Quote:
Originally Posted by aerohead
At automotive refinishing supply houses they sell viscosimeters which could be used in testing.
Samples of gear oil,in baby food jars can be placed in the refrigerator and freezer,and also heated in an electric double-boiler.
With a good cooking thermometer you can test the pour-point viscosity of the oil at different temps and get a feel for what heating will do.
One thing we know,is that whatever equilibrium temperature we achieve in the winter, will be nothing compared to a summer day at Furnace Creek,Death Valley,California,where gear oil would be plenty happy.
At one point,VW as going to use the Schacht',eutechtic (sp?) salt thermal storage system for warm cold-starts.It's a very sound engineering concept.  |
One of my engineering lab experiments in college was doing just this. We left samples of a variety of oils (engine oil and gear lube, synthetic and conventional. I forget the viscosity ratings, but they were chosen to be representative of commonly used oils) outside overnight (-40 to -50 F) and measured their viscosities while gradually heating them.
The difference between synthetic and conventional oils was eye-opening. At extreme cold temps, the conventional oils were very thick: a spoon would stay standing up in the engine oil, the gear lube was too thick to measure and was more like tar than oil. Both synthetics were basically the same as they are at room temperature, but just more viscous.
While not quite as extreme, I assume Daox's winters get rather cold in Wisconsin. If so, synthetic oil should provide a large improvement.