5w replacing 0w oil weight?

[Chubbs]

My Chrysler Pacifica runs 0w-20, and my Charger runs 0w-40. Finding 0w-40 was a problem when I bought the car in 2016, but got easier in the following years....until recently. 0w-20 has always been easy to find....until recently.

Scrounging around local parts stores revealed TONS of options in either 5w-20 or 5w-40, but almost nothing in 0 weight oil (I managed to find some, but selection was slim). Same thing online at amazon...the 0w stuff seems to be getting harder to find, both in 20 and 40 weights. It's almost as if the 5w replaced the 0w. The bottles and brands and marketing was all familiar, it's just the weight changed.

Did SAE redefine what a 0w oil was, so that 0w just became 5w? I'm curious why there has been a shift recently, when I've never even heard of a car that took 5w-20. It seems to be an oil without a vehicle to put it in, and yet that seems to be the easiest to find right now.

 

[escapepilot]

5w seems to be pretty common in GM vehicles and imports.

 

[Gtstorey]

Every GM I have and my kia calls for 5w-xx. Never had anything that called for 0w.

 

[Rttoys]

All GM DOD engines use 0w-20 oil. So basically, every GM truck from 2010 to current and a ton of their cars of the same era. My buddy works for Exxon/mobile and work in the chemicals dept for a short time a few months ago. He said some of the additives used for the 0w-20 are hard to come by, so production is slow at the moment, but should get back on track soon.

0w also came from racing and is used in a lot of race engines.

5w-30 is still popular in non dod trucks like all 2500-3500 series.

 

[Vwsaabvt]

You are just noticing supply chain issues for oil, 2-3 months ago I was having problems getting lots of oil. Hondas, Toyotas, newer GMs use 0w20, some Hondas and Toyotas even use 0w-16. Ford uses 5w20 in most of their 4 cylinder, non ecoboost v-6s, and v8s, ecoboosts get 5w30 and some of their newer diesels use 10w30. I keep 0w20, 5w20, and 5w30 stocked because they are what I come across the most at my shop.

 

[Gtstorey]

Not all GM DOD engines call for 0w. The L99 DOD used in the 5th gen Camaro auto call for 5w-30 unless used in extreme cold and then it calls for 0w.

 

[Chubbs]

You are just noticing supply chain issues for oil,

This makes sense. I guess if they can't get additives for 0w oil, it won't be on the shelves.

3 or 4 months ago I couldn't find 0w-40 at any price, anywhere. Now it's back. Still not in large quantities or a good selection, but I can at least get when I need it.