OW5,
or,they don't make oil thin enough for those temps. ( almost anyway )
Power streering fluid won't even flow at temps of way below zero.
You're right ...in those conditions cars have to be left running , even
24/7. Anchorage was paralyzed at 50 below about 12 years ago ..something
like that.
  My subaru dealer is selling 0W20 as a normal engine oil for new
subaru's.   Even in normal temps.

On 3/23/2013 8:29 PM, JRodgers wrote:
> All this oil talk got me to wondering what one would run at the opposite
> extremes - like in REALLY cold! I can remember back in 1971 when I was
> in Fairbanks it got cold as blazes. I don't remember the temperature in
> town then - but north of town at a Prospect Creek along where the Alaska
> Pipeline is, the temp on  January 23 went to minus 80F - coldest ever
> recorded in the US. Twice below the temperature at which kerosene
> freezes. In Feb of 1947 in Snag, Yukon - it went to minus 81.4F - the
> coldest temp ever recorded in North America - but I wasn't there then -
> but I sure was for the Prospect Creek event. Try starting a cold engine
> on a day like that. Cars were left running for days in many cases. Of
> course many had block heaters too, and battery hot plates but it's tough
> on engines at those temps. Anbd tires keep their flat spots all day.
> Thermostats never open. But oil being oil - I guess it had to get warm
> enough to lube - no matter what. But I still wonder what grade oils
> would be best used.
>
> John
>
> On 3/15/2013 4:08 PM, OlRivrRat wrote:
>>                 McNeely
>>
>>         It appears to me that you & I (& I suspect lots of others(either
>> direction)) may be interpreting the OwnersManual OilGradeChart
>> differently ~ since the 20w-50, 20w-40, 15w-50, 15w-40 RangeBars have an
>> ArrowTop on them I assume that means GreaterThan ~ I think that if they
>> didn't want to recommend the use those grades above 90�f they would have
>> capped them Flat as they have done with the 10w-40, 10w-30 RangeBar.
>> Also we should keep in mind that these specs are at least 30YrsOld ~
>> they may have been developed (more or less) from a CYA perspective ~ & a
>> number of improvements have been made in the EngineLube Grading&Quality
>> TestSpecs since then.
>>         When I look @ this chart it says to me if 15w-40 is OK to use
>> off the UpperEnd of the Temps then a 10w or 5w or 0w-40 should also be
>> OK to use in that same setting ~ Since theoretically a 40 "ShouldBe" a
>> 40 no matter what the **w # is.
>>         You asked the ? "What do folks in Arizona do for running in
>> summer?" & all I can say is that if I lived in AZ instead of NM I would
>> probably try to get away with using a 5w-40 until my OilTemp&Press'
>> Gauges told me to move up to 5w-50 & most definitely a FullSynthetic. I
>> did live in AZ for 2.5Yrs back in the '60s as a USAF WeatherGuy ~ I
>> recall many SummerDays with temps in the Mid120s ~ IIRC 128�F was the
>> highest ~ I drove a 51ChevyConvertable & then a
>> 63.5FordFalconSprintConvertable in those days probably running SAE40)
>>
>>
>> ORR ~ DeanB
>>
>> On 15 Mar , 2013, at 12:57 PM, Dave Mcneely wrote:
>>
>>> ---- Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Again, at 100C the 20w-50 should have higher viscosity than straight
>>>> 40. Outside temperature has minimal effect on oil temperature unless
>>>> the radiator is saturated or the effects of running the air
>>>> conditioning or higher speeds for longer times takes over.
>>>
>>> Dennis, why did VW recommend the straight 40W for the highest
>>> temperature range, rather than the 20W50, which was recommended for
>>> slightly lower ambient temperatures?  This is per my owner's book.
>>>
>>> mcneely
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Dennis
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>>>> Behalf Of Dave Mcneely
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 5:51 PM
>>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>>> Subject: Re: '87 Westy - Oil Change, out of hibernation
>>>>
>>>> OlRivrRat, thanks for the information.  I do switch to the 40W for
>>>> the hottest three months, and those are the months when I push the
>>>> camper the hardest, also.  I am following VW Vanagon owner's book
>>>> recommendation.  Forty weight for temperatures running at the high
>>>> end of the nineties, 20W50 for lower than that.  20W50 does great in
>>>> winter around here, and in spring and fall, also does well in
>>>> northern states in summer.  It is just too damned hot here and in the
>>>> SW and interior areas of the west.
>>>>
>>>> What do folks in Arizona do for running in summer?  mcneely
>>>>
>>>> ---- OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>>>>>      Ooops ~ sorry about that McNeely ~ your email asking about
>>>>> HighOP is immediately below Don Hansons email in which he says
>>>>>
>>>>>      "After hard use on a hot day, my idle OP sits at about 25psi
>>>>> with the
>>>>> 15-40w oil.    When I use 10-40 or 10-30, I see about 10psi lower at
>>>>> speed
>>>>> and a few psi lower at idle when hot."
>>>>>
>>>>> & that is what I was attempting to respond to but clicked on your
>>>>> email by mistake & did not notice.
>>>>>
>>>>>      I don't know the answer to your HighOP? ~ just off hand I'd say
>>>>> your OP#s look quite acceptable overall ~ I would start getting
>>>>> concerned if they dropped much below what you are getting now. Not
>>>>> sure, though, why you choose to change to thinner oil (40w) for the
>>>>> hot months (if those are the 3mo's you are referring to), if the
>>>>> 20w-50 works OK for you in the Winter it should work just fine
>>>>> YearRound. You really ought to consider giving a Synthetic a try (at
>>>>> least for those hot 3mo's), I suspect you may be pleasantly surprised
>>>>> by the results ~ Walmart has Valvoline or Mobil1(not recommending
>>>>> just
>>>>> informing) 5qtBottles for around $25 & usually many other good brands
>>>>> as well. Good Synthetics don't have to be expensive anymore.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ORR ~ DeanB
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 14 Mar , 2013, at 11:18 AM, <mcneely4@cox.net> <mcneely4@cox.net>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Well, the question was, "What is too much oil pressure in a
>>>>>> waterboxer?"  So, I repeat the question:  What is too much oil
>>>>>> pressure in a waterboxer?  Is it 65 psi, 70 psi?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On startup, cold, 20W50 Castrol (I hate the company, but use the oil
>>>>>> because I can't seem to find a better, and will not pay for
>>>>>> synthetic for an engine that is supposed to run on non-synthetic
>>>>>> oil), the OP on my 1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile with 2.1
>>>>>> with 170K miles runs at 60-70 psi depending on how cold it is.  At
>>>>>> home I garage it, and ambient temperature is usually around 50 F in
>>>>>> winter.  But then I park it outside when away from the house.  But
>>>>>> it has never pegged the 0-80 psi gauge.  The pressure usually drops
>>>>>> to 40 psi quickly as the engine warms up and holds around there.
>>>>>> Summer is another matter, it usually drops to around 30 psi but will
>>>>>> go lower on on long runs under hot conditions.  I switch to 40W for
>>>>>> about 3 months.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So far as low OP, I don't see a problem there, except at idle it may
>>>>>> drop to 10 psi or a tad lower after long hot runs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> How much OP is too high??
>>>>>>
>>>>>> mcneely
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---- OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET> wrote:
>>>>>>>       If I saw a 10PSI drop or even a 5PSI drop in HotOP from
>>>>>>> 15w-40 to
>>>>>>> 10w-40 or even 0w-40 I would Kiss that OilManufacture Goodby in a
>>>>>>> HeartBeat.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> ORR  ~ DeanB
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 14 Mar , 2013, at 8:52 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So, what is "too much" oil pressure in a waterboxer?  mcneely
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> And, what is too much oil pressure in an inline VW motor?  (ABA
>>>>>>>> Jetta 2.0
>>>>>>>> liter)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Mine, using 15-40 starts up cold with (3000rpm) 75-80psi, then
>>>>>>>> when up to normal oil temp (~200f) the pressure settles at around
>>>>>>>> 60-65psi (again, given a 3000rpm engine speed)  I've wondered
>>>>>>>> about the seemingly pretty high cold oil and engine oil
>>>>>>>> pressure...
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> After hard use on a hot day, my idle OP sits at about 25psi with
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> 15-40w oil.    When I use 10-40 or 10-30, I see about 10psi
>>>>>>>> lower at
>>>>>>>> speed
>>>>>>>> and a few psi lower at idle when hot.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> David McNeely
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> David McNeely
>>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> David McNeely
>>
>