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Thread: Oil weight conflicting advice

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    Oil weight conflicting advice

    Which division of Mitsubishi is telling the truth when it comes to what oil to put in your 3A92 engine. The American Mitsuibishi website recommends 0W20 only and yet in certain other countries the owners manual leaves the decision up to the owner based on his/her local atmospheric conditions, specifying oils weights anywhere from 0W20 to 20W50. < Or is this a misinterpretation on my part and the graph is simply a visual aid and what I should be reading is the part that says SAE 0W20, 0W30, 5W30, 5W40 can be used but not any of the others represented on the graph?

    There's nothing on the actual vehicle that orders me to use a certain weight like on some cars in other parts of the world. (oil cap, plate under the bonnet)

    Locally I get no lower than 0 degrees and usually no higher than 45 degrees celsius, am I better using an on average thicker oil that easily covers me for my hottest temperatures and lowest but is thicker on startup or am I better going for a on average thinner oil that is extremely thin on startup and barely covers my hottest average temperatures?

    Cars I've had in the past have specified one weight which has made buying oil really easy, not so here. MY is 2015.

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    Last edited by skyblue; 05-19-2021 at 01:31 PM.

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    Yeah, you seem to be in one of the countries where they let you do any of those oils. I think they push the 0w-20 here for fuel economy but it's probably not better than a heavier oil. Due to warranty reasons I think most stick with 0w-20 or whatever the dealer throws in and it works fine. I would stick with the full synthetic regardless and the table seems to say you will be fine with whatever you pick. Maybe try one of the middle ones first.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2019 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 38.8 mpg (US) ... 16.5 km/L ... 6.1 L/100 km ... 46.5 mpg (Imp)


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    I think I may have misunderstood the graph they've included as permission to use any oil displayed, like a 20W50, which the more I think about it, likely isn't the intent of the manual, I think they might have meant use the 4 oils specified in TEXT and included a graph as an example but I can't be sure.

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    The truth is in these cars you can use practically any good oil, because our cars were well engineered.
    I DO NOT want to start another oil thread!

    Viscosity is what you asked about, and 0W20 is what Mitsubishi uses, and what Mitsu dealers use during maintenance.

    Quality is a totally different issue, and does not correlate with viscosity!
    The most stringant quality descriptor is ILSAC, and specified in the owners manual. Currently a ILSAC GF-5 conform oil would be the best you can get. They usually come in 0W20 or 5W20.
    Last edited by foama; 05-20-2021 at 09:14 AM.

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    With CAFE standards what they are I take manufacturers oil weight recommendations with a grain of salt. I drove an '88 Ford Escort with a 1.9L that Ford recommended 5w30 in 518K miles and about 23 years using various brands of 10w40 conventional. At that mileage it was leaking/burning quite a bit but I have no doubt if I'd have kept driving it and keeping the oil topped off it would have made 600K+. I really don't know how much it was leaking and how much it was burning but I know it was leaking pretty good at the rear main when I quit using it. If it hadn't been for me having chronic back pain and not feeling like taking care of it's further needs I'd probably still be driving it and it would likely be around 625K now but, I wasn't going to pay someone $50-100 an hour to work on a car with over 1/2 a million miles. My '16 Versa also recommends 5w30, guess what I'm using in it. Yep, good old 10w40 that I've been using ever since I bought my first car in the '70's. I'm not going to knock anyone if they want to use 0w16. It's their car to do with as they want. I just prefer to have something that going to have a little heavier film strength when stuck in stop and go traffic on a 110* day. When I worked in Charlotte years ago during rush hour on hot days I'd sometimes see water temps hit 220-230 and I think I remember reading oil temp usually exceeds water temp by approximately 15* once they're both up to full temperature. 10w40 pours out of the bottle pretty easily on a hot day. I can only imagine what it's like when it hits near 250*.
    Last edited by 2016 Versa; 05-20-2021 at 04:03 AM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 2016 Versa View Post
    ... 10w40 pours out of the bottle pretty easily on a hot day. I can only imagine what it's like when it hits near 250*.
    Mirage engines are well engineered, and on long stretches of autobahn, oil temp rarely exceeds 70°C.
    Crappy designed engines of yesteryear often reached oil temps of 150°C and over on the autobahn.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 2016 Versa View Post
    10w40 pours out of the bottle pretty easily on a hot day. I can only imagine what it's like when it hits near 250*.
    It's like 40 weight at 250°.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    skyblue - Look at it like this. Fill in the blank below with ANY of the oil weights mentioned in this thread, as long as the latest ILSAC is used.

    You are not likely to EVER have an oil related issue with your Mirage if you use __________ viscosity oil, and do regular oil and filter changes.

    So now, you are free to choose what you want and when you choose to, you can put this issue behind you. On the other hand, I don't believe most others, including myself, mind having a good discussion.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2020 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 42.4 mpg (US) ... 18.0 km/L ... 5.6 L/100 km ... 50.9 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by skyblue View Post

    Cars I've had in the past have specified one weight which has made buying oil really easy, not so here. MY is 2015.
    If you felt good about what you used in the past with the previous vehicle, I would considering using the same oil with your Mirage.

    0W-20 is recommended here, but one forum member (Southeastern United States) used 5W-30 conventional oil for 300,000+ miles with his Mirage. His oil/filter was changed every 5,000 miles, & he didn't have any engine related issues.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 7milesout View Post
    skyblue - Look at it like this. Fill in the blank below with ANY of the oil weights mentioned in this thread, as long as the latest ILSAC is used.

    You are not likely to EVER have an oil related issue with your Mirage if you use __________ viscosity oil, and do regular oil and filter changes.

    So now, you are free to choose what you want and when you choose to, you can put this issue behind you. On the other hand, I don't believe most others, including myself, mind having a good discussion.
    Thank you, I'm curious to know what makes ILSAC special over API and ACEA?



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