Anyone using other than 0W-20 oil?

Must be a Dad thing, my Dad was a fan of Valvoline 20/50. Ran it in everything from his big-block powered Motorhome to our ATV’s so when I got my first car (‘93 T100, I still have it) that’s what he convinced me to run in it too, which I did for years. Gradually though I learned more about engines and oil and now run oil of appropriate weights for the engine. I run 0W/20 in my Taco.

I do still run 20/50 in my air-cooled VW though. No such thing as tight tolerances on that motor!

 

LOL!!!!!
I've always chuckled at the 'Shade Tree Mechanic' guys who know more than the army of guys with PhD's in Mechanical Engineering know. I still remember when I was a kid, the guy next door who used to wag his finger at my dad when he was changing his oil/filter and berating him because he wasn't using a dozen different kinds of 'oil additives' .. (He swore by replacing 1 qt. of engine oil with 2 cans of STP, would get him 500K miles out of his engine..)

 

winter here at my house, it hardly ever gets below 30 deg F. And my truck is always garaged. I tow my boat in the summer, sometimes to hot climates, so I use 5w-30 Mobil 1 full synthetic.

 

5/20 will not hurt the engine, but the oil actuated valve timing could be effected.

 

LOL! (Old dad here btw.. LOL!)
On a VW bug ... Yeah, I'd probably still go with 20-50 .. (As you site..)
I remember when I bought a new 95' Dodge van with a 318 and seeing that they recommended using 10-30w and thinking 'WTF .. You expect me to run water-thin oil? Are you guys crazy?' But I stuck with what they said... OTOH, 25 years later ... Still running fine.

 

30wt is too thick for these engines.

 

Ah... common sense coupled with a bit of knowledge of what oil viscosity ratings mean. Refreshing to see on TW instead of “but but Toyota engineers can’t be wrong!! “ lol being an engineer I realize recommendations and specifications are tailored for the broad usage, not the particular application of your individual environment.

 

Being an engineer you should know that ambient temp has little effect on operating oil temp.

 

Did your Dad own a hydraulic lifter V8 back in the day and replace 1 quart of engine oil with 1 quart of tranny fluid with his oil changes? I really want to know

 

LOL!!!!!!
My brother-in-law still does this. He adds a quart of 'Ford' (Had to be 'Ford' ... More 'detergents' in it) tranny fluid to the crankcase ... Let it run for 10 minutes ... Then drain the pan. He swears that it cleans all the gunk out and leaves the insides of the engine clean enough to eat off of. (Aside that everything is still covered in oil, but never mind that...)
My BIL is 74 ... OTOH, he's still doing his own oil/filter changes, so there's that. Who am I to burst his bubble, right?

 

He said yes to the V8 but no to the tranny fluid.
I also said the general consensus on the forum is to go with 0W-20....He said" If your going to do that, its up to you". AKA well if you want to ruin your engine, its up to you...HAHAHAHAHA

 

Cmon man... sanitation and train engineers need love too...

 

I’m not a mechanical engineer but I don’t have to be to know that engines without an oil cooler are directly affected by ambient temperature as well as engine temperature. And vehicles with engine oil coolers (tow packages for example) are affected by engine and coolant temperatures which both can be affected by ambient temperatures. It’s true that engine temperature is the biggest factor.

 

*cancels hiPSI garbage pickup service*

 

These oil threads are analogous to your house burning down and you are worrying about a leaking faucet. There are way more things that will make ur engine wear out and fail , before the oils viscosity comes into play.


And the viscosity difference between 0w and 20w would be the same relative difference between trucks used in Alaska and trucks in az (in terms of temps there). If the working range must be within 5% then the environmental variables already toss this out the window right ? Temps , use of truck (towing not , city or highway driving, gasoline grades ..)

also something to keep in mind : a major reason manufacturers are going with lighter weight oil is so they can claim higher fuel economy over all their new trucks ... so it looks like they are improving efficiency over the years. This may or may not , come at the expense of engine longevity. So goal #1 for Toyota might have been add +1 mpg to the Tacoma and an easy way they did this was by simply lowering viscosity of the oil lol.

 

I love your bil. Edit: I bet he had the fastest car in town, too

 

0w-16 is better

 

Exactly. Especially at start up which is like uhhhh every day.

also the argument that “we should follow the engineers recommendation” is only true if he doesn’t have to answer to his corporate douche boss who is only worried about “mehhhh sales and meeting pesky regulations “

 

Maybe 0W-30 for the warmer Ga. summers.

 

I run 0w40 in my 2019 taco and 4 runner. I get a used oil analysis done with every oil change and have found this to be the best option for my climate and usage.

Head over to BITOG for good info. There is a lot of misinformation in this thread