96ItaliaSE

iTrader: (3)

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

Bman

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.

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

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.

pezking4

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