5w30 oil for the 2gr-fks?

The dealership is always pushing the 0w20 when I go there. Every time. They must get it for free someplace. My truck specifies 5w30 (1gr-fe V6) and that's what I ask for. 0w20 in this engine is never going to give me better mileage: It's too much fun to drive and put your foot in it. The 5w30 there is Mobil 1.

 

How do you know they’re actually using 5w30?

 

Is there an oil problem with 2GR-FKS engine you need to address?

 

They all have fuel dilution to some degree.

 

Erl.

 

I disliked Knoxville enough that I moved back to Payson, AZ. I hoped that the gas mileage would return.

 

What causes the fuel dilution? Does the 5W-30 oil do differently than 0W-20 to solve the fuel dilution?

Changing the oil more frequently may help more than using different grade oil.

 

Fuel dilution has many causal factors but direct injection engines tend to be more prone to it, especially if driven on short trips frequently.

5w-30 doesn’t prevent fuel dilution (unless perhaps it provides a tiny increase in ring pressure), it really just provides a little bit larger margin of safety for the oil to maintain minimum oil film thickness after a given amount of fuel has seeped in.

 

There are tons of oil analysis reports posted by tw members here. Even with 10k oci, the fuel parameters where within normals.

 

I’m not saying it’s a pervasive problem needing mass-scale remediation through switching to 30 weight oil. There is nothing wrong with running 0w20.

I do personally choose to run boutique HPL 0w-30 for the reasons I cited, and the data I have seen does suggest that the 2nd-fks is not immune to fuel dilution under common circumstances. There’s no downside aside from cost, which is mitigated to some degree by the safer extension of the interval.

 

Also—0w-20 runs warms up slower and stays cooler even at steady state, from the studies I’ve seen.

 

Used to work in fuels and oils etc etc...

Firstly - When new (up to 50k) I would always stick to the grade on the oil cap.
Secondly - The car companies are obsessed with manipulating MPG figures and 0w20, 0w16 etc does that. There is no secret that these lighter grades give increased mileage but at an ever, ever so slight wear cost.
Third - The new engines require a harder working, higher quality oil, that often leans towards a lower viscosity, for VVT and VVI etc
Fourth - Consider your operating climate / conditions.

The Standard to meet warranty in the Tacoma 2.7 4 is ILSAC GF-6A. As well as Mobil 1 0w20, that is found in the Mobil 1 0w30 Advanced Fuel Economy for example... (why use any other brand - just saying).
ILSAC GF-6A is NOT found in the Mobil 1 0w30 ESP also Mobil 1. High quality oil specifications will cross over between grades.
Also the owners manual uses the wording 'recommends' not 'must do'
In hot environments and high speed and high workload I would recommend going up a viscosity level. 0w30 meets those requirements for warranty and added protection in heat and high workload.
0w30 is generally considered to be used where ambient air temperature is 36c / 97f. So if you live in these climates then why not give yourself the protection ?

In Summary Mobil 1 0w20 and 0w30 Advanced Fuel Economy (Any probably other brands you can research) have the required ILSAC GF-6A which is the only engine oil specification requirement mentioned in the Toyota manual.
Therefore being May in the South, currently using Mobil 1 0w30 AFE in my Tacoma 2.7 , If I lived further North (and in Winter) I would put 0w20 in.

Hope that helps.

 

There is not really a meaningful difference in cold cranking resistance between 0w-30 and 0w-20. The difference in viscosity curves only has an effect in the period before the oil is warmed up, but it’s not very large at temperatures over -30F, to the point where, under pumping pressure, there will essentially be no difference in oil delivery times to critical components.

It’s splitting hairs. Both are very close.

And I’m not sure about the 2.7, but the 3.5 specs GF-5 on older models. Really any API SP or ACEA C5 oils would work just fine.

 

I would go as far as to say that any motor oil you can find in Walmart will work just fine* in either of these engines, with the exception of 0w-16 or 0W-8 if your Walmart stocks these.

*”work just fine” defined as allows the engine to outlast the transmission, chassis, electrical components, and likely the first three owners.