0W-30 Oil for 2011 V8?

[jlach993]

Hey everyone,
I have a 2011MY with 93k miles that’s running pretty well. I do a lot of vigorous driving and almost always carry a full truck with 7 adults. I do some light towing as well. I live in NYC where temps go as low as 15 degrees and as high as 95-100 in the summer months. I’ve been sticking to the required 5w-20 oil up until around 50k miles when i switched over to 0w-20 for better flow during a cold start in the winter months. I was wondering would if a 0w-30 oil would protect the engine better in the summer? I think the reason why they require a 20 weight oil is based purely on fuel savings. I don’t care much for that since i get crap MPG anyways. I just care about prolonging the life of the engine and i feel that a slightly thicker oil would protect it once its up to operating temp. What do you guys think?

 

[ktm525]

5W-30?

 

[jlach993]

5W-30?

Well that would work as well, but i’d still prefer the 0W-30 since the 0W would flow better during a cold start when most wear happens. 0W-30 and 5W-30 should be the same viscosity when engine is up to temp. I’m not 100% sure so please correct me if i’m wrong....

 

[ktm525]

Sometimes it is not so simple..
1) The greater the spread in numbers the greater the viscosity enhancers required. This is what breaks down. That is why big spread oils (like 0W-40) tend to be expensive ester oils.
2) At "normal" cold temps a 0W does not necessarily flow better than a 5W. It will ultimately have a lower cold pour point but lets say at -18C (0F) the 5W may pour a little better. The viscosity vs temperature relationship is not always linear.

 

[jlach993]

Sometimes it is not so simple..
1) The greater the spread in numbers the greater the viscosity enhancers required. This is what breaks down. That is why big spread oils (like 0W-40) tend to be expensive ester oils.
2) At "normal" cold temps a 0W does not necessarily flow better than a 5W. It will ultimately have a lower cold pour point but lets say at -18C (0F) the 5W may pour a little better. The viscosity vs temperature relationship is not always linear.

Ah i see...it really isn’t that simple. So i deff should stick to the 5w then. How about the move from 20-30?

 

[TrinidadLR4]

I remember reading somewhere about thicker oil(thicker than 20) messing with the cam phasers? Can anyone verify?

 

[RoosterTrading]

I’m at 77k miles and I’ve been using mobile 1 - 10w40 high mileage fully synthetic even in NY upstate winter were the lowest temp this winter was -25 Degrees Celsius. The pour point on this one is -42 degree Celsius vs -51 for the 0w20, not a lot of difference. I think this winter I might try the mobile 1 high mileage 5w30, I also change my oil every 4k or 4 months whichever comes first trying to prevent the timing chain issue. So far so good!

 

[SkyTree]

Hey everyone,
I have a 2011MY with 93k miles that’s running pretty well. I do a lot of vigorous driving and almost always carry a full truck with 7 adults. I do some light towing as well. I live in NYC where temps go as low as 15 degrees and as high as 95-100 in the summer months. I’ve been sticking to the required 5w-20 oil up until around 50k miles when i switched over to 0w-20 for better flow during a cold start in the winter months. I was wondering would if a 0w-30 oil would protect the engine better in the summer? I think the reason why they require a 20 weight oil is based purely on fuel savings. I don’t care much for that since i get crap MPG anyways. I just care about prolonging the life of the engine and i feel that a slightly thicker oil would protect it once its up to operating temp. What do you guys think?

What brand of oil are you running? While most good oils/fluids are more than fine for general driving/weather, there are others that start to pull ahead of the pack and perform better in more "extreme" weather fluctuations and under heavier engine loads (towing, 7 up, dirt/dust-filled air, off-roading, etc).

 

[gsxr]

Sometimes it is not so simple..
1) The greater the spread in numbers the greater the viscosity enhancers required. This is what breaks down. That is why big spread oils (like 0W-40) tend to be expensive ester oils.
2) At "normal" cold temps a 0W does not necessarily flow better than a 5W. It will ultimately have a lower cold pour point but lets say at -18C (0F) the 5W may pour a little better. The viscosity vs temperature relationship is not always linear.

ktm is correct. It's not simple.

With synthetics, cold flow is excellent. Even a 10W-40 full synthetic would probably be fine during cold starts in NYC winters. However as noted above, you generally want to keep the viscosity spread as narrow as possible. And stay as close to the factory viscosity spec as reasonable. In addition to what ktm stated above, not all oils rated a particular viscosity flow the same. A given viscosity is allowed to be within a particular range, and some mfr's push the limits of these ranges in either direction. Over-simplifying, a 'thick' 0W-20 might be nearly identical to a 'thin' 5W-20 in viscosity ratings... have to look at the spec sheets to find this data.

IIWY, I'd just use 5W-20 year 'round. If you really wanted something thicker in summer, maybe 10W-30. Since your usage is borderline severe service, I'd change around ~5k (this also makes it easy to know when service is due... 95k, 100, 105, etc). Using a Group IV/V "true" synthetic may provide some additional comfort to help you sleep well.