Johnny G Pipe

Hi ladies, I am about to move from 10w40 to 20w50 (Valvoline VR1), and I know a lot of you guys run this weight of oil. Just checking in, my car gets used occasionally in winter and so temperatures around freezing..are you 20w50 users running through cold winters?

Can't quite believe my 964 and 356 can share the same oil!..

Indycam

The pour point of vr1 20-50 is -24 c / -11f .
So "20w" will not be of concern until it gets down to -18c / 0f .

https://valvoline.com/pdf/vr1_racing.pdf

On start up at freezing , the oil will be just a bit "thicker" , at running temps the oils will be just about the same same viscosity wise .

Do you know how to graph the weights vs temps ?

http://www.widman.biz/English/Calculators/Graph.html

Johnny G Pipe

Thanks Indy, I guess this is my concern. Just need reassuring that I am not going to be significantly increasing the stress on my 140k mile bearings by going up a weight..

Indycam

If I were to install a lube system that greased the bearings before start up ,
the bearings would be protected by the grease ?

alexjc4

That far north I'd go for 10w40 maybe even 5w40 as a winter fill. Looking at that graphing tool 20w50 is twice as thick at 0c!

As the saying goes; you want flow not pressure.

boxsey911

Personally I wouldn't use 20W/50 over here because I'm lead to believe that most wear occurs on cold start up and that's why we're better off with a 'thinner' oil (when cold) for those first few minutes.

Indycam

If the temp is above the pour point , the oil will flow . The oil pump will pump the oil .

Indycam

Thinner is not better for reducing cold start up wear as long as the temp is 10 ish above the pour point .
Thinner oil is better when the temperature requires it re the oils pour point .