it is bad if I put oil 10w 30 in my 2009 toyota Tacoma

so basically you can use 5w30 or 10w30 and it wouldn really make a difference in performance wise and wear and tear then?? well thats good to know. haha thanks

 

Well sort of. What I mean is that many things come into play. As with most things, it a matter of compromise.

Gas mileage vs wear
quick circulation vs coating
synthetic vs dino
3000 mile changes vs 10k changes

In other words, you can't depend on the manual, oil manufacturers, EPA or anywhere for what works best. You have to either follow what someone else says or make your own judgment.

My toyota seems to work better with 10w30. This goes against CAFE, agrees with Toyota in some parts of the world, agrees with the oil manufacturers and it quiets some of my engine noise. You decide!

My 05 manual says if you use 10w30 to replace it with 5w30 when convenient. They didnt' say that it would harm the engine. I think they decided to move to lighter oils to meet CAFE standards.

And I doubt that Red Line, Royal Purple or Mobil would want me to harm my engine. Since I told them about the piston slap, their advice was thicker oil. And all agree that a thicker oil will leave a better coating over night.

If my engine hadn't started making noise I would have stayed with 5w30. I still use 5w50 in the wife's Corolla. If your engine works well with a different weight then stick with it.

You decide.

 

thanks hahah.. i guess ill try out 10w30 one of these days to see how it runs if i like it or not..

 

I use Mobil1 0W-30 in my 4 banger.

For anyone who want to know all about oil check this out>>>
http://ferrarichat.com/forum/faq.php?faq=haas_articles#faq_motor_oil_basics
It's long but doesn't get too awfull technical.

 

Hi Fredneck,

Great article! Just about covers it all. But there is one item I still don't quite agree with. Oil run-off. The article is correct about a thinner oil circulating faster thereby lubricating moving components more quickly. But what about surfaces that are not pressurized by the oil system? If the oil is to be pumped to quickly reach bearing surfaces thinner is most definitely better.

But in my case I'm dealing with piston slap. This is a non-pressurized area. Yes, the oil gets there under pressure, but it's what coats the cylinder wall and piston skirt (very little skirt on new engines). Piston slap is caused by the angular motion of the piston in the cylinder. Until the piston warms up and expands to fill the cylinder it can rock causing a knocking noise. When I hear that knocking I can almost see scuffing taking place. A coating of oil will definitely help minimize the scuffing. And this is where a thicker oil beats a thinner one. If I had a problem with noisy lifters I would consider a thinner oil so it would circulate faster on cold start. But it will take time, even for a thin oil to lubricate the cylinder walls. Red Line and Royal Purple explained that there would be slightly more of a coating, over night, with a 10w30. The 10w30 would circulate nearly as fast as the 5w30 so I wouldn't be doing any harm to other components at cold start. (and Mobil 1 suggested a 15w50 - now that's going a bit extreme! I think I would notice that change at the gas pump!)

Piston slap is a common problem on newer engines. Short skirted pistons can make more noise until they heat up. Manufactures use coatings on the piston skirts to minimize the noise and scuffing. Some have even used teflon "buttons" to minimize the noise. Many Toyota engines suffer from piston slap noise. This is one of those classic noises that the dealer always says "that's normal, they all do that."

All that said, I can say it's quieter with 10w30 (Red Line is best but too expensive). I started using 10w30 at about 40k and I now have 75k and there hasn't been any increase in noise. But most important, on a cold morning it is so much quieter and I never move the truck until the coolant temp reaches 100 (scan gauge). Don't want to load it until the oil circulates and the pistons expand a little.

I'd like to keep the truck until 200k and right now at 75k I'm pretty confident that it will easily make it.

Again, thanks for aiming me at the great article! I'm keeping that link in my favorites.

 

Glad you liked the article It's one of the best I've read on motor oil.

I'm not 100% on board with the "piston slap" theory. It sounds like the rods rattleing to me. The noise in question goes away as soon as the engine oil pressure comes up. Remeber the commercial that claims 90% of all engine wear occurs at start up.

Regarding a long warm up, I would think the pistons themslves would heat up rather fast (in just a few seconds) due to the heat of combustion (to the tune of 1200* to 1400*) that occurs about 3 times per second for each piston while at idle.

I'd like to hear Chris4X4's take on this issue, is it piston slap or the lower bearings making noise untill the oil pressure comes up?

 

Hi Fredneck,

Like you, I had my doubts about it being piston slap. But after reading about other Toyota/Lexus owners with piston slap noise and a few comments from Toyota about it being normal/ok I kind of came to the conclusion that it is indeed piston slap. And I was also able to find some recordings on the Internet of other cars with piston slap - Subaru, Lexus and lots of GM cars. And the underlying noise seems to be the same.

When running the 5w30 it didn't go away, right away. The engine had to actually heat up to about 150 degrees before the sound abated. I live down the side of a hill and have to drive up the driveway. About a 10% grade for 100 ft. If I didn't wait for the temperature to go up to at least 100 it would really get noisy when I loaded the engine. So the noise would still be there 1 or 2 minutes after start. Plenty of time for the oil to circulate.

I even considered it might be oil filter related. But I've only run either Mobil 1 or Toyota filters so I don't think there is any logic there.

Probably the best agrument that it's piston slap is confirmed by the article you suggested. If the noise were wrist pins, bearings, etc. then the noise should have either gotten worse or last longer with the slower flowing 10w30. I experience just the opposite. It's noticeably quieter at start-up.

I've also noticed a definite (but unscientific) reduction in noise based on what oil I use. I get the most noise with Mobil 1 and the least with Red Line. I'm using Pennzoil Platinum right now and it seems to fall in between but I won't know until cold weather returns.

It's been 35k now since I really started noticing the noise. It hasn't gotten any worse. I guess, other than disassembling the engine I'll probably never know for sure if it is piston slap or something else. Since it hasn't changed my confidence in my Tacoma has pretty much returned.

This is my second 4cyl Tacoma (had a 97 that was great!) and for the most part it has been flawless! Except for the cold start noise and a squeaky clutch pedal nothing has gone wrong in 75k! A couple of weeks ago I checked the front brakes and discovered they are only half worn! You gotta love it!

Bob