What is oil viscosity? Myths and truth

Section Everything about SAE viscosity, article 6 of 780 words, 1 minute

Oil viscosity: myths and truth

In this section: 7 articles
  1. What is oil viscosity? What it's for
  2. How to decode the viscosity index
  3. Which viscosity is better for the engine?
  4. Popular misconceptions about viscosity
  5. Viscosity value table
  6. What is oil viscosity? Myths and truth
  7. Once again about oil viscosity

So what's the truth about engine oil viscosity, and what's it even for? And which oil is better, 0W-30 or 5W-50? In fact, the better one is whichever the engine's design calls for.

The internet is full of a million explanations of what the numbers in the viscosity code mean, and, by the way, most of them are wrong — so who do you believe? And how do you even work out what viscosity oil should go into my particular engine?

Read the whole “Everything about SAE viscosity” section