lower viscosity oil
 

So I just changed my oil from 10w40 to 5w20. I thought this would help with my rolling resistance, but haven't noticed an increase in my gliding distances since the change. Did notice a jump in my FE.

So was my thinking flawed to expect longer pulses with the new engine oil?

yes, the oil would only reduce losses while the engine is running, probably more so when the engine is cold.

the ranger is originally supposed to get 5w20 right? the mileage is why ford made the switch from the standard 5w30

It doesn't affect the rolling resistance so much as the efficiency of the engine. Switching transmission and bearing lube to synthetic would have a greater effect on gliding distance.
Good move switching the engine to lighter synth, though. I noticed a tremendous difference in my car after the switch. It will improve overall efficiency and make your engine run smooooooth.

There 0w20 out there too.

wow that was a dumb statement! I should have caught that myself! Duh

When you say jump I'm fuel economy, what kind of numbers are you getting?

22.2 miles trip to work, over half of which is 65MPH highway, I got 40.4MPG the first trip when the trip before was 37.9MPG. The next trip was 39.7MPG. So 2 MPG increase on my bread and butter trip, my best tank is 36.07MPG

Good numbers, I just can't allow myself to go that thin, some of the 5w-30 is almost water like. Decided I'm going 5w-30 synthetic at 10k changes on the Cobalt, easier for me to remember, maybe I'll go 5w-20 in 3 months.

So how many tanks did you show this increase on?

The GenIII Prius uses 0w-20 synthetic and 10,000 mile change intervals. Granted it is a low wear engine but I thought I'd through it out there.