Good technical discussion about Engine Oils
#151
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That's a fair question but we must also ask why are there different oil formulations for different parts of the world? That may shed some light on it. I don't think it's as simple as saying it's only because of emissions or mileage. It would be far easier to formulate 1 oil for all countries and just have the oil meet the spec of the most stringent of those countries. The question I have isn't why does the US get 5W20 and not 5W30. To me the real question is what is better about the US oil formulation that allows us to get away with 5W20 when others can't? I've always thought the European oil was the better one. I think think this should be looked into.
#152
Out of NYC
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Understand the potential consequences if you are wrong.
What if he's wrong in regards to rotaries? What if his theory only works on paper?
The reason Im so against using 5w20 is -
- Its pathetic to begin with, damn I mean, they created that crap for better C.A.F.E. ratings, and we all know what that means. they're "willing" to give up engine life for that last drop of mpg they can get outa the car. so no.
- Heavier oil has better strength. period.
- Pictures of 5w20 engine 13B-MSP. and pictures of 13B-EGI 20w50 engine. I know its different in many ways, but certain stuff is the same.
IMO, I think Xw30 weight is bare bare bare minimum for this type of engine. 10w40 will work for most climates. but if you push your car a lot (like me, ahh I wanna go fast!), 20w50
#153
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blabla all the threds i read saying that heavier oil was better for or engines and know everybody changing sides and weight , now lower s better ... ahahha i stay with 5w 30 since im in europe. good thread , again
#154
Out of NYC
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That's a fair question but we must also ask why are there different oil formulations for different parts of the world? That may shed some light on it. I don't think it's as simple as saying it's only because of emissions or mileage. It would be far easier to formulate 1 oil for all countries and just have the oil meet the spec of the most stringent of those countries. The question I have isn't why does the US get 5W20 and not 5W30. To me the real question is what is better about the US oil formulation that allows us to get away with 5W20 when others can't? I've always thought the European oil was the better one. I think think this should be looked into.
ITs just that we have something called "C.A.F.E." here. and we penalized the **** outa those auto companies if they dont follow it.
what should they do? just use whatever as long as it can get them the BEST mpg while making the car last thru-out the whole warranty period. After the warranty? hmm, good luck.
Last edited by nycgps; 07-22-2009 at 10:42 AM.
#155
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Thank you. I was about to say that.
Thanks.
The reason Im so against using 5w20 is -
- Its pathetic to begin with, damn I mean, they created that crap for better C.A.F.E. ratings, and we all know what that means. they're "willing" to give up engine life for that last drop of mpg they can get outa the car. so no.
Thanks.
The reason Im so against using 5w20 is -
- Its pathetic to begin with, damn I mean, they created that crap for better C.A.F.E. ratings, and we all know what that means. they're "willing" to give up engine life for that last drop of mpg they can get outa the car. so no.
Mobil 1 Racing oil technology has been developed using our extensive experience in premier automotive racing series around the world, such as Formula 1, NASCAR, Le Mans, IRL, NHRA, Formula 3, SCCA GT, and ALMS. The variety of demands that each racing series requires of a lubricant helps us ensure that Mobil 1 Racing oils can meet the more extreme conditions encountered on the race track.
Available as:
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-20
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-30
yup, its clearly impposible for a lightweight oil to have any kind of protection and clearly a W20 oil is only good for CAFE. Truth is in racing they were using light oils before they were even available to the public. Of but thats right, racing oils are all think as sludge. Your knowledge of oils is poor. Your knowledge of how a babbit sleeve bearing works is poor. Your judgement of how most renesis engines are blowing is even more poor. I bow to you master
![Bowdown](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/bowdown.gif)
i'm completely out now
Last edited by r0tor; 07-22-2009 at 10:55 AM.
#157
Out of NYC
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For more than 30 years, ExxonMobil has collaborated with some of the top motorsports teams in the world. This enables us to test our products in some of the harshest, most demanding environments and to use this experience to develop the next generation of high performance lubricants.
Mobil 1 Racing oil technology has been developed using our extensive experience in premier automotive racing series around the world, such as Formula 1, NASCAR, Le Mans, IRL, NHRA, Formula 3, SCCA GT, and ALMS. The variety of demands that each racing series requires of a lubricant helps us ensure that Mobil 1 Racing oils can meet the more extreme conditions encountered on the race track.
Available as:
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-20
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-30
yup, its clearly impposible for a lightweight oil to have any kind of protection and clearly a W20 oil is only good for CAFE. Truth is in racing they were using light oils before they were even available to the public. Your knowledge of oils is poor. Your knowledge of how a babbit sleeve bearing works is poor. Your judgement of how most renesis engines are blowing is even more poor. I bow to you master![Bowdown](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/bowdown.gif)
Mobil 1 Racing oil technology has been developed using our extensive experience in premier automotive racing series around the world, such as Formula 1, NASCAR, Le Mans, IRL, NHRA, Formula 3, SCCA GT, and ALMS. The variety of demands that each racing series requires of a lubricant helps us ensure that Mobil 1 Racing oils can meet the more extreme conditions encountered on the race track.
Available as:
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-20
Mobil 1 Racing 0W-30
yup, its clearly impposible for a lightweight oil to have any kind of protection and clearly a W20 oil is only good for CAFE. Truth is in racing they were using light oils before they were even available to the public. Your knowledge of oils is poor. Your knowledge of how a babbit sleeve bearing works is poor. Your judgement of how most renesis engines are blowing is even more poor. I bow to you master
![Bowdown](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/bowdown.gif)
Yep. you do know that these people rebuild their engines MORE often than you post in this thread, right ?
there are 10 weight oil, why dont you go ahead and use that ?
and u still trying to dodge the question of "why are we getting 5w20 and not rest of the world"
explain that please.
![Bowdown](https://www.rx8club.com/images/smilies/bowdown.gif)
#160
I'm not sure which of my statements or comments offended you. I didn't start this thread although I quite enjoy the information that is put forward and the opportunity for learning in such threads.
Again if there's something that I've said that has you stirred up let me know. I'm not in the '**** them off' business.
Paul.
Again if there's something that I've said that has you stirred up let me know. I'm not in the '**** them off' business.
Paul.
#161
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I am quite sure, Paul, that Team was suggesting that you post should have been the end of this thread as it is quite wise and informative.
I don't believe he meant it to be a slur on you, just towards teh uninformed blather that the thread was and continues to be.
That is not to say that there is not informative material here. But there are alot of assertions that MAY BE TRUE, but are as yet unsupported.
Why didn't you respond to my PM Paul?
I don't believe he meant it to be a slur on you, just towards teh uninformed blather that the thread was and continues to be.
That is not to say that there is not informative material here. But there are alot of assertions that MAY BE TRUE, but are as yet unsupported.
Why didn't you respond to my PM Paul?
#162
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I think this thread is different from past oil threads. This has some very different info to discuss and is far more than just the old synthetic vs conventional debate. This is getting into science.
#163
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Agreed, but it bothers me to no end when a poster uses post quantity over data quality to beat an issue into submission. Even when I agree that the assertion is likely true.
But yes. I am very pleased with this thread overall
But yes. I am very pleased with this thread overall
#167
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You have to take what the oil manufacturers say with a grain of salt. You would have to look at the specific specs of those oil individual oils to make an informed decision. It has been shown in many independent articles that the numbers on the bottles don't always mean a whole lot.
#168
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I need to go back and reread Dr. Haas' thread in more depth. What I can't figure out is where did he decide that a Viscosity index of 10 cSt was the goal? At first I thought he said that all oils regardless of weight have roughly that at 212*F (100*C) yet that isn't the case. All 30W oils, whether it's straight 30W, 0W30, 5W30, 10W30, etc fall somewhere between 10 cSt and about 11.5 cSt at that temp. Different weight oils have different ranges. A 20W oil will fall between about 8.25 - 9 cSt. A 40W oil will fall between 14 and 15.5 cSt. A 50W oil will fall between 17 and 19 cSt and a 60W oil will top 22 cSt at 100*C. I'm not sure why he is picking 10 cSt as the goal.
I think the point he might be making is that if your oil is thinnest at it's max rpm and load at max temperature, then having an oil that is thicker than this when cold at no loads isn't doing any additional good. There's alot to digest and I suspect some of what he's saying may seem a bit vague. One thing I've found when writing long tech related topics is that you may know something very well but when writing it may not explain it all that clearly despite your best attempts.
The one thing I am getting out of what he writes is that he seems to believe that you should be running an oil that is thin enough that you don't hit your oil pressure bypass until max rpm provided you can still maintain at least 10 psi per 1000 rpm as your flow is down. This of course will be dependent on oil temperature which is something else I got from it. If all you do is cruise down the highway all day, your engine isn't really working and the max oil temps inside the engine will not be all that high (relatively speaking of course). This engine may benefit from a lighter oil as it never heats it up enough to make it too thin to hit oil bypass. However the same engine on a track that is constantly off and on the throttle hard and high rpms, putting out extreme heat, will get the oil much hotter internally, This means thinner oil (or less thick oil). Now you could hit the same issue. Your hotter thinner oil doesn't hit bypass. The solution? Thicker oil. This all makes sense.
What is vague is how do we determine what max oil pressure we should run? Different rotaries of different years had different oil pressures. Which is optimum and how do we figure this out? If we have enlarged oil passages that have been cleaned up and flow better, we also have more flow but less system pressure. How do we know that we need to add more pressure from the pump as opposed to running a thicker oil? How do we know that any 1 target cSt is the optimum number to shoot for? Why is 10 cSt better than 8 cSt or 15 cSt, or vice versa.
Dr. Haas has given lots of good info but in the end it's only creating more questions. I do think it is leading us down the path of truly beginning to understand oils though so there is a benefit. For once we can focus on what makes an oil better rather than arbitrarily saying one is. There's alot to it and it's going to take a while to sort out.
I think the point he might be making is that if your oil is thinnest at it's max rpm and load at max temperature, then having an oil that is thicker than this when cold at no loads isn't doing any additional good. There's alot to digest and I suspect some of what he's saying may seem a bit vague. One thing I've found when writing long tech related topics is that you may know something very well but when writing it may not explain it all that clearly despite your best attempts.
The one thing I am getting out of what he writes is that he seems to believe that you should be running an oil that is thin enough that you don't hit your oil pressure bypass until max rpm provided you can still maintain at least 10 psi per 1000 rpm as your flow is down. This of course will be dependent on oil temperature which is something else I got from it. If all you do is cruise down the highway all day, your engine isn't really working and the max oil temps inside the engine will not be all that high (relatively speaking of course). This engine may benefit from a lighter oil as it never heats it up enough to make it too thin to hit oil bypass. However the same engine on a track that is constantly off and on the throttle hard and high rpms, putting out extreme heat, will get the oil much hotter internally, This means thinner oil (or less thick oil). Now you could hit the same issue. Your hotter thinner oil doesn't hit bypass. The solution? Thicker oil. This all makes sense.
What is vague is how do we determine what max oil pressure we should run? Different rotaries of different years had different oil pressures. Which is optimum and how do we figure this out? If we have enlarged oil passages that have been cleaned up and flow better, we also have more flow but less system pressure. How do we know that we need to add more pressure from the pump as opposed to running a thicker oil? How do we know that any 1 target cSt is the optimum number to shoot for? Why is 10 cSt better than 8 cSt or 15 cSt, or vice versa.
Dr. Haas has given lots of good info but in the end it's only creating more questions. I do think it is leading us down the path of truly beginning to understand oils though so there is a benefit. For once we can focus on what makes an oil better rather than arbitrarily saying one is. There's alot to it and it's going to take a while to sort out.
#169
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I think this thread is different from past oil threads. This has some very different info to discuss and is far more than just the old synthetic vs conventional debate. This is getting into science.
I just think a lot of people want there to be a definitive answer to the question of what oil to use and really there is no one answer fits all. I think RG is on to something with regard to people just sticking to old habits and traditions.
#170
Oh yeah. my engine sees 200f all the time (so do you)
Even when its dead cold out there. (16f)
it did say all-out racing engines. but seriously speaking, redline is talking about a piston engine. and piston engine have much lower oil temperature than rotary engine. so yeah, I think I am better off with 20w50.
Im not sure about the upcoming 16x cuz it will be all different. but for 13Bs, its more or less the same thing, so yeah, 20w50 for me.
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it did say all-out racing engines. but seriously speaking, redline is talking about a piston engine. and piston engine have much lower oil temperature than rotary engine. so yeah, I think I am better off with 20w50.
Im not sure about the upcoming 16x cuz it will be all different. but for 13Bs, its more or less the same thing, so yeah, 20w50 for me.
Best for engines that run large clearances such as air-cooled
Last edited by PhillipM; 07-22-2009 at 11:48 AM.
#171
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I took his 10cSt number as simply a comparison baseline. He certainly didn't explain the logic behind the number, so I don't see the need to follow that as the bible.
What is also a good point is that while start up wear is a huge percentage of wear in the life of a normal car, it once again comes down to how you drive it. If you drive your car hard for a long time, it might be that hitting optimal viscosity at operating temperatures while being 80% off at cold start up is worth more than being optimal at cold startup, but 20% off at operating temperatures since your engine spends a physically longer time driving hard. Once again we have to be honest to ourselves.
Besides the RX-8, all the rest of my family's cars get the same brand and weight oil even though the different engines have different recommendations. Is it because the oil X that I use is what I believe is optimal for all cars? Actually not; it simply makes my life easier to buy the same oil for all the cars and I feel that it certainly gives more than enough protection for the life of the car that we're planning to keep them for. There's certainly other factors involved (I DO believe that oil X is very high quality oil), but the driving motivation behind getting the same oil and same weight has to do with simplifying my life. And sometimes I'm sure the same logic is used for oil recommendations for a line of cars. Manufacturers want to standardize the oil weights so that they don't have to stock a five weights for five cars they're manufacturing; that's hell on inventory. If you use one weight for all the cars you eliminate four part numbers and in manufacturing that's a huge gain. Coincidentally or not, I think pretty much all the Mazdas now recommend 5W20.
What is also a good point is that while start up wear is a huge percentage of wear in the life of a normal car, it once again comes down to how you drive it. If you drive your car hard for a long time, it might be that hitting optimal viscosity at operating temperatures while being 80% off at cold start up is worth more than being optimal at cold startup, but 20% off at operating temperatures since your engine spends a physically longer time driving hard. Once again we have to be honest to ourselves.
Besides the RX-8, all the rest of my family's cars get the same brand and weight oil even though the different engines have different recommendations. Is it because the oil X that I use is what I believe is optimal for all cars? Actually not; it simply makes my life easier to buy the same oil for all the cars and I feel that it certainly gives more than enough protection for the life of the car that we're planning to keep them for. There's certainly other factors involved (I DO believe that oil X is very high quality oil), but the driving motivation behind getting the same oil and same weight has to do with simplifying my life. And sometimes I'm sure the same logic is used for oil recommendations for a line of cars. Manufacturers want to standardize the oil weights so that they don't have to stock a five weights for five cars they're manufacturing; that's hell on inventory. If you use one weight for all the cars you eliminate four part numbers and in manufacturing that's a huge gain. Coincidentally or not, I think pretty much all the Mazdas now recommend 5W20.
Last edited by LionZoo; 07-22-2009 at 11:46 AM.
#172
They're fine if they're a proper ester synthetic, it's when they starting adding huge amounts of polymer additives to a thin base oil and it breaks down as the milage piles on...
#173
Out of NYC
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if it works for "that"(the race-bearings with extra clearance), I dont see a problem using 50w oil for stock bearings.
For those who dunno, 12A and all 13Bs sharing the same Rotor bearings.
Last edited by nycgps; 07-22-2009 at 01:26 PM.
#174
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I know the case for thin oils is startup wear. It's that a thinner oil will be easier to flow when cold so it therefore gets to the bearings faster. However lets say we have an ambient outside temperature of 75*F. We can easily see that 5W20 and 20W50 both pour pretty easily. While the cSt numbers may appear very different on paper, from a functionality standpoint is there really going to be a problem? If the oils are both thin enough that the pump has no problem moving them then I don't see the issue. Keep in mind that a thinner oil that flows better also drains better which means a thinner oil will drain off of your bearings when not moving to a greater extent than a thicker oil will. That leaves less oil left for the next time the engine turns over.
As with everything there is a balancing act. I think looking at the centistoke numbers for viscosity is a good thing but I don't think it's telling us the whole story in the real world. It would really only seem to be a large concern during temperature extremes such as starting a cold engine in North Dakota in January or running wide open for 12 hours at Sebring. However with less extreme temperature environments, both inside and outside of the engine, the actual weight doesn't seem to be as critical. We know engines can run fine on both 5W20 and 20W50. At least they can in warm climates. There is a point where damn near anything will work decently. However I wouldn't want to run 20W50 in North Dakota in the winter and I wouldn't want to run 5W20 in Phoenix in the summer.
While something may work great on paper, we really need to ask ourselves, is it going to give any functional benefit in the real world?
As with everything there is a balancing act. I think looking at the centistoke numbers for viscosity is a good thing but I don't think it's telling us the whole story in the real world. It would really only seem to be a large concern during temperature extremes such as starting a cold engine in North Dakota in January or running wide open for 12 hours at Sebring. However with less extreme temperature environments, both inside and outside of the engine, the actual weight doesn't seem to be as critical. We know engines can run fine on both 5W20 and 20W50. At least they can in warm climates. There is a point where damn near anything will work decently. However I wouldn't want to run 20W50 in North Dakota in the winter and I wouldn't want to run 5W20 in Phoenix in the summer.
While something may work great on paper, we really need to ask ourselves, is it going to give any functional benefit in the real world?