Oil: 5W/40 vs 0W/40 and consumption - Oh No! Another oil thread!!!! |  |  |
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| Oil: 5W/40 vs 0W/40 and consumption - Oh No! Another oil thread!!!! Bruce In Philly (2000 S Boxster, now '09 C2S) - Monday, 4 November, 2013, at 10:01:29 am |
Sorry to dredge up another thread about Mobil 1 oil but I find the knowledge here pretty slick with good facts..... My 2009 997.2 DOF engine appears to burn way more oil than my 2000 S Boxster did and my Ford engineer friend uses 5W/40 instead of 0W/40 in his 996... I will drill him this weekend when I see him on this issue but he noted there was some article in Excellence??? about this. Can anyone shed any light into this gunk? Would 5W yield lower burn off than 0W? If 0W/40 is so good, why does Mobil even have a 5W/40.... slippery marketing sludge going on here?
Some links:
[www.mobiloil.com]
[www.mobiloil.com]
[www.mobiloil.com]
Peace
Bruce in Philly
Some links:
[www.mobiloil.com]
[www.mobiloil.com]
[www.mobiloil.com]
Peace
Bruce in Philly
| Its a trade off, but yes, it will burn [marginally?] less 5w40. grant - Monday, 4 November, 2013, at 10:44:23 am |
Oil consumption is mostly a function of break-in, IMNSHO. Some do, some don't. Mine don't.
A thicker oil will nto slip past the rings and stem seals as easily. So consumption will be less. How much is left to experimentation.
Why 0w40 and 5w40? Remember, grades are not "good" nor "bad". They are different. One is (marginally) thicker - better hot, better under extreme pressure, , fewer viscosity spread shenanigans etc. The other flows better cold. In a DD in the winter, i like thinner oil. On the track, i put in goop.
Mobil al;so has to tend to the different requirements of different manufacturers and different regions.
Just keep it full and relax.
Grant
ps: you old car now rocks on track
Grant
gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com
A thicker oil will nto slip past the rings and stem seals as easily. So consumption will be less. How much is left to experimentation.
Why 0w40 and 5w40? Remember, grades are not "good" nor "bad". They are different. One is (marginally) thicker - better hot, better under extreme pressure, , fewer viscosity spread shenanigans etc. The other flows better cold. In a DD in the winter, i like thinner oil. On the track, i put in goop.
Mobil al;so has to tend to the different requirements of different manufacturers and different regions.
Just keep it full and relax.
Grant
ps: you old car now rocks on track
Grant
gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com
| Agree that decision should be based on how much REALLY cold weather driving you do. Rob in CO - Monday, 4 November, 2013, at 11:45:16 am |
I drive it year round but rarely under 40F and a lot of 90+ including track use in the summer. Thus, I opt for 10-40 year round and change once a year in the Fall. When I first bought the car 10 years ago, I used 0-W40 and never had an issue. Mine does not burn much oil regardless of weight so the change to heavier was just based on my preference. Grant is correct....keep it full and reasonably clean and don't worry about it.
| My theory is a lot of oil consumption is not from the engine consuming oil in... MarcW - Sunday, 10 November, 2013, at 3:01:18 pm |
the traditional sense but by a sub-par AOS that is inefficient in removing oil vapor from the crankcase fumes. This vapor is routed to the engine and burned and that accounts for the oil consumption.
If oil were making it past the rings or the valve stems/guides and seals you'd know it from the smoking at various times.
Occasionally I'll spot a vehicle with what has to be an oil consumption problem of the traditional kind and the exhaust emits smoke when the vehicle accelerates away from a stop light and in some cases even while the vehicle is moving at a steady speed. If your vehicle doesn't do this smoking thing then the odds are very high it does not have a traditional oil consumption problem.
You can "experiment" with a different oil if you want, switching from say 0w-40 to 5w-40 but really the oils have the same viscosity when hot. If you notice any change in oil consumption the odds are very high the change arises from the oil consumption monitoring procedure which delivers inconsistent and unreliable results, or the old oil was thinned out with mainly water contamination and the fresh oil of course is not thinned out and as a result among other things less oil vapor is produced and less vapor is routed to the engine past the inefficient AOS. A change in driving can also affect oil consumption.
My advise is to run an approved oil, change it regularly and at the appropriate time based on how you drive, where you live and so on. (As you must know by now I favor a shorter interval between oil changes.) And ignore the oil consumption difference between this car and your previous car or cars.
As long as the engine is not smoking, you are not having to add oil at every gas tank fill up, the CEL remains dark and the engine does not exhibit any untoward behavior the engine has no problem with oil or anything else for that matter.
If oil were making it past the rings or the valve stems/guides and seals you'd know it from the smoking at various times.
Occasionally I'll spot a vehicle with what has to be an oil consumption problem of the traditional kind and the exhaust emits smoke when the vehicle accelerates away from a stop light and in some cases even while the vehicle is moving at a steady speed. If your vehicle doesn't do this smoking thing then the odds are very high it does not have a traditional oil consumption problem.
You can "experiment" with a different oil if you want, switching from say 0w-40 to 5w-40 but really the oils have the same viscosity when hot. If you notice any change in oil consumption the odds are very high the change arises from the oil consumption monitoring procedure which delivers inconsistent and unreliable results, or the old oil was thinned out with mainly water contamination and the fresh oil of course is not thinned out and as a result among other things less oil vapor is produced and less vapor is routed to the engine past the inefficient AOS. A change in driving can also affect oil consumption.
My advise is to run an approved oil, change it regularly and at the appropriate time based on how you drive, where you live and so on. (As you must know by now I favor a shorter interval between oil changes.) And ignore the oil consumption difference between this car and your previous car or cars.
As long as the engine is not smoking, you are not having to add oil at every gas tank fill up, the CEL remains dark and the engine does not exhibit any untoward behavior the engine has no problem with oil or anything else for that matter.
| But if it gets by the AOS it will be burned too.. grant - Tuesday, 12 November, 2013, at 1:27:48 pm |
| It takes heavy oil consumption before any smoking at the exhaust would be visible under... MarcW - Wednesday, 13 November, 2013, at 3:53:03 pm |
normal driving. The consumption of oil arising from just the slow but constant consumption of oil courtesy of a sub-par AOS is not going to generate exhaust smoke.
With the engine cold the AOS would not have to deal with much if any real oil vapor then once the engine was hot and the oil hot any oil vapor would be cleanly burned in the engine and the exhaust routed to the converters which are by now hot too.
The smoke at start up is visible because the oil that was passed through the AOS and collected on the intake walls was not carried down into the hot engine because the engine was shut off. But as the heat of the engine warms the intake the oil then drains down into the engine. Then at some later time at cold engine start the small amount of oil makes for a large amount of smoke.
Sometimes the engine does smoke when hot due to oil vapor getting through the AOS. Those that track often report seeing a cloud of what proves to be oil smoke. That arises from the type of driving producing enough oil vapor that even the hot engine and converters can't handle.
But most owners who stick to the street will never see this. They see the smoking at startup and can blame the AOS (though often the rings or valves are blamed) and observe the oil consumption and while the smoking upon startup may be blamed on the AOS the oil consumption is not.
With the engine cold the AOS would not have to deal with much if any real oil vapor then once the engine was hot and the oil hot any oil vapor would be cleanly burned in the engine and the exhaust routed to the converters which are by now hot too.
The smoke at start up is visible because the oil that was passed through the AOS and collected on the intake walls was not carried down into the hot engine because the engine was shut off. But as the heat of the engine warms the intake the oil then drains down into the engine. Then at some later time at cold engine start the small amount of oil makes for a large amount of smoke.
Sometimes the engine does smoke when hot due to oil vapor getting through the AOS. Those that track often report seeing a cloud of what proves to be oil smoke. That arises from the type of driving producing enough oil vapor that even the hot engine and converters can't handle.
But most owners who stick to the street will never see this. They see the smoking at startup and can blame the AOS (though often the rings or valves are blamed) and observe the oil consumption and while the smoking upon startup may be blamed on the AOS the oil consumption is not.
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