in manufacturer theory 5w is the weight and viscosity at startup and the 50 is the viscosity and wieght at ambient tempature.....

so do u think this oil would be good for a high mileage ve because its " thin" on startup for lubrication and thickens as the engine heats up.(protects seals and quiets lifters)?


thanks alot

 

Hi fellow VE owner. I would not use this weight of oil because it is probably actually very thick at room temperatures. I'm a bit fuzzy about how they grade the oil weights in multi-viscosity oils, but even though it sounds like it'd be 5-weight thin at startup but 50-weight thick at temperature, it actually isn't when you pour it out. I think that is because the low temp W number is only at sub-freezing arctic temperatures, not regular everyday "cold" temps.

I discovered the same thing when I was actually looking for a THINNER oil than just 5w30. I thought 0w30 would do it, but it's actually a bit thicker. Oils that have a large difference between the two numbers tend to be thicker. As far as synthetics go, you could just use a 5w30 (like suggested) or even a 10w30 synthetic like Mobil 1 because it's actually as thin as a regular 5w30. Maybe a 5w40 might be a better idea....

I'm not (personally) convinced that using thicker oils in older engines is necessary unless you're experiencing problems of some kind.

 

For VE engines, an oil on the thinner side of a 30 weight would be better to allow sufficient flow to the VTC assemblies, especially when cold.

This makes Mobil 1 5W/30 or 0W/30 SuperSyn the optimal choice. Castrol GTX 5W/30 has tested out well in oil analyses in the dino world.

 

I tried to Syntec, and I don't think my engine liked it very much. My VE likes 5w30 Castrol GTX much better.