’re using is actually PAO and/or Ester based as opposed to Group III petroleum oil based.
Moreover, understand that, viscosity is kind of a funny subject and most people would probably be VERY surprised to learn just how much variance there can be in the true “thickness” (bad word but best available without a long discussion) of two or three oils of the exact same SAE viscosity classification (ie. all 5w30 oils). So, it’s not exactly an exact science.
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislikeInteresting then we largely agree. I changed the oil a few days ago at 1000 miles and decided to swap in some Mobile 1 5w-30 I had lying around to see what it did. The first thing I noticed right off the bat is the truck seemed to idle a bit lower when initially started in the cold. The final drive ratio is very low at 3.31 and 2nd gear would cause lugging below about 1500rpm (about 18mph) requiring me to double clutch into first coming out of sharp turn. With the 30 weight I can now use 2nd as low as 1200rpm without causing lugging. The motor also seems much smoother than it did with 20 weight. I’ll be doing oil analysis after the oil has 1000 miles on it and has had time to pick up some particulates. I’ll see if it’s wearing ok and post it up here. I wish I’d saved some of the 20 weight for comparison.
Was this answer helpful?
LikeDislike