Oil Viscosity, An Explination

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Oil Viscosity, An Explination
Topic Started: Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:08 pm (844 Views)
stwat	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:08 pm Post #1
Moderator Posts: 12,434 Group: Moderator Member #28 Joined: November 11, 2005	Just read and nicked this from MB CLUB UK. I read on many forums about 0w and 5w oils being too thin. 0w-40, 5w-40, 10w-40 and 15w-40 are all the same thickness (14 centistokes) at 100degC. Centistokes (cst) is the measure of a fluid's resistance to flow (viscosity). It is calculated in terms of the time required for a standard quantity of fluid at a certain temperature to flow through a standard orifice. The higher the value, the more viscous the fluid. As viscosity varies with temperature, the value is meaningless unless accompanied by the temperature at which it is measured. In the case of oils, viscosity is generally reported in centistokes (cst) and usually measured at 40degC and 100degC. So, all oils that end in 40 (sae 40) are around 14cst thickness at 100degC. This applies to all oils that end in the same number, all oils that end in 50 (sae 50) are around 18.5cst at 100degC and all oils that end in 60 (sae 60) are around 24cst at 100degC. With me so far? Great! Now, ALL oils are thicker when cold. Confused? It's true and here is a table to illustrate this. SAE 40 (straight 40) Temp degC.........................Viscosity (thickness) 0..........................................2579cst 20..........................................473cst 40..........................................135cst 60..........................................52.2cs t 100........................................ 14cst 120.........................................8.8cst As you will see, there is plenty of viscosity at 0degC, in fact many times more than at 100degC and this is the problem especially in cold weather, can the oil flow quick enough to protect vital engine parts at start up. Not really! So, given that an sae 40 is 14cst at 100degC which is adequate viscosity to protect the engine, and much thicker when cold, how can a 0w oil be too thin? Well, it can't is the truth. The clever part (thanks to synthetics) is that thin base oils can be used so that start up viscosity (on say a 5w-40 at 0degC) is reduced to around 800cst and this obviously gives much better flow than a monograde sae 40 (2579cst as quoted above). So, how does this happen, well as explained at the beginning, it's all about temperature, yes a thin base oil is still thicker when cold than at 100degC but the clever stuff (due to synthetics again) is that the chemists are able to build these oils out of molecules that do not thin to less than 14cst at 100degC! What are the parameters for our recommendations? Well, we always talk about good cold start protection, by this we mean flow so a 5w will flow better than a 10w and so on. This is why we recommend 5w or 10w as the thickest you want to use except in exceptional circumstances. Flow is critical to protect the engine from wear! We also talk about oil temps, mods and what the car is used for. This is related to the second number xw-(XX) as there may be issues with oil temperatures causing the oil to be too thin and therefore the possibility of metal to metal contact. This is difficult to explain but, if for example your oil temp does not exceed 120degC at any time then a good "shear stable" sae 40 is perfectly capable of giving protection. "Shear stability" is important here because if the oil shears it thins and that's not good! However, if you are seeing temperatures in excess of 120degC due to mods and track use etc then there is a strong argument to using an sae 50 as it will have more viscosity at these excessive temperatures. There are trade offs here. Thicker oils cause more friction and therefore more heat and they waste power and affect fuel consumption so it's always best to use the thinnest oil (i.e. second number) that you can get away with and still maintain oil pressure. I just filled up with Castrol 15w 40 and after reading that i think im going to replace it with some 5 or 10w 40 semi synth this weekend!!!!!! Stu



cra_arc	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:11 pm Post #2
Member Posts: 6,233 Group: Members Member #4 Joined: November 2, 2005	http://z14.invisionfree.com/mercedes_190_c...hp?showtopic=84



Matt	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:15 pm Post #3
Administrator - Hawk Eye Posts: 14,126 Group: Admin Member #20 Joined: November 8, 2005	Stu :lol: Previously mentioned from Benny



stwat	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:15 pm Post #4
Moderator Posts: 12,434 Group: Moderator Member #28 Joined: November 11, 2005	Sorry, missed the other posts Stu



cra_arc	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:16 pm Post #5
Member Posts: 6,233 Group: Members Member #4 Joined: November 2, 2005	yeh true always nice to have a few options...



Matt	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:18 pm Post #6
Administrator - Hawk Eye Posts: 14,126 Group: Admin Member #20 Joined: November 8, 2005	:lol: Its ok. Tell you what, I think I will pin it in the Engine section



stwat	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:19 pm Post #7
Moderator Posts: 12,434 Group: Moderator Member #28 Joined: November 11, 2005	Matt Jun 15 2007, 12:18 AM :lol: Its ok. Tell you what, I think I will pin it in the Engine section Good idea mate Stu



Matt	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:21 pm Post #8
Administrator - Hawk Eye Posts: 14,126 Group: Admin Member #20 Joined: November 8, 2005	Pinned with a very big drawing pin :lol:



stwat	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:25 pm Post #9
Moderator Posts: 12,434 Group: Moderator Member #28 Joined: November 11, 2005	:lol: <_< Stu



roadwolf69	Thu Jun 14, 2007 10:47 pm Post #10
Member Posts: 986 Group: Members Member #975 Joined: February 22, 2007	In old engines don't go below 10 because the wear on these engines won't tolerate 5 the gap in between the bearings is too big so the thin oil will just piss out the gaps.



lleb	Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:58 pm Post #11
Newbie Posts: 30 Group: Members Member #2,409 Joined: March 11, 2008	Matt Jun 14 2007, 11:18 PM :lol: Its ok. Tell you what, I think I will pin it in the Engine section thank you. if not i doubt i would of caught this thread and would not of learned what i did. glad i have always used 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 in the summer. now that i live in Florida i just stick with 10w30 all year round.



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