Blackstone newsletter - Can You Use a Thinner Viscosity Oil?
https://gallery.mailchimp.com/f64139...Newsletter.pdf
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This is one of the reasons why I went to roller cam and full roller rockers on my 489 build.
Not just use thinner oil but also oil with fewer additives like SN or SM rated oils. Instead of 1980s and 1990s SH and SJ rated oils. |
Good stuff! Interestingly, the trend toward thinner oils seems like a return to me. Many cars used to specify SAE 20 oil when ambient temps were between freezing and 100°F or so, so they must have thought it was adequate when the engine was up to operating temp.
VW in particular spec'd SAE 20 until about 1966, and oil temps were a little higher in those engines compared to water-cooled engines of the day. It seems that in the time since, there was a trend toward thicker and thicker oils in the belief that they provided more cushioning for the bearings, especially in hotter-running engines. So you'd see SAE 30, 40, 50, even 60. It's good to see that sense has returned! Start-up wear is what we should be concerned with, and as long as the oil pump can maintain adequate pressure, and the oil has adequate anti-scuffing additives, why not go thinner? :) In fact, aircooled VW fans often cause themselves a lot of trouble with thick oil, because the extra pressure causes oil to bypass the cooler, and it runs hotter as a result. There was a guy on BITOG that ran his otherwise-stock Jeep on 0W10 and still got great wear numbers. BTW, Ecky, you might want to trim your quote back to a couple sentences. I think copyright laws usually allow for quoted summaries, but frown on reproducing whole pieces. |
My experience with 10w40 Mobil One synthetic is that I get many miles of use out of my engines. 200k miles on my 2001 Silverado, 320k miles on my wife's 1999 Avalon (so far). I change the oil and filters at 4000 miles. I've tried 5w-20 in the truck and the lifters rattled a lot; so I changed that out after 1000 miles. Now, I live near Atlanta, so it doesn't get as cold here as some places. If I still lived in Michigan, you can bet that I would use a thinner oil. And if I had new cars I would use a thinner oil.
Years ago, I used to see advertised an electric auxiliary oil pump that was used to circulate the oil prior to starting the engine. If I lived in a cold climate, I would look for one of those. |
No reason to circulate cold oil unless it can be heated.
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I'm debating using something besides 15W/40 in my Cummins. Does anybody here have any experience? I know I need to find something rated to handle the soot and my motor has 273K on it. Would that make it potentially worse or better to use a thinner oil? Some people use a 5w/40 synthetic but that seems like a big spread in viscosity to me.
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Oils with a thinner winter weight will gradually get thicker when cold as the viscosity modifiers break down. A 5w40 will not be 5w anymore after a few thousand miles.
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A thinner oil will reach those parts faster than a thick oil, but if the pump runs before the engine does those would be lubed immediately. |
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I'm specifically wondering about the 10w/30 in diesels the article mentions. I was going to go 5w/40 synthetic but wonder if 10w/30 might be better. I'm not going to be towing more than 1/2 the truck's rating and I'm not the type to power up a hill at 75mpg towing just because the truck can do it.
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Well, do you want a thinner viscosity when cold, or when hot? A 5w40 and 15w40 should both have a similar viscosity when warm, just as a 5w20 and 5w40 should have a similar viscosity when cold.
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Best mpg potential when hot but without doing any harm. Also less expensive to purchase up front is better as well but not as important. I'm not looking for the cheapest but I'm also not going to spend Amsoil money either.
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I've seen people pull a 300k mile Cummins out of a truck and put it in another truck and put another 100k on it and get 18mpg highway or more without any major trouble. If you've got a 12V and your MPG sucks, you already know the answer to better MPG, and if you don't then just google "How to get better MPG 12v cummins" and read read read |
Yea those Cummins will push 750,000-1,000,000 miles if you just take care of them mechanically and don't beat them up.
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Thinner oil mostly has more synthetic oil mixed in.
It works well with modern small engines. Eco cars. Like a Chevy spark (1.25-1.4 liter), Chevy sonic/cruze (1.4 liter turbo/1.8l NA), Nissan Versa (1.6-1.8liter), Ford Fiesta (1.5-1.6 liter), Dodge Dart (1.4l twin turbo), etc... The engines are not generating high heat, and are cooled additionally well by the watercooling. Back in the days engines like these ran aircooled (up to 1.8 liter); and thicker (higher heat resistant) oil was required. But not anymore. |
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Thinner oils are also easier to keep clean. Filters work better with thinner oils. When oil stays cleaner, there will be less wear to the components.
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