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Re: oil viscosity

To: HMENTZEN@aol.com
Subject: Re: oil viscosity
From: mike@spitfire.stortek.com (Mike Ginter SA)
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 1997 07:36:02 -0600
Cc: triumphs@Autox.Team.Net
> 
> HMENTZEN@aol.com wrote:
> 
> >  Right now I'm using 20/50 weight oil in my Spit. I drive
> > the car all winter in MA. Its less than 5 miles to work each
> > day and I'm wondering if a lighter weight oil would work
> > better in cold weather situations.  TIA!
> 
> I would highly suggest switching to at least 10W40 for
> the winter in MA.  At some point of chilling, 20W50
> becomes too thick to be pumped by the oil pump.  From
> what I can find out, this is about 10F for 20W50
> Castrol GTX.  5W30 Castrol GTX should be good down
> to about -15F.  For best protection against hard
> starts, and extra wear from jello-like oil, switch
> to a synthetic.
> 
> There is an excellent article by Ed Hackett on the
> VTR WWW pages which covers this topic:
>   http://www.vtr.org/maintain/oil-overview.html
> 
> My conclusions from that article are that I would
<SNIP>
> 
> Synthetic oils of the same ratings have much lower
> "pour" points, and can be used at much lower
> temperatures.  From what I can see from the charts,
> synthetics are good for about 30 more degrees:
> 
> "Synthetic" Oils:
>     20W     -20F
>     15W     -30F
>     10W     -40F
>      5W     -50F
> 
> --ken
> VTR WWW Maintainer -- http://www.vtr.org
> '70 & '74 TR6 Daily Drivers  
> 
> -- 
> Kenneth B. Streeter         | EMAIL: streeter@sanders.com
> Sanders, PTP2-A001          | 
> PO Box 868                  | Voice: (603) 885-9604
> Nashua, NH 03061            | Fax:   (603) 885-0631
> 
I don't drive my SPit in the dead of winter unless it's 40+ degrees with the
sun shining (which actually happens quite a bit in Colorado)  But if I did
drive it daily in the winter, I would definately be using synthetic oil
and 30w in the tranny.

Mike
79 Spit

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