Buh-buh-buh-but!

COLD WEATHER STARTUP
The cold weather measure of motor oil viscosity is crucial to the ongoing survival of an automobile engine during the first few seconds of extreme cold weather operation. The old saying "Slower than molasses in January" also applies to motor oil. Engine damage can occur if motor oil is too thick due to cold and is unable to flow in between engine parts during a cold weather startup. Which viscosity of oil to use depends on the weather conditions where the car is operated along with manufacturer recommendations.

 

Lol... Last word syndrome??? Come on guys.

 

Just for laughs...

"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m34GUn0QqA"

 

Is 0 weight oil thicker, or 30 weight? I talking about straight weight oil.

 

No, higher numbers are thicker, as long as they're measured at the same temperature. The thing that most people miss, is the change with temperature is stronger than the change with SAE-weight-number. Maybe I was saying it in a confusing way - my wife always accuses me of explaining things in a confusing way.

Measure both at 200F and the SAE-30 is thicker. Measure both at 32F and the SAE-30 is thicker. No problem there. The confusion is when you measure them at different temperatures. The SAE-0 measured at 32F is thicker than the SAE-30 measured at 200F.

 

Yeah...

Take a 0w-40 oil, like you say. Measure it at 32F and it measures like a straight SAE-0 would at 32F.

Now take that 0w-40 oil and measure it at 200F. It's way thinner than it was at 32F, but still, it's not as thin as a straight SAE-0 oil would be. It measures like a straight SAE-40 oil would at 200F.

The perverse thing is, any oil ALWAYS gets thinner as it gets hot. But a multi-weight oil gets LESS thin than it would if it were straight-weight.

 

New guy here, don't have my Accord yet but I assume from the other posts on this topic that Honda now recommends/requires 0W20 or 5W20 for the 2012 Accord?

I presently drive a 2010 Toyota (no comments please) which has a bit over 60K hard miles on it. I have used Mobil 1 0W20 changed every 10K miles since it was new. I have had three used oil analysis done and every thing has looked fine in all three after running this oil for 10K miles. What will happen after 150K or 200K miles? I don't know. I admit to being a little skeptical about these "thin" motor oils but I am going to keep using them and see what happens.

Here is an interesting article I ran across about motor oil and viscosity, the basic premises of the author is "thinner may be better". It also does a good job of explaining the differences between synthetic and conventional motor oils. When I buy my new Accord later this year I plan on using Mobil 1 0W20 in it also.

FerrariChat.com - FAQ: Motor Oil Articles by Dr. Ali E. Haas (AEHaas)

 

Someone mentioned earlier that 0W-20 oil has the consistency of water. Frankly speaking, the viscosity of the lubricant has absolutely nothing to do with it's ability to lubricate and stick to the metal for protection. In the "old days" (yeah, I was around in the 50's & 60's and worked on those cars) the metallurgy and technology of engines weren't that great; that's why when we overhauled an engine with 100,000 miles on it, we had to use ridge cutters, etc. to get the piston out of the cylinder without damaging the piston ring lands, etc. The metal was crappy so the rings would actually wear the cylinder bore so you'd have this metal ridge at the top where the rings didn't rub against. Today's engines are very different. Even back in the 70's, I recall tearing down my Mustang engine that had about 90,000 miles on it (I was turning it back to stock after running for years with "street racing" mods in it; it was my daily driver and weekend fun drag racer) when I went to pull the pistons out, there was virtually no ridge in the cylinder block and after pulling the pistons out, I noticed that the cylinder walls still had a very lightly visible crosshatch which was probably there from the manufacturer's machining process when it was new. Talk about no wear on the cylinder bores! I was very surprised about that, especially since I was running Sears motor oil (I believe it was made by Sunoco at the time).

Anyway, the metallurgy of today's engines not to mention the fact that the tolerances and such are much tighter, it would be wise to run the oil Honda recommends (they have learned much from their Indy & Formula 1 racing engine developments). The advancements in lubricants also contribute to being able to run 0W-20 oil to give you the best fuel economy by having less drag on the engine components as well as giving superior protection to those very components. Think about this; if it takes 300 pounds of force to turn the crankshaft pushing the pistons up and down, etc. versus taking 100 pounds of force to do the same job, which scenario would potentially have greater wear on the main and rod bearings that have to bear that load? I'm just talking about added stresses due to more resistance from the thicker, heavier oil? (Remember, this is only during a cold start, because both 0W-20 and 5W-20 supposedly have the exact same viscosity at normal engine operating temperatures as both are 20 weight at those temperatures; it's only 0 and 5 weight at cold temperatures; forgot what the spec was if it was at 32F or 0F; and the cold start is where most of the engine wear occurs because for that first second or so, the engine's depending on the residual lubricant film on the cylinder walls until the crankshaft splashes oil from the crankcase onto the lower part of the cylinders, and the overhead cams have to wait until the oil pressure has pumped the oil up through the galleys to reach the top of the engine.)

I just saw a new oil chart released by Honda that shows most of the vehicles (CR-V, Fit, Accord, Odyssey, etc.) that used 5W-20 are now approved to use 0W-20 (exceptions are the S2000 that still uses 10W-30 and a couple of others like the Civic GX). I'm not sure if I'll use the 0W-20 in my 07 Hondas since I have so much of the 5W-20 I stocked up on, but if the oil goes on sale at the same price as the 5W-20, I may try it...