Quote:
Originally Posted by pope
Daily driving in severe stop-and-go traffic such as in large cities with short distance, long time commutes (eg. LA, NYC, Seattle, Chicago, etc.) is an extreme use, so depending the OP’s location daily driving could justify heavier oil. Once he finishes sorting out his abundance of problems and installs the supercharger, being boosted would also justify thicker oil.
As Rtoyo posted, the manuals from non-US vehicles recommend various weights up to 10w-40 depending on use case. The engines are the same.
15w-50 is a way bit heavy for much use this side of track days in Arizona during the summer, but anyone that understands oil rating knows that 0w, 5w, or even 10w are completely fine depending on what type of “Winter” the vehicle is operated in. As for the operating weight, 20 is the general recommendation in modern vehicles to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions, but the use case and conditions are going to dictate whether 30+ are better choices.
Also remember the manual is written for the lowest common denominator, and in the US the low is pretty low (we’ve all seen the idiotic product warning labels), so telling people to use one specific oil is easier that expecting people to make a properly informed decision.
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Though I agree with what you say, I would not consider stop and go traffic to be extreme, and I HIGHLY doubt that's what the manual is referring to either. People experience this type of driving style all the time, all around the world. Also, stop and go traffic raises the oil temperature very minimally, I have kept close watch of this in the past. In stop and go traffic, you also don't experience high REV's, which plays a much larger factor in proper oil pressure and having a proper oil weight respectively.