I've done 100s of oil changes before... I've never seen olive green oil before...






Pretty weird, huh?

 

Wow that is weird! Is that also what Motorcraft 5w20 looks like, or does just the Ford factory fill look like this?

I believe I've read on this site that some Castrol Syntec made in Germany has a green color. Correct me if I'm wrong on this one!

 

Fueliegalaxie: I may have blown it. The article I mentioned with the opposing view is more of a mix (I had seen it referenced in Noria's book on how to select a motor oil). I will post the reference as it has some interesting stuff. The article is about halfway down the page where it says "Consider This . . . By Drew D. Troyer" (the first section promotes straight weight oils). Drew's article points out how much better today's oils are and gives a little economic analysis to show that the fuel savings of the thinner oil are worth while (according to his assuumptions).http://www.machinerylubrication.com/...up=Maintenance

 

Interesting infor from Shell, Xyzzy. I think that what is meant by "closer tolerances" is not a smaller space between the bearing and the journal, for example, but that the deviation of the surface of the journal is tighter--big difference. Somewhere I read that even the SL rated gasoline oils were suffering some from this environmentalist effect and that the best is an SH. I thought the Chevron DELO 400 and Valvoline Premium Blue were SJ, but not sure. Shell Rotella is SL. I don't think you can get an SH. John Deere also makes 15w40, both dino and semi-synthetic. Anyway, I will check out that Shell site. My Haynes manual says 15w40 is good down to 10 F. That green oil is really weird. Ever see Rislone. It is blue-green from a dye they add. I wonder if Royal Purple oil is purple? BTW, the phosphorus was limited to 0.1 percent to supposedly protect the converter, but now Ford wants to half that number. I believe the HDMOs are more like 0.15 percent phosphorus.

There are a bunch of good oil articles at this site:
http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/BaseOils/articles.shtml

Go there and download the first two articles under the "OEM Requirements" section of that site (as summarized below). These will shed light on the new, light weight oils:

What do automakers want most from engine oils?
by David McFall
Lubes'N'Greases, Mar. 2001. 4 pages.
"The answer may depend on which automaker you ask. Fuel economy, emissions system compatibility, and wear protection everyone¹s list and maybe extended oil life. But that leaves plenty of room for divergence among Detroit¹s Big Three, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and General Motors."

5W-20 Engine Oil
by David McFall
Lubes'N'Greases, Feb. 2001. 4 pages.
"Why 5W-20? Why Now? Ford doesn't mince words: "Moving to 5W-20 was driven by using best technology oils, CAFE requirements and customer needs," said Mike Riley, product design engineer..."