2018 Tacoma 60k miles. blown cylinder and cracked head

I read somewhere that for this V6 engine, running it on steep inclines or declines could rob some cylinders of oil. Is that true?

Also - and this is a super super naïve question, I was looking at some other thread and I saw one of these "snorkels". I presume that is for when someone off-roads, and puts the vehicle in deep water, such that the point of air intake remains above the water line... Water is not so compressible. Anyway, would repeated thermal cycles potentially lead to fatigue in an aluminum block? And are cylinder blocks made of the same material as pistons and valves?

 

The Corolla GR will take all the attention away from Toyota trucks.

 

I wonder if running a thicker oil would help, like 10W-30 or 5W-40?

 

The oil issue seems to be restrictive drains so when the engine is at an incline for an extended period of time oil pools in the head, eventually making its way through the pvc system into the cylinders causing rods to bend. As for repeated thermal cycles causing the block to crack, yes inevitably all cylinders will start to develop cracks. As long as the cooling system can keep up with the heat load generated by the engine though it should not be an issue within a normal life expectancy. The block I believe is die-cast aluminum, the pistons are hypereuc aluminum and the valves I think are stainless.

 

I run 5w30 in the summer and 0w30 in the winter. There are some zealots on here that will tell you that the engine will implode if you run anything but 0w20 for 10k oci’s. My thought on it is I’d rather run a more more robust oil for the added protection. This motor is specd by Toyota to run xw30 weight oil just about everywhere else in the world that isn’t governed by CAFE and the EPA.

 

100% agree. I’m in Texas and run 10w-30 synthetic blend (gasp) and change at 5k. It’s not scientific but it’s pretty damn clear the thing will live just fine on thicker oil based on the foreign country recommendations of any viscosity ranging from 0w-20 to 10w-40. Definitely feels like 0w-20 is strictly for EPA pleasure and nothing else. I don’t know that any of it matters that much but I see no reason to not run a thicker oil in Texas summer. In winter I might dial it back to 5W or 0W-30 but honestly 10W is fine in Texas winter so I may not bother.

so far I haven’t imploded yet so I’m gonna call it good/safe. Not sure that would help the valve issue though.

 

I have never seen any definitive data to justify the use of the ultra thin oils they are pushing now besides improved fuel economy (marginal at best) and faster warm up times. After seeing a number of manufacturers roll back their recommendations of thinner oils for their diesel and forced induction engines that thought was even more reinforced. I’ve been running 5k oci’s and plug in my block heater when it’s colder than 10f overnight and the 5 oil samples I’ve sent in have been perfect.

 

Yep, it’s pretty easy to see. They aren’t magically designing the performance of 0w-20 as something special for modern engines. It is just a thin oil to boast higher mpgs, that’s it. The whole designed around a viscosity argument is especially weak when the manufacturer changes their recommendation for an engine overnight.

Nissan always recommended 5W-30 for the VQ40 engine in the frontiers. Then one random day they released a supplemental document saying that 0w-20 is now recommended (though they didn’t update the owner’s manual). They didn’t change anything but now all of a sudden 0w-20 is the right oil to use? Yeah, I don’t buy that.

The best way I’ve ever seen any of this put is that a 0W-20 is still thicker when cold than a 10w-40 is when hot. If it can handle the cold 0W fine, then it can certainly handle the hot 40. It’s not like we’re comparing water and honey. Of course, the cold 10w COULD be an issue, but that’s why we usually choice oil based on the climate.

 

Lol. Anyone who posted in this thread using the word "feeling"... That's fine. But, engineers do not use feelings. They use data. And design. And testing. Feelings are for those things like love, happy, sad, mad etc. Not determining hard fact like OCI or viscosity. Piece of mind is the same as feelings. Not an Engineering term.

 

No feelings here, just research. Probably should check some other parts... but here are the mains.

Main bearing oil clearance. The LS400 1UZ (32 years old) and IS-F 2UR GSE both spec 5 or 10W30. The 3UR FE and 2GR FKS spec 0W20.

1990 LS400 1UZ standard all journals .0010 - .0018

2008 IS-F 2UR and 3UR Tundra/Land Cruiser journals 2 - 4 .0010 - .0015
Journals 1 and 5 .0007 - .0012

2016 2GR FKS journals 1 and 4 .00075 - .0012
Journals 2 and 3 .0010 - .0014

1990 LS400 max clearance limit .0022
2008 IS-F 2UR and 3UR Tundra/Land Cruiser .0024
2016 2GR FKS max clearance 1 and 4 .020
Max clearance 2 and 3 .024

 

I’m in Texas too. It’s hot.. great point to use thicker oil in terms of engine wear!!! I’m gonna switch to 5w when I get mine back and always change at 5k miles. 10k mile recommendation is dumb AF IMO..

 

I’d up the second number if wanting to run a heavier oil for summer protection, though it won’t hurt W number to be a bit higher either.

 

That is great information.

 

You need to understand 5W-20 isn't "thicker" than 0W-20; it just starts out a bit more viscous when "cold", even if that "cold" is 100°F. If you really want to switch to a thicker oil you need to move to a 0W-30; that said, I do not believe there is any scientifically proven evidence indicating your engine will last 1 mile longer if you use 0W-30 versus 0W-20.

 

I have Tacoma world and LinkedIn. I quit checking Facebook because people will scrub FB content when looking for a job.
Twitter is just a train wreck.
TikTok? Still for kids.

 

Definitely leaves plenty of room for interpretation & expectation to not get utterly screwed sub 100,000 miles.

 

Hope this makes you feel better.
In a parade of a few other flat beds with all crashed up cars.