5W-20 Oil??

[stick]

I recently bought a used 2007 F150, and it calls for 5W-20 oil. Is this correct? I've never seen 5-20 used in vehicles before (but I'm don't have much experience overall with too many vehicles).

[Jeremy airjer W]

That is correct. Most newer cars use 5w20 except GM. Honda calls for 0w30 on some of there engines. jwhjr tipped me on GM's new scheme requiring "doxol" oil in all of there 2011 and newer vehicles. I'm not sure what the viscosity is however.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Been using 5w-20 in my Accord since new (almost 7 years now )

[flyfisher03]

My 01 Taurus and 06 Escape both use 5w-20.

[fishing tech]

Yep, 5w20 semi synthetic. The clearances are tight and any heavier oil can damage the engine.

[jwhjr]

jwhjr tipped me on GM's new scheme requiring "doxol" oil in all of there 2011 and newer vehicles. I'm not sure what the viscosity is however.

[stick]

Thanks everyone. Guess it's on the up and up.

[CJH]

Because you can still use a regular oil as a substitute, I'm not too worried about using the "wrong" oil. I'm sure it all comes down to GM trying to meet the fuel economy standards.

Bingo!! Just wait until they have hit the next plateau/target in a few years, its going to affect everybody.

[theoilman]

There is no wording in the GM dexos specification that actually has "synthetic" in it. However, so far all the oils that have announced that they are going to have a dexos certified oil are announcing synthetic products to do it with. The only viscosity in the dexos1 specification (for gasoline engines) is 5W-30.

2011 GMs made before Oct 1 were all factory filled with conventional oils. The specification didn't take effect until today (Oct 1), along with the new API SN and the Ilsac GF5.

AMSOIL posted today (Oct 1) that the XL 5W-30 is dexos1, SN and Ilsac GF5 with the starburst.

On the 5W-20, most Fords (except the 4L V6) have been on it since 2000 - the Ford oil is a partial-synthetic, with partial-synthetic or better preferred but not required. Most Hondas also have been 5W-20 since about 2000 (except most hybrids requiring 0W-20 synthetic). Toyotas required 0W-20 synthetic in about 75% of 2010 models and supposed to be in all 2011 models. The Dodges with the variable displacement are all using the 5W-20 or 0W-20 (if you use heavier you may set engine codes and will reduce fuel economy). GM is choosing to stay 5W-30 for all gasoline engines.

Why the lighter oils? In most cases - the government - fuel economy requirements. Every time you go lighter on oil when everything else about the oil is held the same you will increase fuel economy a pinch (not enough that you or I could ever confirm it, but on the government certification dynamometer it helps the manufacturer a little). In many cases the engines manufacturers are not making significant changes with engine designs when requiring the lighter oils. They are sacrificing protection and longevity for fuel economy. With some their compromise for protection is to require synthetic to make up the protection difference.

I have talked with several new Toyota owners who tell me the light oil is causing all kinds of low speed engine noises, they change to 5W-30 (the viscosity the engine was originally designed to use) and eliminated the excess noises, with even a service manager agreeing.

[Scott K]

I recommend to people on Fords to switch to 5w30 after 60k. The engine seems to quiet down a quite a bit after that. Also with the 3 valve VCT engines, I also recommend it after 60k as well. The 3 valve engines dont like to have low oil pressure in the top end, and after 100k, they tend to start dropping top end pressure, and it can cause vct codes, and a rough hot idle, put in 5w30 or even 10w30, and the engine runs good again.

[theoilman]

This from 4wanderingeyes just reconfirms that many of these engines are NOT designed to run on the 5W-20 or 0W-20 oils. They really are better off with the oil they were designed for: 5W-30.