Alternatives to 0W 20 Oil
02-03-17, 02:01 PM
#31
Lead Lap
I on the other hand, have not forgotten my dark history with my 7 series, lol. The oil you refer to was 0W40. Mobil 1 was what I used on it, though the cap always said "use Castrol". But try getting Castrol in that viscosity! You can now, but a few years ago, Mobil 1 and Pentosin (if you could find it) were pretty much the only game in town. The other thing about the BMW requirement was that the oil had to meet Euro spec (ACEA A3/B4)
08-10-21, 04:47 PM
#32
I've blended Mobil 1 0w20 with Mobil 1 0w30 for the past year (5 quarts 0w30 - 4.1 0w20)...I haven't noticed anything good or bad about it. Fuel economy was the same, oil usage the same. I did it basically because I wanted something a little thicker. I'd feel ok with going just 0w30 at this point.
So I just spent an hour looking at Lexus LS460 Owner's Manuals from around the world. Only in the USA & Canada are the choices officially limited to 0w20 & 5w20. In Britain, Ireland & Australia, the owner is directed to choose the viscosity (appropriate to the operating environment) from among 0w20, 5w20, 5w30, 10w30, 15w40 & even 20w50. Even in ever-frigid Finland, Sweden & Norway, owners have access to all these viscosity options … and they were in fact all available in every Manual for the European Market that I opened.
As example, I've attached a copy of the relevant pages from the Irish-version of the 2011 Lexus LS460 Owner's Manual.
Very frustrating. Because of USA CAFE regulations that eternally increase MPG expectations, auto manufacturers are being forced to employ less viscous oil in order to gain greater fuel efficiency … at the expense of less actual engine protection. See https://bit.ly/3CtfrrM . The second graph at that website shows that a 30 upper viscosity oil (with a HTHS somewhat above 3.0) is maximizing engine protection … and at almost twice the rate of protection provided by an 20 upper viscosity oil (with an HTHS of about 2.5-2.7). And check out a few SAE Viscosity Temperature Charts; more than a few suggest that the protection of 20 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish after/around 75°F ambient, while the protection of 30 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish only after/around 95°F ambient. And Internet-searching on "5w20 5w30" brings up on-point many discussions, YouTube videos, etc. on this topic.
Perhaps if we had all been using 5w30 all along, those lower tension rings (also an artifact of CAFE standards) wouldn't be wearing out causing increasing oil consumption after 150k and such.
Happy motoring!
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07-21-23, 07:49 PM
#33
Earlier comments from Nospinzone, abs, Kennyr44 & Doublebase led me to suspect that this official 20 upper viscosity constraint was yet another Lexus Murica!-only rule … being tied to the US CAFE laws about auto manufacturers hitting fleet-wide MPG targets.
So I just spent an hour looking at Lexus LS460 Owner's Manuals from around the world. Only in the USA & Canada are the choices officially limited to 0w20 & 5w20. In Britain, Ireland & Australia, the owner is directed to choose the viscosity (appropriate to the operating environment) from among 0w20, 5w20, 5w30, 10w30, 15w40 & even 20w50. Even in ever-frigid Finland, Sweden & Norway, owners have access to all these viscosity options … and they were in fact all available in every Manual for the European Market that I opened.
As example, I've attached a copy of the relevant pages from the Irish-version of the 2011 Lexus LS460 Owner's Manual.
Very frustrating. Because of USA CAFE regulations that eternally increase MPG expectations, auto manufacturers are being forced to employ less viscous oil in order to gain greater fuel efficiency … at the expense of less actual engine protection. See https://bit.ly/3CtfrrM . The second graph at that website shows that a 30 upper viscosity oil (with a HTHS somewhat above 3.0) is maximizing engine protection … and at almost twice the rate of protection provided by an 20 upper viscosity oil (with an HTHS of about 2.5-2.7). And check out a few SAE Viscosity Temperature Charts; more than a few suggest that the protection of 20 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish after/around 75°F ambient, while the protection of 30 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish only after/around 95°F ambient. And Internet-searching on "5w20 5w30" brings up on-point many discussions, YouTube videos, etc. on this topic.
Perhaps if we had all been using 5w30 all along, those lower tension rings (also an artifact of CAFE standards) wouldn't be wearing out causing increasing oil consumption after 150k and such.
Happy motoring!
So I just spent an hour looking at Lexus LS460 Owner's Manuals from around the world. Only in the USA & Canada are the choices officially limited to 0w20 & 5w20. In Britain, Ireland & Australia, the owner is directed to choose the viscosity (appropriate to the operating environment) from among 0w20, 5w20, 5w30, 10w30, 15w40 & even 20w50. Even in ever-frigid Finland, Sweden & Norway, owners have access to all these viscosity options … and they were in fact all available in every Manual for the European Market that I opened.
As example, I've attached a copy of the relevant pages from the Irish-version of the 2011 Lexus LS460 Owner's Manual.
Very frustrating. Because of USA CAFE regulations that eternally increase MPG expectations, auto manufacturers are being forced to employ less viscous oil in order to gain greater fuel efficiency … at the expense of less actual engine protection. See https://bit.ly/3CtfrrM . The second graph at that website shows that a 30 upper viscosity oil (with a HTHS somewhat above 3.0) is maximizing engine protection … and at almost twice the rate of protection provided by an 20 upper viscosity oil (with an HTHS of about 2.5-2.7). And check out a few SAE Viscosity Temperature Charts; more than a few suggest that the protection of 20 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish after/around 75°F ambient, while the protection of 30 upper viscosity oil begins to diminish only after/around 95°F ambient. And Internet-searching on "5w20 5w30" brings up on-point many discussions, YouTube videos, etc. on this topic.
Perhaps if we had all been using 5w30 all along, those lower tension rings (also an artifact of CAFE standards) wouldn't be wearing out causing increasing oil consumption after 150k and such.
Happy motoring!
07-22-23, 04:52 AM
#34
Lexus Fanatic
Thread Starter
Since I posted this 7 years ago I have decided I just use whatever the vehicle designers and engineers specify.
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Boykie (07-22-23)
07-22-23, 06:18 AM
#35
Just a reminder - 5w30/40 kills *UR-FSE. KILLS IT.
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Marc780 (07-23-23)
07-23-23, 11:33 PM
#37
Pit Crew
I know this comment is 6 years old but it reminded me of something I read in Popular Mechanics when the first synthetics were offered to consumers around 1979 (yes I'm ancient I guess, first car was a 1964 Plymouth Fury no less). And there was a long article about Mobil 1 and why it was so much better than conventional oils. They talked to one old guy, I think he was a Mobil lubrication engineer in Detroit, who had access to the first stocks of Mobil 1 before they even put it in the stores, to use in his Cadillac. And he claimed he had driven the Caddy over 100,000 miles without changing his oil! He said all he did was change the oil filter every 3,000 miles and just added the make-up oil. And that was all, no oil change for as long as he owned the car.
And when this old guy's car hit 100,000 miles, mechanics pulled the engine and tore it down to its last part and measured all the components for wear. And engine wear was far below the second test engine they did this to (as a control) as well, but run with conventional oil at the regular change intervals. And the Mobil 1 engine parts supposedly all miked out at near new specs; and even the original honing marks in the cylinders were still visible from when the factory assembled the engine.
And when this old guy's car hit 100,000 miles, mechanics pulled the engine and tore it down to its last part and measured all the components for wear. And engine wear was far below the second test engine they did this to (as a control) as well, but run with conventional oil at the regular change intervals. And the Mobil 1 engine parts supposedly all miked out at near new specs; and even the original honing marks in the cylinders were still visible from when the factory assembled the engine.
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