Ford recommends use of 5W20 Oil for the 2001 Vulcan SE(and perhaps other current engines). Does anyone know the advatage of this grade over others available at a lower price -say 5W30 or 10W30. I would guess that fuel mileage might be improved, but by how much?
5W20 is priced about $1.50/liter higher in my area, and you have to look around to find it. Is it worth it?
Art Sale
I've been using Valvoline full synthetic 5w30 for at least the last 3 oil changes (more than that i think) and I get 30+ MPG on the highway (with K & N filter, air silencer removed and Flowmaster muffler).
The 5W-20 oil would flow better through an engine compared to a 10W-whatever. The first number is the base weight and the second number is the polymer added to enable the oil to act like the higher number as well. So in a nutshell, the first number is the base weight, lower=more oil output from the oil pump, however this is required to keep the temperatures lower, higher=less oil output from the oil pump but not as much oil output from the oil pump is required to keep the temperatures lower.
I guess it's a matter that the engineers at Ford decided a higher amount of oil pumped out of the oil pump with better flowing is better than a lower amount of oil pumped out of the oil pump with less flowing.
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