Reason I am asking is because my dad just got a case for free from a buddy. I have always run Mobil 1 5w-30. Will it make any kind of difference, for better or worse? Thanks

 

I personally would not use it because it is too light and would not provide good enough protection. I always use mobil 1 10-30.

 

0w-30 oil shout only be used in extremely cold places. Its too thin to use anywhere remotely warm.

 

Gents there may be some confusion here. The 0 weight is for its -40 cold pouring qualities. The 30 weight is for the 100 degrees viscosity protection.

Back in the day the ONLY thing keeping people away from an oil with a "larger" gap in the cold and hot properties of viscosity, was that it was generally accepted as a less grade oil. More additives were required to be used to get the large gap, and the oil failed to protect as well as a 10 or 5 w.

That is all changes with Mobil 1. There are 70 new patents alone on the SuperSyn technology. You can use 0w40 allyear around (I (0w30 the same, I'm using an extreme example). If you take a look and ask Mobil Exxon for their engineering data, you'd see that 0w40 actually protects better at higher temps than 10w30. The centistokes rating takes over at higher temps.

Mobil 1 is the way to go, and their technology is only getting better. Their Mobil 1 line was only introduced in 1996. They're still going to go a long way with this line of product.

 

yeah, but......I was always told that you can use low viscosity oils only in newer engines, THEN you switch to a higher viscosity oil.

 

LOL. you sound like my coworker. He has gone to the mobil website and gotten all of their engineering specs for each grade of the synthetic motor oil, as well as any information he could find on their MSDS's and gave me a 30 minute informative speech on the qualities and setbacks of multiple brands of motor oil. You two should talk. LOL

 

Oh, and i forgot to add that you will need EXTRA protection when running nitrous. I dont think 0-30 will do it for ya.

 

Heh... well... this also comes from having Mobil sponsor a racing school I'm an instructor at, and from oil analysis I've done on my 94 Z28.

Mobil's promotional material is top notch, no two ways about it.

Not to mention I know PATMAN well, and.... well... he'll hit you with a hockey stick if I tell him you're bothering me.... LOL!

 

I personally don't like the Mobil 1 0w30, but there is a lot of misconceptions here that I'd like to clear up.

This oil is not really as thin as you would think. Look at it's viscosity at 40c, and it's THICKER than Mobil 1 5w30. The difference is that when it's extremely cold, the 0w30 flows better, so that's why it qualifies as a 0w oil.

0w30 is 54.8cst at 100c
5w30 is 53.7cst at 100c

Mobil 1's 0w40 is the better choice, this oil is a LOT thicker than even Mobil 1 10w30 both when cold and when hot. Look at the technical specs and you'll see it's true:

10w30 is 61.3 cst at 40c
0w40 is 80.3 cst at 40c
10w30 is 9.8cst at 100c
0w40 is 14.4 cst at 100c


Later this summer I'm going to be switching my Firebird over to a special 0w30 oil that's not available in the US right now. It's Castrol Formula SLX from Germany (sold under the Syntec name in Canada)

This oil is thicker at both 40c and 100c than Mobil 1

It's specs are 68.5cst at 40c, 12.1 cst at 100c.

This particular oil passes some very good European tests, and one of the most important spec is it's HTHS number, which is 3.6, compared to Mobil 1 which is only 3.2. The higher HTHS number lowers your engine wear, as it shows the oil is more durable under extreme stress and heat.

The oils of the future are all going to be the 0w oils, we'll be seeing more and more 0w20, 0w30 and 0w40 oils. Don't be afraid of them because of the 0w, that just means the oil is built so well that it can flow better in extreme cold. It doesn't mean the oil can't still protect in the heat too.

So why don't I like Mobil 1 0w30? For one, it's not very thick at operating temp, only 10.1 cst. And I haven't really seen too many impressive oil analysis reports on it either. It seems to thin out too easily. If you're going to use Mobil 1, stick with their 5w30, 10w30 or 0w40. More and more the 0w40 looks like the way to go if you're using Mobil 1 though.

 

The two numbers in a multi-grade oil refer to two test temperatures used to determine the viscosities. The first is the viscosity at 0 degrees F. (-18 C.) and the second the viscosity at 210 degrees F. (100 C.) This mean that at normal engine temperatures 0W-30, 5W-30, and 10W-30 ARE ALL THE SAME. It is during cold start that the oils are different. The use of 0 (zero) has become neccessary as the original arbitrary numbering adoped by the SAE has run out of room at the low end. It means nothing that the number "zero" is being used, just that the rating system is bottoming out so to speak.
On a viscosimeter, a hot 30 weight oil is thinner than a cold 10 weight oil.
0W-30 will work just fine, without any problems. In the future we will see more low viscosity oils. Right now Ford and Honda specify 5W-20 oils ONLY, no substitution allowed, for warranty purposes. Many European oils are 0W-40, ones we never see in North America.

 

0-30 OR 0-40 will be fine to use. The biggest reason that you are seeing lower viscosities is because of the tolerenaces that engine builders are using. They are tighter in today's higher revving engines and a lighter weight oil can penetrate the bearings and such faster. I ran Mobil 1 0-30 in my '92 Camaro with absolutely no problems whatsoever. I think that the nicest thing about it was when I would start the car, the oil pressure was almost instantaneous, and I didn't have to wait like on heavier oils. When I got rid of it, I had 130,000 miles on it, never lost any MPG, and performance was always there. All this while living in San Diego and making many, many, trips to Vegas!

 

I use Mobile one 15w 50 weight oil, I had alot of problem maintaining oil pressure at a resonable level at idle with 10w 30. my engine generates alot of heat with the uncoated headers. Going to the heavier weight oil helped out alot in maintaining oil pressure at idle. This is just what a prefer, you can use what ever you want, just make sure all the parts are getting the oil they need, and keep an eye on that oil pressure gauge, don't want it to be that low meaning the you are not getting enough oil up in the heads, and you don't want it to be to high meaning you are not getting or holding enough oil down in the pan. my 2 cents worth.

 

With the 15w50 you are possibly not getting as much protection as you think, due to the heavier oil not protecting as well. I know I talk a lot about oil analysis, but I would be willing to bet you'd see much lower engine wear numbers with a 0w40 or 10w40 than you would with the 15w50. It's simply too thick for most engine designs, including the LT1.

 

I appreciate your input.

 

after hearing all this good stuff about mobil 1 im bout to retire from valvoline.right now i have 20w50 valvoline racing crap.this is my first time driving with it and maybe only put on 20 miles with it but im bout to do another oil change anyway.