Smoothing out stock M20

[browntown]

o rly?

maybe it's more than a gallon then.

Because the big jug is all I use and I have a little left over after the oil change.

might be a 5qt jug then or some odd metric amount then. dunno, but a gallon is 4 quarts.

Plus consider you rarely will get your listed capactity of oil in the engine. There's a decent amount stuck to everything and in the pipes.

[StereoInstaller1]

Castrol GTX 20W-50

Always have, always will.

You guys might THINK you are using the same oil, but Castrol, along with every other oil on the market changed about 15 years ago...

Thus the High Mileage stuff. When I do a rebuild, HiMi Castrol is what mine gets.

Luke

[NC325iC]

i did not understand that post at all luke

[nando]

might be a 5qt jug then or some odd metric amount then. dunno, but a gallon is 4 quarts.

Plus consider you rarely will get your listed capactity of oil in the engine. There's a decent amount stuck to everything and in the pipes.

the jugs sold at wal*mart are not gallons.. they are 5 quarts

[euroshark]

I got 5 quarts of Mobil 1 for like $11 at Wal*Mart!! Still needed 1.5 more though... Damn oil coolers... And the individual quarts were like $3.50! Blasphemy!

But really, 20w50 makes a nice difference in M30s, so I'm sure it should have a similar effect on M20s. I made the mistake of putting 5w30 in my 533i last summer and it felt ragged. Somehow my dad runs that in his M90 all summer and it feels great though... I don't understand it, I just run the damn 20w50 and enjoy the silky smoothness.

For those complaining about valve noise: It's an M20, you aren't going to get rid of it. Don't adjust your valves extra tight to try to make it quieter either. If you can't hear your valves at all, you are gonna have a problem.

[StereoInstaller1]

i did not understand that post at all luke

Chris, what I am saying is that the formulation of ALL motor oils changed about 15 years ago, when the price of Zinc went up.

Luke

[NC325iC]

heres something that has always confused me cause ive heard both ways

in oil ratings higher numbers are thicker or vice verse?
ie 20w50 is thicker than 10w30

[bolognablake]

ie 20w50 is thicker than 10w30

That is correct.

[browntown]

heres something that has always confused me cause ive heard both ways

in oil ratings higher numbers are thicker or vice verse?
ie 20w50 is thicker than 10w30

wikipedia is your friend:

Multi-grade motor oil

The temperature range the oil is exposed to in most vehicles can be wide, ranging from cold ambient temperatures in the winter before the vehicle is started up to hot operating temperatures when the vehicle is fully warmed up in hot summer weather. A specific oil will have high viscosity when cold and a low viscosity at the engines operating temperature. The difference in viscosities for any single-grade oil is too large between the extremes of temperature. To bring the difference in viscosities closer together, special polymer additives called viscosity index improvers are added to the oil. These additives make the oil a multi-grade motor oil. The idea is to cause the multi-grade oil to have the viscosity of the base number when cold and the viscosity of second number when hot. The viscosity of a multi-grade oil still varies logarithmically with temperature, but the slope representing the change is lessened. This slope representing the change with temperature depends on the nature and amount of the additives to the base oil.

The API/SAE designation for multi-grade oils includes two grade numbers; for example, 10W-30 designates a common multi-grade oil. The first number associated with the W (again 'W' is for Winter, not Weight) is not rated at any single temperature. The "10W" means that this oil can be pumped by your engine as well as a single-grade SAE 10 oil can be pumped. "5W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "10W". "0W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "5W", and thins less at temperatures above 99°C (210°F). The second number, 30, means that the viscosity of this multi-grade oil at 100°C (212°F) operating temperature corresponds to the viscosity of a single-grade 30 oil at same temperature. The governing SAE standard is called SAE J300. The motor oil grade and viscosity to be used in a given vehicle is specified by the manufacturer of the vehicle.

Many new vehicles are marked to use 5W-20 oil (Honda, Ford and more recently Toyota). Some ultra fuel efficient and hybrid vehicles are marked to use 0W-20 oil.

Many synthetic motor oils are rated as if they were a multi-grade motor oil containing a polymer-additive because they have the broad temperature range of polymer-enhanced oils but those polymers are not actually present. Thermal breakdown of the polymer-enhanced products can occur at high temperatures and can contribute to 'carbon build-up.'

[NC325iC]

ok a simple yes or now would have worked alot better

[Ahheck01]

ok a simple yes or now would have worked alot better

You already got that in post #23.

-Evan

[bolognablake]

wikipedia is your friend:

Multi-grade motor oil

The temperature range the oil is exposed to in most vehicles can be wide, ranging from cold ambient temperatures in the winter before the vehicle is started up to hot operating temperatures when the vehicle is fully warmed up in hot summer weather. A specific oil will have high viscosity when cold and a low viscosity at the engines operating temperature. The difference in viscosities for any single-grade oil is too large between the extremes of temperature. To bring the difference in viscosities closer together, special polymer additives called viscosity index improvers are added to the oil. These additives make the oil a multi-grade motor oil. The idea is to cause the multi-grade oil to have the viscosity of the base number when cold and the viscosity of second number when hot. The viscosity of a multi-grade oil still varies logarithmically with temperature, but the slope representing the change is lessened. This slope representing the change with temperature depends on the nature and amount of the additives to the base oil.

The API/SAE designation for multi-grade oils includes two grade numbers; for example, 10W-30 designates a common multi-grade oil. The first number associated with the W (again 'W' is for Winter, not Weight) is not rated at any single temperature. The "10W" means that this oil can be pumped by your engine as well as a single-grade SAE 10 oil can be pumped. "5W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "10W". "0W" can be pumped at a lower temperature than "5W", and thins less at temperatures above 99°C (210°F). The second number, 30, means that the viscosity of this multi-grade oil at 100°C (212°F) operating temperature corresponds to the viscosity of a single-grade 30 oil at same temperature. The governing SAE standard is called SAE J300. The motor oil grade and viscosity to be used in a given vehicle is specified by the manufacturer of the vehicle.

Many new vehicles are marked to use 5W-20 oil (Honda, Ford and more recently Toyota). Some ultra fuel efficient and hybrid vehicles are marked to use 0W-20 oil.

Many synthetic motor oils are rated as if they were a multi-grade motor oil containing a polymer-additive because they have the broad temperature range of polymer-enhanced oils but those polymers are not actually present. Thermal breakdown of the polymer-enhanced products can occur at high temperatures and can contribute to 'carbon build-up.'

I was actually going to reference that, but after reading it a few times, it's a little vague and confusing.

[AlarmedBread]

Chris, what I am saying is that the formulation of ALL motor oils changed about 15 years ago, when the price of Zinc went up.

Luke

You can get a very good zinc additive at your local GM dealer. It's around $10 and you can use it for 3 or 4 oil changes. Make sure you follow the mixing instructions.

Pick up some of those cooling system tablets while you're at it ;)

I use that and 20w50

[silversleeper]

So my using 0w40 isn't such a bright idea?

And does anyone know if these things sounded this way off the showroom floor?

[DaveSmed]

You can get a very good zinc additive at your local GM dealer. It's around $10 and you can use it for 3 or 4 oil changes. Make sure you follow the mixing instructions.

Pick up some of those cooling system tablets while you're at it ;)

I use that and 20w50

Spoken like a true Cadillac owner?