Welcome to Just Commodores, a site specifically designed for all people who share the same passion as yourself.

New Posts Contact us

Just Commodores Forum Community

It takes just a moment to join our fantastic community

Register

5w30 engine oil for a VT

lufkin

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
721
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
SA - Victor Harbor
Members Ride
WH Manual LS1 Statesman & VT V6 Calais
Hi guys i went to go buy engine oil today, they recommended i use 5w30, it just doesnt sound right to me, am i being paranoid or is perfectly fine?
 

graham7773

Active Member
Joined
Oct 6, 2008
Messages
1,053
Reaction score
18
Points
38
Members Ride
VT Acclaim Wagon
Aahhh the oil question. Here is what Holden recommends....SG or SH SAE 20w50 for normal driving conditions and if you are living/driving in snow conditions, SAE 15w40. I know there are people out there who know better than the engineers who work for Holden. If you trust them, go with their recommendations. Of course you will also get the people who recommend 0 to 5w30 full synthetic. If you want to spend $60 to $100 for 5 litres of that every 5000Ks, say 4 times a year in two years you could buy a good second hand VY motor to replace your tired old VT one for near the same money.
 

TonyJZX

Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2010
Messages
557
Reaction score
4
Points
18
Location
East Coast
Members Ride
Commodore M6
LS1s need 5w30 or something like that

Ecotecs are such old and loose tolerance 20w50 is fine (which is a cheap 'old engine' oil these days)
 

Brett_jjj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
6,805
Reaction score
108
Points
48
Location
Tamworth NSW
Members Ride
vs commodore
Just work it out yourself from the numbers on the oil.Eg:20W-50 etc.The first number,20W is how thin ,or how easy the oil will flow at cold startup,the lower this number is, the easier the oil will flow or pump when cold.The thinner the oil is at cold startup,the better the protection, as it gets through the oil pump,into the oil galleries and to the bearings etc a lot quicker than a thicker oil would.Remember,90% of engine wear occurs at cold startup.The last number represents how thick the oil will stay when its hot.The higher this number is,the thicker the oil will be at high temperatures or hard running etc.Usually a 20W-50 oil will be fine.I use a 15W-60 oil which exceeds the recommended oil specifications,it is a bit thinner at cold startup than the recommended 20W-50 stuff ,but it also stays thicker than the 20W-50 oil at high temps.Years ago they only had monograde oil,and you had to run thinner oil in the winter time,and then change to a thicker oil for the summer time..then they came out with multigrade oil.The "W" in front of the first number stands for winter, and obviously shows the oils cold rating.Basically,you want the thinnest oil possible at cold startup,but then you want it to be as thick as possible at high temps for maximum protection.Synthetic oils are usually the best at this.
 
Last edited:

ajvx01

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
911
Reaction score
6
Points
18
Location
North east Adelaide
Members Ride
308 vc
well there ya go i didn't no the w was winter... We're all learning:)
 

lufkin

New Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2009
Messages
721
Reaction score
9
Points
0
Location
SA - Victor Harbor
Members Ride
WH Manual LS1 Statesman & VT V6 Calais
cheers everyone i have learnt alot, much appreciated
 

D-Rich

New Member
Joined
Aug 12, 2010
Messages
19
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Kalgoorlie
Members Ride
VT Wagon
Basically,you want the thinnest oil possible at cold startup,but then you want it to be as thick as possible at high temps for maximum protection.Synthetic oils are usually the best at this.

i have to disagree with this, if you were for example running a 0W-60 oil (hypothetically) in an older engine with larger clearances and tolerances in between all of its componentry. firstly when the engine is shut down and the oil cools it will run through all the gallerys down to the sump basically leaving your engine dry. so then when you go to start it you have no oil on anything, which as we all know is bad. and then of course if you had a newer engine and ran to higher viscosity hot oil through it, the oil would not be able to flow back to the sump quick enough (as it is to hot) and then your engine will be starved for oil and working much to hard.

there is no one magically oil for every car. you should simply stick to the recommendations.

and i was told by an engineer that I work with that the "W" also stands for weight
 

db_notso

diagnostic technician...
Joined
Oct 2, 2010
Messages
979
Reaction score
8
Points
0
Age
36
Location
sunshine coast, qld
Members Ride
vt v6, mods(susp brakesetc...)
personally i have a vt v6 ecotec with 222,000km's
never had rebuild just seals replaced excluding head gaskets
adn in the 190oookm to present has never had low oil pressure (i have gauge) using 15w-40 castrol oil
when i got the car it had a bottle of 10w-30 in the boot and had only one owner previous he said always 10w-30 mobil oil used (until me)

upon doing said gaskets crank and sump where stained but no build up of gunk, same as was inside the rocker covers
was very clean for just 10-w30 ecotec burning off oil like they do!~
 

Brett_jjj

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2009
Messages
6,805
Reaction score
108
Points
48
Location
Tamworth NSW
Members Ride
vs commodore
i have to disagree with this, if you were for example running a 0W-60 oil (hypothetically) in an older engine with larger clearances and tolerances in between all of its componentry. firstly when the engine is shut down and the oil cools it will run through all the gallerys down to the sump basically leaving your engine dry. so then when you go to start it you have no oil on anything, which as we all know is bad. and then of course if you had a newer engine and ran to higher viscosity hot oil through it, the oil would not be able to flow back to the sump quick enough (as it is to hot) and then your engine will be starved for oil and working much to hard.

there is no one magically oil for every car. you should simply stick to the recommendations.

and i was told by an engineer that I work with that the "W" also stands for weight

All oil drains from the engine when its cool and runs back to the sump.Even the thicker engine oils dont stay up in the engine or oil galleries etc.It comes back to the old saying,90% of engine wear occurs at cold startup.This is because of no oil pressure for a second or two when the engine is first started from cold.Ive never seen an engine yet that doesnt take a second or two to come up to full oil pressure after a cold start...And as long as the oil used exceeds the manufacturers recommend specifications, it will be fine in an engine thats in good condition.If the W stood for weight,it would be after both numbers, as in 20 weight 50 weight, or 20W-50W.It definitely stands for winter,thats why its only in front of the first or lowest number in multigrade oils.I also thought it was weight years ago until I found out otherwise .Also, 99% of the time,you will only have trouble using thin oils in a worn or otherwise crook engine.
 
Top