What’s the Right Oil Viscosity for Construction Equipment?

Things are changing in the engine-oil world, “faster than most of us realize,” says this week’s guest on The Dirt.
Kevin Carabell, regional technical services team lead for Chevron Lubricants, guides us through these changes as well as provides a clear, easy-to-understand explainer on what contractors need to know about choosing the right oil viscosity.
Those numbers on the oil bottle are important to determining the right oil for the conditions your heavy equipment will be working in. Carabell explains what those numbers really mean and how they affect your machines.
So to learn more about what’s going on inside your engine and how to choose the right oil to keep it running in top condition, check out the latest episode of The Dirt.
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In This Episode:
00:00 - Engine Oil Viscosity
00:32 - What is Engine Oil Viscosity?
02:40 - Why Do Engine Oils List 2 Viscosities?
04:43 - Why Should I Pay Attention to Engine Oil Viscosity?
08:43 - What Kind of Oil Will Be in the Newest Upcoming Engines?
09:53 - Why are We Able to Transition to Thinner Oils?
10:57 - Final Thoughts
AI Video Transcript:
Bryan Furnace
Today we're back to talk about motor oil, but this time we're going to talk about viscosities. More specifically, what are viscosities like? I know it has to do with thickness of oil, but what does that mean for my engine and why are viscosities changing? Today we're joined by Kevin with Chevron, and he's going to talk to us more about what all of this means.
Bryan Furnace
Well, Kevin, thank you so much for being back on the dirt. It's good to see you again.
Kevin Carabell
Yeah, great to be here. Thank you for inviting me I appreciate it.
Bryan Furnace
Yeah, absolutely. So my first question is when we talk about viscosities, you know, on this side, on the front lines as people who don't really know a whole lot about oils, we talk about, you know, 1030 1540 what are we actually talking about there? What is viscosity?
Kevin Carabell
Yeah, it's a good question. And rather than getting into sort of a deep scientific description of it, let's try to connect it to the reality that people experience. Viscosity is a measure of a fluid's resistance to flow. Okay. This is kind of one way to think about it. So we know that water flows easily. And so we say water has extremely low viscosity.
Kevin Carabell
Honey on the other hand, takes a little bit of effort to get it to flow and has a very high viscosity. So the viscosity of the fluid is there to keep moving surfaces apart. And that's probably the most important consideration to avoid friction and wear an engine. And in an engine, you've got different conditions. Temperature. We know temperature affects viscosity.
Kevin Carabell
So an engine oil that is as thick as honey at -20°F will be almost as thin as water at 300°F. So the viscosity of the oil changes with temperature. And there's another condition that we call shear. And you intuitively know it. Shear is if you think of the narrow passages in an engine like between bearings and shafts, that's a high shear environment.
Kevin Carabell
It takes a lot of work to force the oil through those orifices and narrow gaps. So that's a high shear environment. A low shear environment is maybe the oil just flowing through the the oil galleries. Right. There's still some shear going on, but it's it's pretty low. So that's kind of how I think of oil and just kind of tying that back.
Kevin Carabell
The important thing to keep in mind is you want the right viscosity at the right conditions.
Bryan Furnace
So why are oils listed with two. Viscosity is versus like an C30 or whatever. Why is there only one viscosity there. But in a lot of our engine oils we have two. Viscosity is listed.
Kevin Carabell
So that's a system that was put in place to enable people to make intelligent buying decisions. And it's a good system. And there's two numbers that that people generally see. You'll describe it as a like a 15 W 40. So the 15 W would be the first number. And that tells you the winter grade. It's a good way to remember it.
Kevin Carabell
And lower numbers will tell you that the oil is suitable for use in very cold weather. So these these oils have been checked performance wise to make sure that you can start and lubricate your engine. And a 15 is good down to about four degrees below zero Fahrenheit ten W runs down to -13 A, five W -22 and A0W -31°F.
Bryan Furnace
Okay.
Kevin Carabell
That's what that's telling you. And even, you know, even in Wisconsin, -30°F. It's pretty cold. And and so zero Ws are for those really cold conditions, 15 are for the warmer conditions. The second number is the 30 or 40 in most heavy-duty service. But there's other numbers now that you may not be aware of. There's 20 weights and...

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The chevron oil interviews are my favorite.👍