[Solved] 0w-40 vs. 0w-20 [Delete]

[Gene]

Hey Guys,

My Dad has a 2011 Mitsubishi RVR. He uses Mobil 1 0w-40, the manufacturer suggest 0w-20.

What effects may the 0w-40 oil have on the engine, beside affecting fuel economy?

We live in Canada, winter temperatures are usually around -4 Fahrenheit, but do sometimes drop to -22 Fahrenheit.

Thank you,
Gene

Topic

[Mathieu]

The 0w20 pour at -54­ Celsius 0W20 DATA SHEET

The 0w40 pour at -54­ Celsius0W40 DATA SHEET

The difference is the oil viscosity when the engine reach is operational temperature.

The w40 have a higher viscosity then the w20. W mean weight, the weight of the molecule. If you ad the 0w40 in your engine you will have greater pressure and the old 5w30 will float on the 0w40. That mean, If you have a dirty oil pan, all the gunk will float and be filter by your engine filter and the engine filter can saturate and stop working. So buy and extra filter in case if you see some low flow during the oil pan drain. But using the ow40 will avoid noisy engine and low oil pressure by It’s hight viscosity instead of 0w20 that will cause also more wear in the engine.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f2fcbTh5yw[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgtUDTFxOkQ[/video]

ScottBlue5 wrote on synthetic oil

I’ve been an independent AMSOIL synthetic lubricants Dealer for over 25 years and so yes, I do know, by chance. 😉

Today’s modern vehicles use a piston ring type that is comparatively soft and seats virtually the first time the engine is started. Many states now have emissions testing for vehicles and a brand new vehicle not being able to pass these tests because it’s burning oil and sending high emissions out the tailpipe, wouldn’t go over too well with consumers.

Millions of Toyota’s now come from the factory assembly lines with their engines filled with synthetic oil too. There’s so many benefits to a top quality synthetic oil; reduced maintenance costs, reduced engine wear, increased power/throttle response, reduced emissions, much easier cold winter engine starts, an internally cleaner engine, improved fuel economy, (saving more money), etc., are all distinct benefits that anyone can take advantage of. It might be silly not to take advantage of the latest technology in engine lubrication.

It’s kind of like comparing bias-ply tires with radial tires; yes they both roll down the road and the bias-play tires are, “good enough”. But only a fool wouldn’t want to take advantage of the superior performance a radial tire has vs a bias-ply tire, like longer tire life, reduced costs/saving money, superior handling, better ride, improved safety, better braking, etc.

Another aspect to the answer to your question is that most, “synthetic oils”, that you see down at auto parts stores, (and I suspect some of the O.E. vehicle branded, “synthetic oils” as well), are what is known as Group III, “synthetic oils”. These oils are merely petroleum oils subjected to more refining and they are not true Group IV PAO or Group V Ester based synthetic oils that can have a vastly greater film strength than petroleum, (Group II), and Group III, “synthetic oils”. These Group III, “synthetic oils”, also don’t share all the superior performance and protection characteristics that a true Group IV or Group V synthetic oil offers, such as superior high and low temperature performance/protection, superior heat transfer characteristics/reduced engine operating temperatures and traditional PAO/Ester based synthetic oils are totally devoid of all the naturally occurring contaminants that can’t all be refined out of a petroleum oil and this is one of the keys to understanding why PAO/Ester based synthetic oils are so superior.

Petroleum oils come from the ground and have a host of naturally occurring contaminants in them that can’t all be refined out. Waxes, asphalts, napthenes, benzynes, sulphurs, etc., remain in the finished product. So when the unknowing motorist pours this stuff into their engine, (which has its own set of problems), and these contaminants mix with blowby gases inside the engine, it creates other very nasty and corrosive acids that attack all the metal surfaces inside an engine, such as bearings, cylinder walls, gaskets and seals, etc. This is why petroleum based oils should be changed on a fairly regular basis so as to remove these accumulated contaminants. Another detracting factor to this drawback of petroleum based oils is that the additive package in the oil, (a group of chemicals a tribologist puts into the oil to help it do its job better), has to address the contaminants that are found in petroleum oils and try to counteract those contaminants. Up to about 25% of a quart of motor oil consists of its additive package.

Now with PAO/Ester based synthetic oils, its a whole different ball game! These oils are formulated in a laboratory using man-made chemicals to formulate a synthetic oil, (and here comes the huge key!), and they are devoid of all the contaminants that are present in petroleum oil! Your engine really likes this, because not only are contaminants not being poured into the engine with the oil change, but since there are no contaminants in the PAO/Ester based synthetic oil from the start, this means that the blowby gases from combustion inside the engine now don’t combine with contaminants to create other nasty acids and contaminants! This means the PAO/Ester based synthetic oil stays cleaner much, much longer than a petroleum oil can in its wildest dreams! For this reason, the notion that PAO/Easter based synthetic oils, “get dirty just as fast as petroleum oils do”, is totally incorrect.

On top of this, with the PAO/Ester based synthetic oils not having contaminants in them, this means the tribologist, (a fancy name for an oil chemist, Google it), can use different additive package chemicals to improve the performance of the synthetic oil instead of trying to address the contaminants present in a petroleum oil. This allows a PAO/Ester based synthetic oil to vastly outperform/out-protect a petroleum oil and safely last, much, much, much longer. 🙂

For more information on this, you can visit my website at –>Hi-Tech Oil and also this article on this subject is absolutely fantastic ->Synthetic Oil: Rx For Long Engine Life

I hope I’ve answered your question and then some. 🙂

[Josh]

[quote=”Plasmide56″ post=49337]The 0w20 pour at -54­ Celsius 0W20 DATA SHEET

The 0w40 pour at -54­ Celsius0W40 DATA SHEET

The difference is the oil viscosity when the engine reach is operational temperature.

The w40 have a higher viscosity then the w20. W mean weight, the weight of the molecule. If you ad the 0w40 in your engine you will have greater pressure and the old 5w30 will float on the 0w40. That mean, If you have a dirty oil pan, all the gunk will float and be filter by your engine filter and the engine filter can saturate and stop working. So buy and extra filter in case if you see some low flow during the oil pan drain. But using the ow40 will avoid noisy engine and low oil pressure by It’s hight viscosity instead of 0w20 that will cause also more wear in the engine.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8f2fcbTh5yw[/video]

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgtUDTFxOkQ[/video]

ScottBlue5 wrote on synthetic oil

I’ve been an independent AMSOIL synthetic lubricants Dealer for over 25 years and so yes, I do know, by chance. 😉

Today’s modern vehicles use a piston ring type that is comparatively soft and seats virtually the first time the engine is started. Many states now have emissions testing for vehicles and a brand new vehicle not being able to pass these tests because it’s burning oil and sending high emissions out the tailpipe, wouldn’t go over too well with consumers.

Millions of Toyota’s now come from the factory assembly lines with their engines filled with synthetic oil too. There’s so many benefits to a top quality synthetic oil; reduced maintenance costs, reduced engine wear, increased power/throttle response, reduced emissions, much easier cold winter engine starts, an internally cleaner engine, improved fuel economy, (saving more money), etc., are all distinct benefits that anyone can take advantage of. It might be silly not to take advantage of the latest technology in engine lubrication.

It’s kind of like comparing bias-ply tires with radial tires; yes they both roll down the road and the bias-play tires are, “good enough”. But only a fool wouldn’t want to take advantage of the superior performance a radial tire has vs a bias-ply tire, like longer tire life, reduced costs/saving money, superior handling, better ride, improved safety, better braking, etc.

Another aspect to the answer to your question is that most, “synthetic oils”, that you see down at auto parts stores, (and I suspect some of the O.E. vehicle branded, “synthetic oils” as well), are what is known as Group III, “synthetic oils”. These oils are merely petroleum oils subjected to more refining and they are not true Group IV PAO or Group V Ester based synthetic oils that can have a vastly greater film strength than petroleum, (Group II), and Group III, “synthetic oils”. These Group III, “synthetic oils”, also don’t share all the superior performance and protection characteristics that a true Group IV or Group V synthetic oil offers, such as superior high and low temperature performance/protection, superior heat transfer characteristics/reduced engine operating temperatures and traditional PAO/Ester based synthetic oils are totally devoid of all the naturally occurring contaminants that can’t all be refined out of a petroleum oil and this is one of the keys to understanding why PAO/Ester based synthetic oils are so superior.

Petroleum oils come from the ground and have a host of naturally occurring contaminants in them that can’t all be refined out. Waxes, asphalts, napthenes, benzynes, sulphurs, etc., remain in the finished product. So when the unknowing motorist pours this stuff into their engine, (which has its own set of problems), and these contaminants mix with blowby gases inside the engine, it creates other very nasty and corrosive acids that attack all the metal surfaces inside an engine, such as bearings, cylinder walls, gaskets and seals, etc. This is why petroleum based oils should be changed on a fairly regular basis so as to remove these accumulated contaminants. Another detracting factor to this drawback of petroleum based oils is that the additive package in the oil, (a group of chemicals a tribologist puts into the oil to help it do its job better), has to address the contaminants that are found in petroleum oils and try to counteract those contaminants. Up to about 25% of a quart of motor oil consists of its additive package.

Now with PAO/Ester based synthetic oils, its a whole different ball game! These oils are formulated in a laboratory using man-made chemicals to formulate a synthetic oil, (and here comes the huge key!), and they are devoid of all the contaminants that are present in petroleum oil! Your engine really likes this, because not only are contaminants not being poured into the engine with the oil change, but since there are no contaminants in the PAO/Ester based synthetic oil from the start, this means that the blowby gases from combustion inside the engine now don’t combine with contaminants to create other nasty acids and contaminants! This means the PAO/Ester based synthetic oil stays cleaner much, much longer than a petroleum oil can in its wildest dreams! For this reason, the notion that PAO/Easter based synthetic oils, “get dirty just as fast as petroleum oils do”, is totally incorrect.

On top of this, with the PAO/Ester based synthetic oils not having contaminants in them, this means the tribologist, (a fancy name for an oil chemist, Google it), can use different additive package chemicals to improve the performance of the synthetic oil instead of trying to address the contaminants present in a petroleum oil. This allows a PAO/Ester based synthetic oil to vastly outperform/out-protect a petroleum oil and safely last, much, much, much longer. 🙂

For more information on this, you can visit my website at –>Hi-Tech Oil and also this article on this subject is absolutely fantastic ->Synthetic Oil: Rx For Long Engine Life

I hope I’ve answered your question and then some. 🙂

[/quote]

But if your car has been using regular oil from day one wouldn’t the newer synthetic oil cause a lot more issues to the owner like oil leaks? and possibly ticking on the engine? I won’t be putting in synthetic for those reasons alone…I don’t want my car leaking oil because of the synthetic cleaning out all the carbon build up and causing a big issue since I live on a wild life preserve..

[Mathieu]

If you was not the owner since the car have been sent out from the factory you might not use synthetic oil for the reason that if the old owner didn’t change his oil car in time. The oil that was not change on time began to create acid.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zEBI1QndPo[/video]

But you can add Lucas oil engine fix each time your oil change that will thick the synthetic oil. But the bottle cost less than 15 can $ and the synthetic cost 28 us$. So It’s cost you more money.

[Gene]

Thanks a lot the replies.

The RVR bought brand new. I’ll pass on the info to him.

Doesn’t the “W” in 0w-40 mean winter?

Yeah, it seems that 0w-40 would be thicker in when hot, then 0w-20. I wonder why the manufacturer would suggest that then? He best find some 0w-20 locally.

It seems the manufacturers want the new weights of oil, but oil producers haven’t populated the market yet, well at least don’t stock them at the popular stores in Canada.

I don’t think adding any kind of thickening agent such as Lucas, is a good thing in winter…

I drive a ’98 Civic, I switched to full Synthetic(Valvoline Synpower) at 125,000 miles. No drips(or maybe just the old gunk keeping everything tight), doesn’t burn any off. Maybe sounds a bit louder at start up in winter, but cant say that for sure.

I seen some of the videos on Mobil 1 website. The -40*C test is funny. They compare a Mobil 1 full synthetic with a synthetic Blend oil. Why wouldn’t they compare full synthetic to full synthetic? Seems like a marketing scheme. Also the oil levels in each bottle are not shown…

Thanks a lot Gents!

[Mathieu]

W mean weight, the weight of the molecule. If you ad the 0w40 in your engine you will have greater pressure and the old 5w30 will float on the 0w40. That mean, If you have a dirty oil pan, all the gunk will float and be filter by your engine filter and the engine filter can saturate and stop working. So buy and extra filter in case if you see some low flow during the oil pan drain. But using the ow40 will avoid noisy engine and low oil pressure by It’s hight viscosity instead of 0w20 that will cause also more wear in the engine.

[college man]

If the car calls for 0w-20 then thats what you use.
whats the thinking behind using 0w-40? :huh:

[Mathieu]

Maybe He have 2 different car. The important is the number after the W. It’s need to be the exact number as the original car brand as possible. If my car use the 5 w 30 I can use the 0 W 30. If you want to know why read the older post answer I posted.

[Gene]

0w-20 is hard to find here locally.

[Mathieu]

It’s better to use the 0 W 40 if you engine use the 5 W 30. It’s cause no oil pressure but a little more pressure when the engine is “hot” and running.

[Gene]

The manufacturer calls for 0w-20, not 5w-30.

[Mathieu]

Oups ! So use the 0 W 30 maximum w number. Higher then that can cause more fuel to use and also more heat just to travel the same distance. Hight viscosity cause more friction and the cylinder rotation weight will have more difficulty to travel and will cause more heat. Try to use honny on you hand and scrub your hand together. You will have more heat and resistance whiteout It.

[Gene]

I’ll have him look for 0w-30

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”Plasmide56″ post=49375]W mean weight, the weight of the molecule. If you ad the 0w40 in your engine you will have greater pressure and the old 5w30 will float on the 0w40. That mean, If you have a dirty oil pan, all the gunk will float and be filter by your engine filter and the engine filter can saturate and stop working. So buy and extra filter in case if you see some low flow during the oil pan drain. But using the ow40 will avoid noisy engine and low oil pressure by It’s hight viscosity instead of 0w20 that will cause also more wear in the engine.[/quote]

Incorrect. The ‘W’ does stand for winter not weight.

http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/

[Josh]

[quote=”EricTheCarGuy” post=50147][quote=”Plasmide56″ post=49375]W mean weight, the weight of the molecule. If you ad the 0w40 in your engine you will have greater pressure and the old 5w30 will float on the 0w40. That mean, If you have a dirty oil pan, all the gunk will float and be filter by your engine filter and the engine filter can saturate and stop working. So buy and extra filter in case if you see some low flow during the oil pan drain. But using the ow40 will avoid noisy engine and low oil pressure by It’s hight viscosity instead of 0w20 that will cause also more wear in the engine.[/quote]

Incorrect. The ‘W’ does stand for winter not weight.

http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/%5B/quote%5D

Thanks Eric, I never knew what the label on the oil product ment till now…I didn’t know it was for “winter”, kinda thought it was for weight my self, but reading the website you linked helped a lot. Still going to do what you do when it come’s to my car’s motor oil and just find the cheapest oil I can that was already in the engine to begin with. According to the Jiffy lube sticker, I am not due for a oil change (I will be doing that my self; previous owner whent to jiffy lube) for a bit.have a few hundread more miles to go still. But I might do it early just for the heck of it and come spring term I will be getting the engine a tune-up just because I don’t know when that service was last done. Previous owner didn’t know and their are no records of it; just her doing the oil changes. But the engine sounds, and feels strong. same with the 5 speed manual transmition. This car I got will be getting a lot of TLC that it’s probably never seen before.

[Steffen Nyegaard]

If the manual calls for 0w20 and you live in Canada I would drive on 0w20 all year round. There is normally a temp chart you could go by and Canada surely falls in the coldest category where 0w20 is fine. Why not order a large quantity from Amazon?

Personally I would not worry about using full synthetic as it makes little difference. Regarding gunk buildup, there should be little first of all if adhering to normal service intervals. Second of all adding an oil with higher detergent quantity like Pennzoil Ultra will slowly dissolve leftovers on the parts. It is my opinion that the horros stories you hear are from engine cleaners, pressurized fluid swaps or cleaning procedures (see youtube on Jiffy lube on automakers recommending against their engine cleaning procedures). Adding harsh chemicals or pressure will surely brake away something large. Add slightly more “soap” and it dissolves in its own pace.

[Author]

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