Viscosity: What is it and how does affect engine performance?

We’ve done a few episodes over the years about engine oil viscosity, specifically how lower viscosity oils can improve fuel economy, but I don’t think we’ve ever really dove into viscosity itself and how it effects performance of the engine…. Until right now.
The thinner an oil is, the easier it pumps through the engine, which leads to a fuel economy improvement. We can all understand that. But there’s a lot more to oil viscosity than now thick it is.
It’s important, especially for the diesel technicians in our audience, to understand viscosity’s influence on engine components, so joining us this week is Kevin Carabell, technical team lead for Chevron Lubricants. He’s forgotten more about engine oil formulations than I’ll ever know, but Matt and I have challenged him to explain it to all of us.
You can read more at
www.ccjdigital.com/
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Contents of this video
00:00 10-44 intro
00:29 Viscosity’s influence on engine components
00:56 What is viscosity?
02:16 Sheer rate and viscosity
05:27 What do the numbers on a bottle of engine oil mean?
07:04 0W20 and diesel engines
09:10 Benefits of lower viscosity heavy-duty engine oil
10:52 Fuel economy gains
11:58 Viscosity below the OEM recommendation