Foosh

It's all too common in large corporations that the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing. However, how someone could publish a list of 2019 fluid specs such as above that is so completely wrong is beyond me.

The only logical explanation is that they took the file, deleted 2018, added 2019 to it and published. It's probably just pure laziness by someone without checking.

rmorin1249

Perhaps, but it's a sad commentary on the quality of communication within GM.

Patman

The proper way to do it would be for it to have a very good oil cooler and still run 0w40 oil. The reason why car makers specify very thick oil for cars that will mostly be raced is because they know those cars are going to see very high oil temps. If you have a great oil cooler and can keep the oil temps way lower, there is no need for 15w50 oil. Keep in mind that the viscosity of an oil gets thinner as it gets hotter, so that Mobil 1 15w50 at 275F is probably equivalent to the viscosity of Mobil 1 0w40 at 225F.

Gearhead Jim

Somebody, perhaps it was LDB, posted some approximate numbers for 0W-40 and 15W-50.
IIRC, at some point around 300'F, the 0w-40 was actually thicker than the 15W-50. That's because although the 0W-40 is thinner at low temps, it's big cold-hot spread keeps it from thinning out as much at high temps. From a viscosity standpoint, the 0W-40 is absolutely great. But there are other characteristics that have kept 0W-40 out of Corvettes until now, supposedly the new stuff solves those problems.

EDIT:
The quoted post was from Patman, who knows this kind of stuff already.

LDB

If they continue to recommend 15W50 in the really high power engines, it seems like a data point to me that while VI improvers are better, they don’t yet have full confidence. Here’s my reasoning. At a normal track temp of 275 or so, there’s only about 15 degrees of difference, not 50 degrees, so 275F 15W50 and 260F 0W40 would be about the same viscosity. That’s not a huge difference in temp, so why continue to call for 15W50 in some engines? Think about what the base oil is. For a full synthetic, 15W50 is a base oil of about 15W40, getting the last 10 numbers on the high end from VI improver. But even if the VI improver totally fails, the oil is still 15W40, which isn’t disastrously bad on the track. For 0W40, the base oil is about 0W25, getting the last 15 numbers from VI improver. That means it has about one and a half times as much VI improver, but more importantly, if the VI improver fails, it’s down to 0W25, which would be really bad on the track.

buckeye4

$5.16 plus $2.98 shipping.

dachtler

Just checked with Novato Chevrolet when I dropped off my 2017 GS for a half-dozen things. They're getting in the Mobil 1 ESP 0W-40 in 10-14 days from now, so I'm holding off on my oil change for 2 more weeks.

Jim Barker

Dexos II to be specific

Foosh

Yes, that goes without saying since there is no such thing as "Dexos 1" 0W-40.

Ozzstar

Chevrolet or Mobil should be giving one 0W-40 oil cap out free per owner with the first purchase of 10 quarts of Mobil1 0W-40, and also one of there fancy inner fender stickers just for the free advertisement they are getting.

Foosh

Wet sump cap no doubt. The dry sump version for no apparent reason is 4X more, and the two are definitely not interchangeable. The dry sump cap is 3-4 weeks back-ordered.

Patman

That's where I am confused. I knew the European 0w40 ESP met the dexos2 spec, but not dexos1. So I assumed that the tweaking that they were doing to this formula to bring it to North America meant it would meet dexos1 since the owner's manual for the 2014-2018s say we must use an oil that meets dexos1. So that is a bit curious that they are allowing us to use this dexos2 oil and still meet our warranty, since the two specs are different.

Foosh

Yeah, it is very confusing.

Frosty

Been doing some more reading on the differences between the existing 5W-30 Mobil 1 Dexos 1 and the 2019 0W-40 Mobil 1 which is Dexos 2 derived from Europe.

The primary difference is that the 0W-40 has much less Phosphorus content in the additives which helps extend the life of the emission system, specifically the catalytic converter matrix coating. However everything is a compromise, so the reduced Phosphorus content implies more metal to metal engine wear.

It appears that the main reason for the change is indeed, to negate having to do an oil change to 15W-50 racing oil for the track. However, if you are hard core with the track, you will still want to use 15W-50 as the 0W-40 is still a compromise for street and track.

So far I haven't heard anything about this 0W-40 that would make me want to switch because I would rather prioritize better metal to metal wear protection over catalytic converter protection.

c54u

Oil cap on 2019 showing 5w-30

See video around 7:25

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/2018/...beck-corvette/

Patman

Phosphorus is only one part of the anti wear package in a motor oil though, and even with that reduced content, they can easily make that up by simply adding more of the other anti wear additives such as moly, titanium or boron for instance.

A lot of people thought that when they reduced the levels of zinc and phosphorus in motor oil it would cause engines to prematurely wear out, but it's been a long time since those levels have been reduced and time has proven that engines are not wearing out quicker.

When I switch to the new 0w40, I will do a used oil analysis on it at the end of every interval and if I did see an alarming rise in engine wear, I would stop using this oil. However I'm 99.9% confident this won't happen.

Foosh

I just received an email from Corvette service advisor at Criswell Chevrolet, and they finally received a shipment of Mobil 1 ESP 0W-40 today. I'm sure that means it's now being shipped to dealers.

dachtler

Did Criswell happen to mention if they would use the ESP 0W-40 for an included oil change on pre-2019 C7 vettes?

Foosh

Good question. We didn't have a discussion, she just sent me an email saying they had it now if I wanted to come in for an oil change. It's too late for my 500-mile change, since I blew through that mark a couple of weeks ago and had to stay w/ 5W-30.

I'm sure we'll find out soon enough now that it's being shipped.

rmorin1249

This is encouraging news. I wonder if the "big" Corvette dealers are getting it first. This would make sense. Perhaps someone from Kerbeck and MacMulkin will chime in. I'm tempted to call my local dealer and see if they even know about the new oil. They sell only a few Corvettes each year.