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The 0W rating in Oil!!!!!!!!


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Guest RedLineGTR

Okay alot more companys with oils have come out with 0W-XX ratings since nissan for skylines recommends at least a 7.5w-30W rating..would it hurt the engine in any way to use the 0W rating as the lowest. Since its only for cold starts....would it just make it better for starting up your car to get it to flow quicker to where it should..

Cheers Rob

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i remember reading somewhere that using too thin an oil isnt taht good for turbos?? maybe wrong. also some peeps tend to change their oils based on season so 0-40W for winter and 10-40W for summer. ive currently got this tickin sound from the engine, i assume its the valves. last service used 5-40W this time im bumpin it up to 10-40W also cause its summer....hopefully that sound will go away...fingers crossed.

The W rating refers to sub zero temperatures, but it depends on the exact rating for the temp. But your looking at about -20 to -30C which makes pretty much SFA difference in our country. The hot rating is far more important. I recommend 40wts due to the ks on most jap imports and teh hotter weather we experience here. 30wts IMO are a bit on the thin side.

Nah not 60wt. Thats way too thick for anything but a smoking car or a wide clearanced car that gets thrashed at a track. A XX-40 oil is what I personally recommend. 30wts are only recommended by Nissan cos it is colder in Japan and also of the minute fuel economy benefits provided by it. We all drive our cars hard, plus the other points I mentioned, so a 40wt oil is more appropriate, especially when oil temps are on the rise.

Guest RedLineGTR

skylineakt talk to u on msn if ya want. But i wouldnt use 30w since i rekon its too thin for a car with this age but it also depends on the condition of it too.. If it smokes abit and if u maybe have a catch can and u can tell that there is too much oil in thier then u might need to up the rating or thier might be some other problems associated with that.

With the Low rating i read that like 0W is like for -40C temps and 5w is for -35C and 10w is like -25C so i guess it is for cold temps which would never be achieved in aus. Also remember these cars were also made in jap and were meant to be used thier...the manual specs are not "modified for aus" conditions. since jap have much colder winders and different conditions than here.

I personally Use 5-40w Seem to run fine. If i find a other brand oil that does 10-40w in full synth then i'll give that a whirl. Also looking at mobil 1 normal/syntec either one...it has from results good high temp stablilty compaired to more expensive oils seems the go, especially with summer.

Going too thin may have adverse effects because, if the oil is like water, the pump won't be able to build up enough pressure to make sure the oil is squirted to the right places in the engine..

Also, the surface tension may break down and allow metal to metal contact - only likely in a worn engine though, I'd say..

As a general rule, go thicker in summer since a given oil will thin with higher temperatures. I also wouldn't go more than 1 grade thinner than the manufacturer recommends, and even then I'd only go thinner after considering your engine's condition. It can give better performance but it's not worth it if longevity is compromised (unless you feel like a rebuild anyway lol!)

Castrol's Formula R comes in 4 different flavours - 0W-40, 5W-30, 10W60, and 25W-50. The first three are full synth, the last is mineral.

I'm thinking of a 5W-40 for summer. I was running 10W-60 for awhile, there were absolutely no problems other than slight loss of power and worse economy.

I really need an oil temperature gauge to decide once and for all what I should be using in summer. An oil cooler should enable you to run thinner oil too.

Yeah see I'm currently using the Castrol R 5w-30 which is about $60 bucks from what I can remember last time. The 0w-40, i think is the new one that came out and I think it is about $80 bucks!!

I was told that by the guy at the shop, even tho Castrol R 5w-30 says full synth on the label, it is still not 100% full synth. There are still other minerals in there?!?! Not sure was he just trying to sell me the more expensive oil.

All castrols arent even true synthetics. They are API Grp 3 oils, which are synthesised from crude oil basestocks. Mobil and Motul for example use PAOs or Esters (Grp 4&5 respectively) which are true synthetics. Grp 3s are still good but are cheaper to synthesize, and arent as good as PAOs and esters. The only thing crap about Castrol is that they market their oil at or even more expensive than PAOs which is just stupid... Mobil took Castrol to court over this, cos Castrol claimed their oils were synthetic, when Grp3s technically are not... Moreover, Shell Helix Ultra is a Grp3 oil but its marketed at an appropriate price of 45bux a bottle. 80 bux a bottle for the same thing of Castrol, what a rip....

Yeah I'm not too sure Castrol's so good anymore. I put it in my bike and after about 2500km the gear shift lever got a little "sticky". When I changed the oil it was good again, but I don't think I want to keep using it anymore. I think I'll switch to Mobil 1 for the car and go back to a Motul semi-synth for the bike.

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