5w30 to light?
 

I had a coupon for getting my oil changed for $16.50 at my local Midas shop and after they changed my oil they said they used kendal 5w30. With the onset of summer here in colorado, temps between 30 and 70, is this to light to run in my 4Runner with almost 180,000?

It should be fine.

The owner's manual has a pretty big overlap - either 5W30 or 10W30 is OK. (I usually run 5W30)

Thanks

what motor do you have?

for a 22re I would say 5w30 is too light. I just went to 10w40 for the warmup occuring and notice much smoother running overall.

I use Mobil 1 5W-30 in the summer (with plenty of trips to the front range), and 0W-30 in the winter.

10w30 any season for me

5W-30 is fine for damn near any engine.

Rob

ditto

I think 5W30 is too light for the 3VZ, 22R, etc. era engines. Should be fine for 5VZ and modern engines. I run 10W30 or 10W40, usually 10W40 in the middle of the summer, I feel hot weather and long trips mean 10W40.

I have the 22RE.

You realize that 5W-30 and 10W-30 are the same once they are hot right? And 5W-30 is better than 10W-30 for cold starts.

Rob

A multi weight oil is whatever the lower number is and has additives that make it thicker when hot. So a 5W30 is basically a 5W oil that achieves the viscosity that a 30W would when hot. It's still fundamentally a thinner oil and it's just my opinion that a 5W base is too thin for older engines. The cold start is why I want a 10W-whatever. Even when new, the clearances on old engines weren't as tight as more modern engines and having a thicker film to fill the clearance seems like it would be a good thing on start-up. This is even more true as an engine gets hours, the bearing clearances get even looser, so running a 0W or 5W at cold start means there's a relatively thinner coating of oil between the two wearing surfaces. Once an engine is warmed and running, most any oil will work. The majority of your engine wear comes in the first minute or two. I still think that going with what the manufacturer says the engine is designed to work with is the best thing. I could be wrong, but there is more to start-up than /just/ the oil flowing, it must also be able to fill the void between surfaces and act like a cushion. That is less about the oil pumping, but the viscosity of the pool of oil that the crank is sitting in. I do agree that 0W and 5W oils flow better, but do they protect well enough at start? I simply don't know and so I just go with the owner's manual. Then there's the fact that the R motors use a chain tensioner that is based on oil pressure and that was designed to operate with a certain weight oil. At start-up do the thinner oils let the tensioner work correctly? Just wondering and, again, since I don't know for a fact that it works right with 0W and 5W, I'll trust the book. I'm presenting my reasoning, I might be completely off base. I know that 5W30 and 10W30 have the same approximate hot viscosity, but they are different at cold.

I was told a long time ago by Toyota technician that ( EDIT:for an '86 22re)the factory manual calls for 20w-50!!! Was I hood winked? That's what I've been running. (That or M1 15w-50). Should I switch? I'm wondering because it doesn't seem happy with it (rough winter start-up, valve noise...which could be just adjustment), but I was told I should run it. So....

In my 2007 Tacoma 4x4 4.0 L, the manual says:

< -------------------- 5w-30 ------------------------->

Thanks for the info DaveInDenver. Nice handle, by the way.

So, let's say 100,000 miles go by. You think it would be wise to switch to 10w-30, even though the manual says 5w-30?

Thanks again

In the 22re's I used 20W-50 when I lived in California, I went to Montana in the winter and I had to switch to 10W40 as the 20W50 was wayyy too thick in the 10 degrees fahreinheit weather.

Thook, since you live in Arkansas, I would use 10W40 in the few coldest months and 20W50 the rest of the time. That toyota tech was correct. In the early 80's 20R and 22R engines called for 20W50 oil from the factory.

What you described is exactly the opposite of what I've always heard regarding the "cold" or W part of oil. I've always heard you want a lower W number so that it can get into the little places quicker when it's cold. That's the reason I run 0W-40 in my '04 GTO, as do many other LS1 owners.

This site agrees with the thinking I've heard (look under the Oil Viscosity heading)

I'm not saying you are wrong and I'm right (if you knew me you would know I'm not one to argue); I'm just writing what I've read on other forums and it makes sense to me. For all I know I could be completely wrong lol.

Rob

Drivin like a bat outta hell here in southern texas is usually done in 100+ degree weather in the summer. I use 10w40 in the swampthing and 20w40 in everything else... Aint had no problems yet :hillbill:

That makes a lot of sense to me too, I've always heard that most engine wear happens on start-up. I'm making a switch to 5W30 or maybe even 0W30 next change for my 5VZ. Here's some more info I've seen recently:
http://63.240.161.99/motoroil/index.html

And a big thread about oil from the newer truck owners over on CT:
http://www.customtacos.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78789