Above 20 F there will be no difference in durability or engine life between 5W30 and 10W30. The additive will have a greater effect. I have used what ever is convenient in my cars, 5W20, 5W30, 10W30 and 15W40 for years.
The Duralube that I see online is $18, a guy could buy something useful with that money.
Fifteen years age the service manager in the joint that I was working supported the use of BG additives, he received generous kick backs from the local salesman. The bottle of additive that came with each oil change went into the oil drain tank. There is a bulletin from the vehicle manufacture stating that no oil additives are approved and should not be used in any vehicle under warranty.
Thatās impressive. I knew a guy who hit a rock with his 80ās Celica and ripped the oil pan off. Fool drove it for the rest of the day before the engine seized. Running an engine thatās been drained of oil for 3 hours isnāt proof that Duralube works. You can do it. The engine wonāt be what it was before you did it - youāll almost certainly do damage, but you can do it.
Of course, thereās also no proof that they actually did it. Infomercials lie all the time. If I believed every infomercial I ever watched Iād have healing crystals, homeopathic medicine, essential oils, and all sorts of other Harry Potter crap in my house. I donāt, because all those claims are lies.
I seem to remember Slick 50 sprayed the thing with water too just to show the abuse but of course the water cooled it down. They were selling some stuff at the fair too but I just walked on by.
I know that a fairly decent 7.3L idi International engine will run for about 3/4 mile under full load with no oil in it. Then it stops running all that wellā¦
My Kiaās operator manual specifies 5-20W and 2 authorized substitutes depending on climate. 5-30W temperate and10-30W warm. I have used 5-20 year round since new.
And you should have been in on the spiffs too. Every place that Iāve been that handled BG products gave a kickback to the mechanic and to the office. From 25c for a can of MOA to a buck for a power steering flush kit, it added up to lunch every now and then.
Didnāt it bug you that the customer was paying for a part that you dumped in the waste?
The price for the oil change was $25 and included the additive, the customer didnāt have a choice on the poison.
The techs received āspiffā money for BG services before that manager came to the company. He made a different deal with the BG rep, all the BG bonus money went towards his Iron Horse motorcycle collection.
SUBJECT:
_ Engine Oil Additives/Supplements_ OVERVIEW:
_ This bulletin reinforces a requirement to cease the current practice of using supplemental oil additive treatments in all DaimlerChrysler engines._
DISCUSSION
Engine oil additives/supplements (EOS) should not be used to enhance engine oil performance. Engine oil additives/supplements should not be used to extend engine oil change intervals. No additive is known to be safe for engine durability and can degrade emission components. Additives can contain undesirable materials that harm the long term durability of engines by:
^ Doubling the level of Phosphorus in the engine oil. The ILSAC (International Lubricant Standard Approval Committee) GF-2 and GF-3 standards require that engine oil contain no more than 0.10% Phosphorus to protect the vehicles emissions performance. Addition of engine oil additives/supplements can poison, from the added sulfur and phosphorus, catalysts and hinder efforts to guarantee our emissions performance to 80,000 miles and new requirements of 150,000 miles.
^ Altering the viscosity characteristics of the engine oil so that it no longer meets the requirements of the specified viscosity grade.
^ Creating potential for an undesirable additive compatibility interaction in the engine crankcase. Generally it is not desirable to mix additive packages from different suppliers in the crankcase; there have been reports of low temperature engine failures caused by additive package incompatibility with such mixtures.
Oh, Iām not saying I agree with the use of additive on top of additive for every and any reason (or for no reason at all). But if I were told to put it in with the LOF service I would have. Whether or not a TSB proscribes a different action is up to the customer and management to decide.
I too tired of every oil change and 30K service getting an MOA, 44K fuel kit, transmission chemical, power steering chemical, and coolant supplement. When I got to the point that I called the shots, my additive sales dropped sharply.
I will say that not all additives or chemicals are snake oil. Most chemical additives and flushes have their origins in legitimate needs and results.
The additive was in the fine print, most were unaware or had no interest in what went into the engine, an oil change is simply an oil change. The price of an oil change was the same before this manager started the BG oil change program, the additive lined his pockets. This manager didnāt read bulletins and didnāt care.
In the 1990ās we had additives for everything, a transmission flush chemical then a transmission fluid additive, frightening today with the strict fluid requirements. Three bottles of chemicals to perform a cooling system service (water wetter anyone?). I havenāt been asked to use aftermarket additives for ten years. As for approved chemicals we only use manufacture specific induction cleaner and fuel tank additive.
You will be amazed at how long some engines will run without oil, especially idling without a load. That test really proved nothing.
The oil in the bearing clearances doesnāt just disappear. It stays there due to surface tension or capillary effect and if the engine parts can conduct heat away from the journal as fast as itās created, the bearing has an excellent chance of surviving. One of the main reasons we use high pressure to feed the bearings is to keep the bearing cool, we replace the oil with new oil before it becomes too hot. The oil pressure itself has nothing to do with floating the shaft in the journal, the pressures involved with keeping the bearing surfaces separated is in the thousands of psi. Itās the rotation of the shaft that drags that oil wedge underneath the shaft to support it.
Yes @B.L.E., high oil pressure isnāt critically needed but high pressure on the gauge is indicative that oil is available at the extreme ends of the system. Rod bearings are heavily stressed but very little pressure reaches them through the rotating crankshaft. Timing chains and hydraulic lifters are usually the first components to show indications of lack of pressure.
Iām not so sure about that. Wouldnāt a crankshaft act as a centrifugal oil pump from the high speed spinning? I ran the numbers on a hypothetical crank with a 4 inch stroke, two inch crank radius, and at 3000 rpm, the centrifugal force on the oil in the oil passage from the main to the crankpin should theoretically add about 16 PSI to the oil pressure assuming an oil with a specific gravity of .88. Double that rpm and the pressure quadruples to 64 psi.
Sometimes you see a main and a rod bearing fail together. People usually assume that the rod bearing failed because the main went out, but itās entirely possible for the reverse to be true. A rod bearing goes out and now the spinning crank is free to suck all the oil out of the main that feeds that rod bearing.
Did that oil have a strong gasoline like odor when you changed it? There are a lot of motorcycle owners who seem to believe that the carbs have to be jetted stupid-rich, black smoke during acceleration rich, eyes stinging when you are following them rich for maximum power or to keep the engine from overheating. Also, the needles on the slides and the jets they moved in and out of would wear and the midrange would go rich, great for cold engine drivability, but god-awful for gas mileage and piston ring life.