Anyone Using 5W-30 Oil? Tell Me your Opinion/Thoughts

[ShadowsPapa]

and noted 1 psi less oil pressure on both low and high cam.

That's not low and high cam, that's low and high volume of the oil pump. The valve lift can kick into high mode under 3,000 RPM.

Most wear happens on cold start. I prefer not to use 0 weight oil. You do what you want.

True most wear is cold start - but higher viscosity leads to slow oil to the cams.
I just don't feel like oil changes every month or even every week here. So it gets the same oil for life and for any time of year

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[629]

I’ll throw out another option. 0w30. Not really popular but available. I run it in my JT. I use mobile 1 0w30 widely available on Amazon etc. But I’m also old school so I change my oil at 5000 in the JT, 3000 in my old jeeps.

 

[JohnWick]

Most wear happens on cold start. I prefer not to use 0 weight oil. You do what you want.

“Most wear happens at cold startup” so you choose an oil with a THICKER cold viscosity so it takes LONGER to get to the moving engine parts. That makes sense.

 

[Spur]

“Most wear happens at cold startup” so you choose an oil with a THICKER cold viscosity so it takes LONGER to get to the moving engine parts. That makes sense.

You do realize that thicker oil
Stays on components better after shutdown

 

[JohnWick]

You do realize that thicker oil
Stays on components better after shutdown

Sure do. The difference is less than negligible.

Pressurized oil getting to moving parts as quickly as possible is of an exponentially higher priority than residual oil film.

 

[Spur]

I’m out. Sorry I commented on an oil thread. Y’all have fun.

 

[Squashead]

100% agree everyone is going to do whatever their mental gymnastics lead them to believe is best. Which is why these threads are pointless.

Not quite pointless, we can see how other people think.
But I agree with this emphasis (we do what we determine is best) rather than the old "you think you are smarter than the engineers". We all make lots of decisions for our trucks that are different than the engineers' because we have different priorities.

Here are some examples for MORE than just oil:
The engineers care about CAFE and I don't.
The engineers may want a best fit for all scenarios and I only care about mine.
the engineers worry more about getting through warranty, I like to think "as long as possible".
The engineers may make a "most bang for the buck" decision and I might want "best even though it costs more".
The engineer might think about low maintenance for the average owner, and I might not mind extra maintenance.

None of those make them dumber or me smarter. It makes our goals different so our solutions will certainly be different also. If you backed those engineers up and set different requirements for them, THEIR DECISIONS WOULD BE DIFFERENT.

 

[Spur]

Sure do. The difference is less than negligible.

Pressurized oil getting to moving parts as quickly as possible is of an exponentially higher priority than residual oil film.

Exponentially. Wow. So how many orders of magnitude are you talking?

 

[Vetterestorer]

Long ago I was a master mechanic and I also taught a certified mechanic apprentice program. That said, my major concern would be cold start where most engine wear occurs. This is well documented; no oil equals wear until the oil pressure builds. So, personally, I would think that the lighter oil would get there sooner reducing wear. That said, I also turn off the auto start/stop feature every time I get in the truck as I suspect that it exasperates the no oil pressure issue and causes undue wear on the starter charging system and batteries.

Also, unless you have a problem, oil analysis should get better and better as the engine breaks in and the miles build. So, comparing oil viscosity through oil analysis is not all it seems.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I’ll throw out another option. 0w30. Not really popular but available. I run it in my JT. I use mobile 1 0w30 widely available on Amazon etc. But I’m also old school so I change my oil at 5000 in the JT, 3000 in my old jeeps.

Old school would be every 7500 miles.
Now your great-grandfather's school, that's more like 3,000-5,000

From the old-school 1970s owners manuals - hmmm, 7500 in 1970s and that's with carburetors, sticking chokes, 10,000 mile tuneups, old-chemistry inferior oils, air filters that often didn't do a great job, engines flooding or running too lean, you name it............. and we balk at 10,000, let alone 7500 miles when it was standard 50 years ago.

 

[Vetterestorer]

Long ago I was a master mechanic and I also taught a certified mechanic apprentice program. That said, my major concern would be cold start where most engine wear occurs. This is well documented; no oil equals wear until the oil pressure builds. So, personally, I would think that the lighter oil would get there sooner reducing wear. That said, I also turn off the auto start/stop feature every time I get in the truck as I suspect that it exasperates the no oil pressure issue and causes undue wear on the starter charging system and batteries.

Also, unless you have a problem, oil analysis should get better and better as the engine breaks in and the miles build. So, comparing oil viscosity through oil analysis is not all it seems.

Also, an oil with a high zinc content reduces wear. I use it in my solid lifter corvettes...

 

[JohnWick]

Auto start stop is definitely a contributor to wear. Tazer keeps that junk turned off.

 

[JohnWick]

Also, an oil with a high zinc content reduces wear. I use it in my solid lifter corvettes...

Excessive zinc also causes sludge.

There’s a movement to zinc free AW packages in larger hydraulic systems for that very reason.

Not saying it’s going to happen to you, or that you don’t benefit from a higher zinc content.. just something to think about.

People definitely should not be adding “this magic ZDPP bottle” to their oil fills. Use the factory package. More than sufficient with a quality oil.

 

[Hootbro]

Also, an oil with a high zinc content reduces wear. I use it in my solid lifter corvettes...

High zinc does not translate well to modern vehicles and can cause premature Catalytic Converter failures. Also, more zinc becomes self limiting and can actually increase wear due to higher acidity.

Old school thinking was good for the old stuff, not so much for the new stuff.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This is well documented; no oil equals wear until the oil pressure builds. So, personally, I would think that the lighter oil would get there sooner reducing wear. That said, I also turn off the auto start/stop feature every time I get in the truck as I suspect that it exasperates the no oil pressure issue and causes undue wear on the starter charging system and batteries.

No issues with the starters - that's well documented.
Oil pressure builds almost as fast as the engine fires - there's little time for oil to drain out of the galleries, the filter holds the oil, lash adjusters won't have bled down, and there's still oil film on things. These crank/rod bearings are not like anything people are used to.

There's really no worries about oil with ESS.

These starters are made with different bearings, different commutators and brushes - it's a technology that dates back into the last century. It's been around in Jeeps for a decade and other companies even longer. It's not like this is new stuff and they are figuring out how to make things last. One tech (retired) who is here now and then said that he'd only replaced a couple of starters - and those were internal fuse issues, not wear.
A hot start with the PCM knowing exactly where everything stopped, if the crank bounced back or did not, when each cylinder fired and more - means that it's no real load at all on the starter. It barely spins, so there's little "wind-down" and a warm engine is much easier to turn over than a cold one..
Someone doing a lot of short drives will likely impart more wear to their starter than someone like me - few cold starts, allowing ESS to function.

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