which is worse, wrong viscosity or dino oil?

Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.
However, a xW30 is definitely on the thin side. I wanted to try this
new Mobil 1 5W40 "Truck and SUV formula" which is supposed to have a
great additive package but ended up having to settle for regular 0W40
instead. almost didn't even find that.

Question: given the choice, for a car that requires a 40 or 50 weight
oil, if you can't find a good synthetic in that weight, which would be
preferable:

1) synthetic 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30
2) Dino-squoze 15W40

Car is an old Porsche 944 FWIW.

And yes, I live in automotive hell; those are pretty much my choices.
As much as I bust on yuppie northern VA, that is where I actually saw
the oil I wanted to use offered for sale. I might just have to start
shopping there...

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

"Nate Nagel" > wrote in message
news:1119749038.d640a4359a0d93828439333cd4bfdf4b@t eranews...
> Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
> 1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.
> However, a xW30 is definitely on the thin side. I wanted to try this
> new Mobil 1 5W40 "Truck and SUV formula" which is supposed to have a
> great additive package but ended up having to settle for regular 0W40
> instead. almost didn't even find that.
>
> Question: given the choice, for a car that requires a 40 or 50 weight
> oil, if you can't find a good synthetic in that weight, which would be
> preferable:
>
> 1) synthetic 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30
> 2) Dino-squoze 15W40
>
> Car is an old Porsche 944 FWIW.
>
> And yes, I live in automotive hell; those are pretty much my choices.
> As much as I bust on yuppie northern VA, that is where I actually saw
> the oil I wanted to use offered for sale. I might just have to start
> shopping there...
>
> nate

You will get a lot of opinion and no data, I imagine, Nate.
If you need the 40 wt, I would go with the dino oil.. I am not against
synthetic, but believe dino is about as good.

"Nate Nagel" > wrote in message
news:1119749038.d640a4359a0d93828439333cd4bfdf4b@t eranews...
> Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
> 1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.
> However, a xW30 is definitely on the thin side. I wanted to try this
> new Mobil 1 5W40 "Truck and SUV formula" which is supposed to have a
> great additive package but ended up having to settle for regular 0W40
> instead. almost didn't even find that.
>
> Question: given the choice, for a car that requires a 40 or 50 weight
> oil, if you can't find a good synthetic in that weight, which would be
> preferable:
>
> 1) synthetic 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30
> 2) Dino-squoze 15W40
>
> Car is an old Porsche 944 FWIW.
>
> And yes, I live in automotive hell; those are pretty much my choices.
> As much as I bust on yuppie northern VA, that is where I actually saw
> the oil I wanted to use offered for sale. I might just have to start
> shopping there...
>
> nate

I'd use a diesel rated 15W40, and that's what I use in my Benz and Toyota
truck. Both are turbo charged.
Synthetic is a waste of money for an oldie like your P.

You're all over the map and shooting darts. If you say it's "old",
sounds like it could be a collector and not driving much. If it where
mine, I'd use the Amsoil 5W-40 (not a typo -#AFL) It's for European
recommended applications. When you need some, email me.

wrote:
> You're all over the map and shooting darts. If you say it's "old",
> sounds like it could be a collector and not driving much. If it where
> mine, I'd use the Amsoil 5W-40 (not a typo -#AFL) It's for European
> recommended applications. When you need some, email me.
>

Actually it's old ('88 model year) but is my daily driver - and until I
get my company car it's getting some serious miles on it! Last week I
put about 700 miles on the thing which is why I spend my Saturday AM
trying to find a store that had the oil I wanted... I hadn't planned on
changing it for another week or two, originally.

I like the synthetic because traffic around here sucks and it's been 90
degrees or more the last couple days - I don't have an oil temp gauge
but it's probably best for my peace of mind that I don't see how hot
it's running after some 80 MPH/stop-and-go cycles

nate

--
replace "fly" with "com" to reply.
http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

wrote:

<snip Rudy Hiebert's usual ignorant drivel>

Christ, here we go again with Scamsoil...

Nate Nagel wrote:

> Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
> 1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.
> However, a xW30 is definitely on the thin side. I wanted to try this
> new Mobil 1 5W40 "Truck and SUV formula" which is supposed to have a
> great additive package but ended up having to settle for regular 0W40
> instead. almost didn't even find that.
>
> Question: given the choice, for a car that requires a 40 or 50 weight
> oil, if you can't find a good synthetic in that weight, which would be
> preferable:
>
> 1) synthetic 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30
> 2) Dino-squoze 15W40
>
> Car is an old Porsche 944 FWIW.
>
> And yes, I live in automotive hell; those are pretty much my choices. As
> much as I bust on yuppie northern VA, that is where I actually saw the
> oil I wanted to use offered for sale. I might just have to start
> shopping there...

Which 0W-40? I'm guessing Mobil 1, which is factory fill on all new
Porsches. I've heard it's unique by design. It's on the thin side
of SAE 40. Early on, the viscosity index improvers shear down to the
point where it's on the high end of SAE 30. Then a little oxidative
thickening brings it back to SAE 40. That way - they can claim high
fuel economy and still meet the "stay in grade" requirements of the
ACEA A3/B3 sequence tests.

The API SL version of Mobil 1 0W-40 carried the API starburst, which
is almost unheard of these days for an XW-40 motor oil.

As for Amsoil - your car is out of warranty. It's up to you. I don't
like their marketing claims and some over the top independent dealers.
I've never actually heard of any Amsoil oil causing a problem.

I'm thinking that a good choice if you can find it would be Mobil 1
EP 10W-40. The only problem is that Mobil says it exists, but I
haven't been able to find it.

"Nate Nagel" > wrote in message
news:1119749038.d640a4359a0d93828439333cd4bfdf4b@t eranews...
> Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
> 1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.

I would be careful switching back to dino oil if you have been running
synthetic for the life of the engine. Years ago I knew someone
who froze a motorcycle engine when alternating between synthetic
and dino oil when experimenting with oils. Granted this was an air
cooled engine so it runs hotter, so it may not be applicable.

Ted

"Ted Mittelstaedt" > wrote in message
...

> I would be careful switching back to dino oil if you have been running
> synthetic for the life of the engine. Years ago I knew someone
> who froze a motorcycle engine when alternating between synthetic
> and dino oil when experimenting with oils. Granted this was an air
> cooled engine so it runs hotter, so it may not be applicable.
>
> Ted

The problem is that we hear so many claims it is hard to separate legend
from
fact. I have heard people say that you can't change back from synthetic to
petroleum based lubricants, but haven't seen this from an authoritative
source.

I broke in a new aircooled lawnmower engine on petroleum based product,
and decided to run it on synthetic...Should have been the best of all
worlds.
Well, it wasn't. The engine, a Briggs, lasted only a few tens of hours.
Fluke or
trend? A lawnmower tech at one of the local Lowes type stores told me that
Briggs had found this to be a problem. Still, I have seen nothing in
writing.

Maybe one day someone or some organization will demystify lubricating oil
legends with some real data.

Given that this is an air-cooled machine, I'd lean toward sticking with
the synthetic oil for its better thermal stability. Try the thinner oil
and keep a close eye on the oil pressure. If your hot oil pressures
stay good, there's really no need to go to a thicker oil. Viscosity and
film strength are NOT necessarily related- a thicker oil won't
necessarily protect bearings and cylinder walls better than a thin oil-
but the pressure has to stay good enough to properly distribute the oil.

All the above is just my opinion, mind you. :-) I've been running 10w30
or 5w30 Mobil-1 year round in Central Texas for years- admittedly in
water-cooled v8s though.


Nate Nagel wrote:

> Went to change my oil today; car has been running a steady diet of Mobil
> 1 15W50 which IMO is probably a little too thick for the engine.
> However, a xW30 is definitely on the thin side. I wanted to try this
> new Mobil 1 5W40 "Truck and SUV formula" which is supposed to have a
> great additive package but ended up having to settle for regular 0W40
> instead. almost didn't even find that.
>
> Question: given the choice, for a car that requires a 40 or 50 weight
> oil, if you can't find a good synthetic in that weight, which would be
> preferable:
>
> 1) synthetic 0W30, 5W30 or 10W30
> 2) Dino-squoze 15W40
>
> Car is an old Porsche 944 FWIW.
>
> And yes, I live in automotive hell; those are pretty much my choices. As
> much as I bust on yuppie northern VA, that is where I actually saw the
> oil I wanted to use offered for sale. I might just have to start
> shopping there...
>
> nate
>