Help needed for engine oil - 5w-20 or 0w-20

[mralaskan]

Hey!

Since my retailer now have stop selling Gulf ultrasynth 5w-20 and are now recommending 0w-20 I looking for your thoughts on the matter, since my car has been recommeded from factory to use 5w-20 and, its inprinted on the oil cap also, should I really change to 0w-20?...

I have cold starts (under 32 f) perhaps 5-6 months per year so I really need a good oil for coldstarts.

What do you guys think...

Dodge ram 1500, 2008 year, hemi 5,7

Thanks for any response.

 

[jws123]

Most of us switch to 5w30 in a hemi 0w20 and 5w20 is just to thin

 

[CanuckRam1313]

5W30 or 0W30 quality synthetic oil - you could go HPL Super Car 0W30 or Red Line High Performance 5W30, but both are costly.

Or, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5W30 and a small container of BioTech Lubegard.
Use a good oil filter, too.

 

[mralaskan]

So a 5w-30 oil is Ok to use for my hemi?
Any pro here who could say how much the difference is between 20 and 30, ie if anything bad could happen to the engine.

 

[DILLIGAF]

Literally a thread on this. RL 5w30 is the best oil to use.

Synthetic Oil

Control system, royal purple, or valvoline synpower? Which would you or do you use? Also is the oil change message triggered by a specific mileage engine hour or what? Sent from my LT26w using Tapatalk 2

www.ramforum.com

 

[HemiLonestar]

5W-30 was the specified 5.7 oil until 2005; with the intro of the MDS hemi in the cars, they switched all 5.7's to 5W-20 (just to be the same oil weight). You have an MDS hemi, so your manual (and oil cap) will specify 5W-20. 5W-30 definitely won't hurt the engine. MDS may or may not function correctly; this has been a point of contention over the years, with some claiming it affects it and some claiming it had no effect whatsoever.

 

[mralaskan]

But why the change to 0w-20 as dodge now recommends for my car? What has happend for them to change the recommendation.
Thanks for any answers.

 

[bm02tj]

EPA and fuel mileage

 

[ramffml]

I have cold starts (under 32 f) perhaps 5-6 months per year so I really need a good oil for coldstarts.

Judging by your user name you're in Alaska? If so, HPL Premium Plus is pricey but absolutely excels at cold starts with a pour point of -72F. HPL makes different formula's for different reasons, the PP line is specifically for cold weather but it is a premium oil and will outperform anything else off the shelf in walmart.

In the winter I'd run the 0w-30, or the 0w-20 if you're concerned about going too thick.

Premium Plus Passenger Car Engine Oil

High Performance Lubricants’ Premium Plus passenger car engine oil is a multi-synthetic high performance motor oil made with the best choices of additive chemistry. When compared with our other PCMO product lines this series takes advantage of high quality PAO delivering superb pour points as...

www.advlubrication.com

Edit: Actually, I just saw you're running a pretty old engine, I might advise against using HPL right away as it is a potent cleaner and might start to disturb carbon/deposits in your engine too quickly. HPL recommends using 1 quart of their cleaner for an OCI or two first before running their oil directly in old engines with high miles as the dedicated cleaner product cleans more slowly than the actual oil they sell like PP. So the better approach would be to run one quart of their cleaner and use something like PUP for the base oil, then after 1 or 2 OCI's at 5000 miles each start running something like the PP full strength.

Engine Cleaner is here:

Engine Cleaner

HPL Engine Cleaner is designed for those who wish to clean deposits in their engines left behind from commodity type lubricants that are designed to “meet the spec.” Engine Cleaner is specially formulated and fortified with detergents and dispersants providing safe cleaning in the engine. When...

www.advlubrication.com

 

[danielmid]

Judging by your user name you're in Alaska? If so, HPL Premium Plus is pricey but absolutely excels at cold starts with a pour point of -72F. HPL makes different formula's for different reasons, the PP line is specifically for cold weather but it is a premium oil and will outperform anything else off the shelf in walmart.

In the winter I'd run the 0w-30, or the 0w-20 if you're concerned about going too thick.

Premium Plus Passenger Car Engine Oil

High Performance Lubricants’ Premium Plus passenger car engine oil is a multi-synthetic high performance motor oil made with the best choices of additive chemistry. When compared with our other PCMO product lines this series takes advantage of high quality PAO delivering superb pour points as...

www.advlubrication.com

Edit: Actually, I just saw you're running a pretty old engine, I might advise against using HPL right away as it is a potent cleaner and might start to disturb carbon/deposits in your engine too quickly. HPL recommends using 1 quart of their cleaner for an OCI or two first before running their oil directly in old engines with high miles as the dedicated cleaner product cleans more slowly than the actual oil they sell like PP. So the better approach would be to run one quart of their cleaner and use something like PUP for the base oil, then after 1 or 2 OCI's at 5000 miles each start running something like the PP full strength.

Engine Cleaner is here:

Engine Cleaner

HPL Engine Cleaner is designed for those who wish to clean deposits in their engines left behind from commodity type lubricants that are designed to “meet the spec.” Engine Cleaner is specially formulated and fortified with detergents and dispersants providing safe cleaning in the engine. When...

www.advlubrication.com

In the cleaner OCI would you or does HPL recommend filter changes during the run?

 

[danielmid]

Judging by your user name you're in Alaska? If so, HPL Premium Plus is pricey but absolutely excels at cold starts with a pour point of -72F. HPL makes different formula's for different reasons, the PP line is specifically for cold weather but it is a premium oil and will outperform anything else off the shelf in walmart.

In the winter I'd run the 0w-30, or the 0w-20 if you're concerned about going too thick.

Premium Plus Passenger Car Engine Oil

High Performance Lubricants’ Premium Plus passenger car engine oil is a multi-synthetic high performance motor oil made with the best choices of additive chemistry. When compared with our other PCMO product lines this series takes advantage of high quality PAO delivering superb pour points as...

www.advlubrication.com

Edit: Actually, I just saw you're running a pretty old engine, I might advise against using HPL right away as it is a potent cleaner and might start to disturb carbon/deposits in your engine too quickly. HPL recommends using 1 quart of their cleaner for an OCI or two first before running their oil directly in old engines with high miles as the dedicated cleaner product cleans more slowly than the actual oil they sell like PP. So the better approach would be to run one quart of their cleaner and use something like PUP for the base oil, then after 1 or 2 OCI's at 5000 miles each start running something like the PP full strength.

Engine Cleaner is here:

Engine Cleaner

HPL Engine Cleaner is designed for those who wish to clean deposits in their engines left behind from commodity type lubricants that are designed to “meet the spec.” Engine Cleaner is specially formulated and fortified with detergents and dispersants providing safe cleaning in the engine. When...

www.advlubrication.com

Also don't forget RamForum members get a discount on HPL with code RAMFORUM15

 

[ramffml]

In the cleaner OCI would you or does HPL recommend filter changes during the run?

I think David does, depending on the use case yes. Certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[ramffml]

Also don't forget RamForum members get a discount on HPL with code RAMFORUM15

We get our own discount? Nice, I've just been using the bitog one lol.

 

[mralaskan]

Thanks for all the answers.
Yes, its Alaskan driving conditions. The specified is 5w-20, but gulf's recommending 0w-20 now. I'm leaning against that 0w-20. Why change summer viscosity? Isnt 20 best for my engine?
And regarding 0w, 5w or even 10w, feels like such a small difference, I would be more worried about changing the summer/hot temp viscosity, since that's the quality that's most used while driving. Am I wrong?

 

[mralaskan]

Since the warranty is out for my old truck it feels like the manufacturer doesnt care any more to recommend what's the best oil for My engine. Cause the same oil is beeing recommended for newer rams. Don't wanna ruin a perfectly good hemi engine cause of a bad oil. Only got 70k miles on the truck, works like new.

 

[Dean2]

Hey!

Since my retailer now have stop selling Gulf ultrasynth 5w-20 and are now recommending 0w-20 I looking for your thoughts on the matter, since my car has been recommeded from factory to use 5w-20 and, its inprinted on the oil cap also, should I really change to 0w-20?...

I have cold starts (under 32 f) perhaps 5-6 months per year so I really need a good oil for coldstarts.

What do you guys think...

Dodge ram 1500, 2008 year, hemi 5,7

Thanks for any response.

Synthetic Oil

Control system, royal purple, or valvoline synpower? Which would you or do you use? Also is the oil change message triggered by a specific mileage engine hour or what? Sent from my LT26w using Tapatalk 2

www.ramforum.com

If this link doesn't have enough info, no one can help you further.

 

[ramffml]

Thanks for all the answers.
Yes, its Alaskan driving conditions. The specified is 5w-20, but gulf's recommending 0w-20 now. I'm leaning against that 0w-20. Why change summer viscosity? Isnt 20 best for my engine?
And regarding 0w, 5w or even 10w, feels like such a small difference, I would be more worried about changing the summer/hot temp viscosity, since that's the quality that's most used while driving. Am I wrong?

There are 2 ratings to the oil, a winter grade and a hot grade. The 0w is the rating of the flow of the oil at cold temps (0F), the 20 or 30 determines the viscosity range when its hot (100C).

0w-20 means it will work/flow better in the cold vs a 5w-20, but they will work the same in the summer as they both share the same hot rating of 20.

You're in Alaska, the move to 0w-20 makes more sense than 5w-20. However I'd be running a 0w-30 if I were you.

 

[danielmid]

0W-30 without hesitation.

 

[06 Dodge]

Why not something like PUP 5w30 as it has a pour point of -48 according to a 5/2020 pdf I just read on the Shell web site, if one needs an oil with lower pour point then an oil pan heater is in need, a block heater or both...

 

[mralaskan]

There are 2 ratings to the oil, a winter grade and a hot grade. The 0w is the rating of the flow of the oil at cold temps (0F), the 20 or 30 determines the viscosity range when its hot (100C).

0w-20 means it will work/flow better in the cold vs a 5w-20, but they will work the same in the summer as they both share the same hot rating of 20.

You're in Alaska, the move to 0w-20 makes more sense than 5w-20. However I'd be running a 0w-30 if I were you.

Yes I'm aware of the meaning the oil's viscosity ratings.
Could you elaborate why you'd use 0w-30. Isnt 20 good enough when hot?