I'm sorry if this is a much covered topic but I took my 2022 trd sport to mechanic today..

It didn’t, but using the Mexico book could prove that it’s perfectly fine to use what the shop used and that there is truly nothing to fret about. A lot like to say “I don’t live in Mexico” and while that may be true, the documentation for their trucks certainly applies just fine to ours north of the border.

Maybe more helpful to put minds at ease would be to refer to the FSM (that doesn’t differentiate by country) that also approves of more than 0W-20.

edit: I see you said factory. I missed that. Nothing to do with the production factory at all. Only has to do with what country a truck is destined to. Trucks going to Canada and US get a manual that says 0W-20. Trucks headed to Mexico get a book that gives them a chart with a sliding scale for what viscosity can be used based on temp. The only difference between anything is Mexico doesn’t have strict guidelines to follow with their recommendations.

 

It has nothing to do with where the truck is made. The Tacoma is sold in Mexico and the owner's manual specifies 5W30, where Toyota doesn't have to give a crap about corporate average fuel economy. Even 10W30 and 15W40 can be used according to the manual as long as the temps are above -12C (10F).

 

I don't think anyone understood my earlier joke about the low viscosity oil used in F1 cars. Low viscosity oil, and everything else that improves the efficiency of an automobile (everything else the same), also improves its performance. Wasted energy is never good. The often stated grievances about automobiles being designed for fuel economy are often misguided. Efficiency wins F1 races.

CAVEAT: not just F1... I just happened to be watching a video on F1 racing car engineering recently.

 

^F1 uses 10W60 due to the high temperatures involved: https://f1chronicle.com/what-oil-do-f1-cars-use/ But the brew of friction modifiers are developed to reduce friction.

 

Rly? Am I mistaking it with another form of racing? I've long understood that race cars use low viscosity oil to reduce friction loses.

EDIT: I did little research that lead mr to believe that F1 cars use a relatively high viscosity range oil because the engines run at a very high temperature thus reducing the viscosity of the oil. I might have gotten my wires crossed with drag racing maybe? In any case, in gernaral race cars don't like to lose energy to friction (i.e. viscosity) in their oil, yes?

EDIT: in any case, I'm skeptical that EPA standards are the only thing compelling auto manufacturers to recommend lower range viscosity oil these days. I think people state the EPA thing too quickly without thinking it through. And even they are, it's not a bad thing to have an efficient engine.

 

^Most racing events don't take place in below-freezing temperatures, so they don't use 0Wxx oil.

 

Look through the 2nd gen Tacoma owner's manuals starting from 2005. The 2TR-FE 4-cyl was specified with 5W30 until the year the EPA added cold starts to the test cycle, then the manuals began to require 0W20. The single-VVTi 1GR-FE couldn't use 0W20 because the oil temps got too high in the head.

The other reason Toyota specifies 0W20 (in engines that can survive with it) is to extend the oil change interval from 5k to 10k miles, so they save money with the two years of complimentary ToyotaCare maintenance offered in the US.

 

but i think it's pretty well documented at this point that the zero weight oil isn't really for cold weather performance as much as it is to eek out every single MPG during the EPA's drive cycle tests for certification.

 

^Yes, the carmakers did it after the EPA added cold starts to the test cycle.

The other low viscosity fluids like WS ATF and $80-a-can LF 75W transfer case oil were done to eck out the last 0.1 mpg as well. However, the timing of the solenoids and actuators are such that using "normal" viscosity fluids lead to malfunctions.

 

I think my overall point was not well articulated. I didn’t really want to make a point about oil viscosity. The point I was trying to make is that that people too often think efficiency and performance are at odds with each other when it is often not true. Lack of efficiency lowers performance. Putting big meaty tire on your truck not not only lowers fuel economy, it also makes your truck slower. Don’t hate on efficiency.