Moisture

For your climate I would recommend 5w50 or 10w30, 10w40

Moisture

Renewable Lube BioSyn - Have heard great things about this oil. Good for direct injection motors and higher mileage drain intervals. If you do lots of short distance driving in cold weather, this is for you.

http://renewablelube.com/store/index...&product_id=96

Flash5

I would imagine it has to do with the severely hot climate you guys have. My guess is that’s why 0W-20 is not the recommendation.

Moisture

Not necessarily. 5w30 or thicker is still widely used in very cold climates such as Siberia. 0w20 is simply a thing to fear monger the general consumer into conforming to strict CAFE restraints.

Frankly speaking, the way you treat a car when it is new, while everything is wearing in has a huge impact on how long the car will last. If you carefully break in the motor and experience zero oil consumption, using thicker oil wouldn't be quite as necessary, but it's not to say 0w20 has any sort of merits. It doesn't. As soon as you begin to experience oil consumption, or do experience oil consumption, it's time to bump up at least an oil grade or two. This is a sign that your engine is becoming worn, and the next step would be to at least try and fill in these worn points while trying to maintain a better piston ring seal by using thicker oil.

s3v3n

iTrader: (3)

No one is saying 5w30 will be left out and 0w20 will be used in every vehicle. Vehicles that have oil cap labels of 5w30 will still be using 5w30.

Let's not forget that the majority of the wear happens during an engine cold start. The difference between 5w and 0w is almost nothing unless you are in a very extremely cold areas.

Anyways, people that are aware about the oil stuff will use whatever oil they want or believe that will benefit their car's engine life. Most car consumers around us will use whatever is written in their engine's oil cap. Heck, most of them doesn't even know the meaning of these numbers.

Pittsy

its the RRRacing Big Brake Kit. I didn't install a new pan, its an idea to resolve the current issue I'm having. Baffles in the pan and a thicker viscosity would slow the oil from sloshing away from the pickup under extreme braking.

Sasnuke

Interesting discussion about the oil viscosity going on.
I think there are a couple of comments that we can all agree on...or should agree on.
First, given the various climates across the globe, it is more than reasonable that manufacturers will adjust the recommended oil viscosity accordingly. I wouldn't expect someone in Greenland to use the same oil in the same car that someone is driving in Ecuador.
Second, all manufacturers try to improve their CAFE rating as the years go by and CAFE targets get tighter and tighter. Definitely the focus on fuel economy leaves manufacturers using thinner oils to help squeeze out every last MPG they can...and helps with getting every last but of HP too. Ever wonder why MB sells the Smart Car...or BMW has the Mini lineup...CAFE rating takes into account all the vehicles in your lineup to form the manufacturers overall rating.

@Moisture There may be some merit with your recommendation to switch to a thicker oil...however...this is based on your personal testing and experience, and not really tangible evidence that would speak to deviating from the manufacturer recommendation.
For instance, if there was oil analysis done on the engine oil after a winter on 0W20 and a winter on 5W30, then we could see if the 0W20 was causing more wear, or if the 5W30 was performing better.
You mentioned a Japanese deposit formation test that was done that excluded 0W20 as it performed so poorly...would you have a link to where that test can be found? I'm interested to read it.

Jazzrock

MB also introduced the CLA in part to have a car with better gas mileage. Four cylinder, front wheel drive. Turbo. I miss my CLA, though love my 200 IS F Sport!

Flash5

Funny you mention this. I read this article a while back when I was researching the new API ILSAC standards. https://www.noln.net/articles/2277-t...y-on-ow-16-oil

s3v3n

iTrader: (3)

This article does not say anything about using a thicker oil is beneficial and will prevent engine wear or at least for the matter of premature engine wear.

Sasnuke

Seems like 0W20 is old news and 0W8 is on the horizon.
I did note that a couple times in the article they were asked about the concerns, but didn't really reply with the specific concerns that industry has noted, only that the concerns have been addressed.
Their pitch seemed to be it's not about the viscosity of the oil, but more so what's put into the oil as it's a synthetic formulation.

Flash5

I never said it did. I was talking about how thinner oils are beneficial and not detrimental to engine health. @s3v3n

Flash5

Yeah, I think the heavily engineered aspect to oil production is the only reason we can use these super thin oils without negative side effects. But it is true that the differences in oil viscosity aren’t MASSIVE for most of the commonly used viscosities.

s3v3n

iTrader: (3)

Same thing, that article is also not saying thinner oils are beneficial to engine's health. It's all about 0w8 and 0w16

Flash5

If an oil is used by an engine it’s so it can lubricate it and prevent wear not to mention keep it from exploding which is beneficial. What I’m pointing out is that thinner oils work. They don’t wreck your engine like some on here are saying haha.