Maverick2004

Hi, I own a 2004 4Runner SR5 V8 and the owner's manual recommended the 5w-30 oil. It also stated that if I can not find 5w-30 then I can use 10w-30 oil, but for the next oil change go back to 5w-30. Toyota made it sounds like the oil weight 5w-30 is critical for this vehicle. The only thing I can think of 5w-30 oil is better than 10w-30 is when you are driving in a very freezing climate. Does anyone think of why Toyota make it sounds critical to use 5w-30 oil instead of 10w-30 oil? Thank you in advance, Jack

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4RUNR

If it said do not drive more than 10 miles and over 5mph with 10w-30, then it's critical

SlimTacoma

5w30 is supposed to give better fuel economy. Either will work fine. I use 10w30 most of the time.

ByThaBay

let's not forget what those numbers stand for. 5 winter, 30 (hot)... 10 winter, 30 (hot) .... so once you're up to operating temp it really doesn't matter.. ofcourse if you go with an oil like 5w30 or 0w30, i'd strongly recommend using synthetic becuase with such a difference 0 to 30 or 5 to 30 .. there are a lot of additives that need to be added to regular dino oil to make it hold up.. synthetics are designed from the ground up so they last longer, and don't need as many preservatives to do their job(s) ( along with other added benefits)

motrhedx81

I've always used 10w30 in mine but I've had older vehicles. Now I use 10w40 because of my 190,000 miles. When you start to get up there in miles, the thicker oil will kind of take up some of the slack from the wear on the internal parts. Climate also has a lot to do with the choice of weights: colder climate needs lighter/thinner oil.

But like bythebay said, I'd go with a synthetic. Its little more expensive at first but you don't have to change you're oil as often and you can stick with the lighter weight oil longer. Wear on the parts will be a lot less with synthetic.

SLC Punk

Umm no, the "W" stands for weight not winter.

5w30 is going to be a thinner oil than a 10w30

on colder days a 5w30 will get circulated faster than a 10w30. Because the weight is less.

Maverick2004

Hi everyone, thank you for all your replies. Last weekend I changed the oil in my 4Runner and use Mobil 1 10w-30 with Fram oil filter. I live in Houston, TX and it is hotter than hell during the summer months, therefore 10w-30 is probably be best to use.

I look at the Mobil web page and it seems like they say that these days most of the newer cars recommend to use 5w-30. Wonder why?
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...bil1_5W-30.asp

Sac State

I think he was just making a point with the W. Like lefty loosey.

I asked my dealer about why they use 10w-30 instead of the recommended 5w-30, said for my temps 10w-30 was just fine.

Sac State

fuel economy.

SLC Punk

Oh, my bad!! :pat:

cruizin01

my dad has a 97 z-71 and 5w-30 is recommended for it. we always ran synthetic in it. well once we dicided to use 10w-30 syn. and when it was about 45 degrees or below F it would knock on start up for about 10-15 seconds. so it does make a difference. I will always run what is recommended.

4-RUNNIN' FREAK

"The Engine Oil Bible"
http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbi...oil_bible.html

ByThaBay

"The "W" or "Winter designation indicates that the oil meets viscosity requirements for low temperatures (below 30°F). "

the source for this information is very credible (chevron !)

http://www.chevron.ca/ProductsServic...orOilLabel.htm

SlimTacoma

If you have harsh winters like this, thinner is definately better (0w30 or 5w30). The 10w30 is fine for the summer though.

MvCrash

2cents,
I grew up building hotrods in the Florida Sun. We used straight 50 weight oil to keep things cool. I also used a pre-oiler to get the oil moving before cold engine start.

Flamedx4

Oh man, that takes me back!! I thought I was the only one on this board old enough to remember the days BEFORe multi-viscosity oil.... When I was a teenager I used to buy RingSeal brand reprocessed oil in 50 weight for my worn out old POS's - it was nice and thick, and it was 19 cents a quart! (Compared to a whopping maybe 39 cents for real oil...) But then gas was only about 35 cents per gallon then...

MvCrash

Remember pulling into a gas station and asking for 2 bucks worth of high test so the big block would'nt knock and sputter and you could leave the timing advanced.
I'm thinking about putting a blower on my 2.7 but don't want to pay for high test gas, imagine that 2 bucks a gallon. In my last hotrod, I don't think 2 bucks worth would get it started and running.....35 cents a gallon was the 70's, a good time to build hotrods. I had a few of the great ones, I miss them.
looking forward to building the 2001 Taco I just bought. and I use 5w30 mobile one since its the northeast and gets cold.

Mvcrash

denverbikeguy

Ack! Good oil, CRAP filter!! Fram's are about the worst you can use. Honestly some of the best ones out there are the Carquest-branded filters, since they're made by Wix. Like 40 micron filtering with the Fram's vs 9 micron with the Wix. I have some highly reputable sources for this information, so much so that I even use the CQ filters on my race motorcycles now (and I don't use anything but the best on those, running at 13k RPM you want to know your lubrication system is at 100%).

As soon as my stock of OEM Toyota filters runs out, I will probably switch to the CQ filters on the 'Runner as well.

FWIW CQ does sponsor me, so I don't pay for 'em - but if I felt they were substandard I would not use them (or accept their sponsorship), and if they didn't sponsor me I'd still buy the products.

superjoe83

just to let everybody know, NAPA gold filters are made by WIX also

ElwayLite

As someone stated before, 5w-30 has more additives to meet that range than a 10w-30 and this causes some of the 5w-30's out there to shear and lose their viscosity over time. Mobil1 is notorious for shearing with its 5w-30 SS, it still shows good wear numbers but it starts about a 29 weight and ends a 26-27 weight. Oils like Amsoil and German Castrol(0W-30) start out at a heavy 33W and shear to like 30W which IMHO is better. Dont get me wrong, Mobil and the GC both show great wear numbers so Im not raggin on Mobil, I just like the fact that the GC is a 0W on start but thickens to a nice 30W. I just finished an oil analysis on Amsoil 5w-30 which was great and Im running GC now to compare. There are alot of 3.4L guys that run Mobil 10w-30 because they claim its hard on engine oil and tends to make oils like Mobil1 shear so the 10w-30 holds its viscosity better.