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So, Which oil should you use?
The new GF5 (Group 5) oils are now becoming available in UK & EU. I would think that they can be found in USA too. As you can see from the spider chart below there are many advantages to using GF5 over GF4.
Both Amsoil and Total have GF5 oils in UK but you need to check the specification of the formulation as GF4 is still being sold.
Note: Engine oil cannot be shipped overseas due to it being a flammable liquid.
I will be changing to GF5 in April (12 month interval) and plan to use 0W20. It is also a good idea to do the oil change in Spring as very cold weather can be pretty tough on an oil (separation of waxes etc).
My CU2 has just 28,000 kms on the clock.The current long term fuel efficiency is 8.3 ltr/100km. Which I think is pretty good considering the traffic over here. I expect some improvement with 0W20.
So, from my experience with 0W30 Synthetic (which I have been using since late 2010), the engine revs more freely and it does not PCS or ping. As seen from the viscosity numbers, I would expect 0W20 to be better....especially for low milage CUs and then, you may want to consider 0W30 and then 0W40 (in that order). Also, I would suggest synthetic oil over mineral oil or blends. Note that some oils I have mentioned may not be 100% synthetic as there seems to be some argument as to what exactly constitutes a synthetic oil.
Bear in mind that most of the engine wear occurs at startup (especially cold) and an oil with a low viscosity that flows fast is able to lubricate the engine more quickly than a Tar like oil that is hard to pump! So, try to get a 0W-X oil if you can.
The PCS problem with my CU2 is now a distant memory..... no a nightmare, that I am happy to put behind me.
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Design flaw or was it meant to be?
The K24Z engine either has a design flaw or was intended to be lubricated by a low viscosity oil (0W-20, 0W-30 or 5W-30). Note: I have tested Mobil 1 5W-30 and 0W-30 in UK with good results and Ben has tested Amsoil 0W20. I have not tested 0W-40 and cannot say if it will eliminate PCS.
The viscosity of an oil ideally should be around 10 bearing in mind that a lower viscosity fluid is easier to pump and travels more easily through oil passages. It has to flow at the correct rate in order to lubricate and extract heat from critical components. If the oil flows faster or slower, it wouldn’t be doing it’s job properly. So, the correct flow rate is important.
The engine oil temperature is generally higher than the coolant temperature in cars by 10ºC to 15ºC. Also, the oil temperature will generally take longer to come to operating temperature than the coolant temperature. This is probably the reason that PCS was more prevalent when the engine was cold. Even if the engine coolant temperature showed ‘normal’ it is unlikely that the oil temperature was at operating temperature. Therefore, the oil had a higher viscosity and was harder to pump and flowed less freely, dissipating less heat from the engine’s cylinder head and allowing more heat to build up. Thermal runaway (in electronic terms). Until the driver eased up and less load was put on the engine. The engine then cooled sufficiently so that post combustion did not occur until the peak load was again demanded of the engine.
Interestingly, the PCS in my CU2 started at around 3900 rpm and was most prevalent as the engine approached peak torque. The CU2’s peak torque is quoted at 234Nm@ 4300-4400 rpm - Is this a coincidence? I think not!
Below are viscosity values generated through extrapolating from the known figures @40ºC and 100ºC (based on ASTM341) together with it's related graphical representation of Temperature vs Kinematic Viscosity:
Mobil 1 0W30 ESP
Temperature ºC Kinematic Viscosity cSt
0 ----519.39
10 ----281.18
15 ----213.17
20 ----164.51
25 ----129.03
30 ----102.74
35 ----82.93
40 ---- 67.8
50 ---- 46.89
60 ---- 33.75
70 ---- 25.14
80 ---- 19.28
90 ---- 15.17
100 ---- 12.20
110 ---- 10
115 ---- 9.12
More temperature - Kinematic viscosity values have been added to show real life temperatures and it's effects on viscosity. Obviously, in real life one would not expect to see such high numbers at low temperatures due to the additives used to minimise this effect.
The chart represents 40C to 115C for greater clarity.
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As we can see from these results, Mobil 1 ESP 0W30 looks like a pretty good oil when the engine is at operating temperature.
Additional Temperature vs Viscosity values have been added to show real life values
Figures are based on ASTM 341 extrapolated from known calibration data @ 40C and 100C