There have been several threads recently alluding to the drivability differences of the 3.5L engine when using 5W-20 or 5W-30 weight motor oil. We are fortunate on this board to have several members who are technicians/engineers and work with these vehicles on a frequent basis and would perhaps have many data points on this topic. I can read my owner's manual and understand the temperature charts for the different viscosities and the fuel economy advantage however small it may be for thinner oil. My question is if a 3.5L vehicle falls within the operating temperature range of all the recommended motor oil viscosities and fuel economy was not the sole consideration, which oil viscosity do these engines seem to "like" the best? For the record I use 5W-20 Pennzoil Platinum and change it every 5K miles. Thanks!
Egg Head
5W-20 VS. 5W-30 for the 3.5L motor
we have 2 elantras. one just had it's first service, the dealer put in 5w-30 mobil1. the second elantra is going in for the same service next week, and will get the same fill. i know both had 5w-20(i know because right after we bought each one, i drained/refilled with synthetic). every time i fill with gas, i check the mpg. the 5w-30 car gets less mpg, but it may be the wife's driving style(mash the gas, slam on the brakes, i think she is trying to give me a heart attack. probably for the insurance). i am curious to see what, if any, mpg change there will be after the oil service on the second car.
@hochiinn
Yeah, but clearly a different class of vehicle (non suv, lighter, engine family as well). I have used Penzoil Platinum lot which Egg Head mentioned I my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Sold it for this replacement at 300k on it.
PS I do have a thread recently started not much different topic than this.
Sorry actually buried in another thread so here is the link to the point. http://www.hyundai-forums.com/cm-2007-2012-santa-fe/482025-no-oil-filter-santa-fe-2007-a-3.html
Yeah, but clearly a different class of vehicle (non suv, lighter, engine family as well). I have used Penzoil Platinum lot which Egg Head mentioned I my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Sold it for this replacement at 300k on it.
PS I do have a thread recently started not much different topic than this.
Sorry actually buried in another thread so here is the link to the point. http://www.hyundai-forums.com/cm-2007-2012-santa-fe/482025-no-oil-filter-santa-fe-2007-a-3.html
i know this is a different class of vehicle. the only reason i posted is because the dealer we use put 5w-30 in, when the cap says 5w-20. and 5w-20 is what i put in. maybe the dealer knows something different. which might mean for your area, dealers may be using different weight of oil. since the dealer is the one who is going to see the most engine problems, perhaps they are using what weight oil works best
I wonder how many different fluids the have since requirements specified are different for engines and years of serviced vehicles. Why I prefer to do it myself. No idea what bulk oil they put in. I have run into this is tranny shops doing a dump and fill. To sum a barrel is Dextron is good for Chrysler, Ford, and others. While there are so many different spec's. They can't be bothered to get the specified fluid or direct spec'd equivalent.
Hyundai put the same 5w20 cap on the Genesis Coupe turbo motors too. They quickly dropped that grade for 5w30, 10w30 and 5w40.
It probably up to the dealer as long as the vehicle OEM does NOT stipulate a specific grade or brand for their dealers to use in certain engines. Turbo's can be fussy and getting it wrong could be a costly oil change. I try to stay away from them and opt for more cylinders or displacement for torque and power myself.
Will not use 5W20 in our 2011 SF limited 3.5 ever again. 5W30 is the oil I plan to keep using... Have always used synthetic oil but so far the Pennzoil yellow bottle conventional oil seems to be performing well in our 3.5 V6. After a few short 3K oil changes, I may again try a syn oil but will go with a 5W30. Currently using the PYB because it is highly thought of oil at the "bobistheoilguy" website and I wanted to try an affordable and good 30 weight oil that I could drain out if I was not happy with it. It seems to be working wonderful in our 3.5 V6(47K miles).
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