Stopped at my local Toyota dealership yesterday to pick up an oil filter for my first 5000 mile service. I inquired at the service department as to what weight oil they use in the TCH. They said that either 10w30 or 5w30 was to be used as per Toyota's specs. I asked if they ever heard of using 0w20 and they responded by saying " in what...a sewing machine?" I am just wondering if a different viscosity oil is used other than what the manufacturer recommends, could it void the warranty if there is a mechanical problem of some sort? What is the actual benefit of using 0w20 compared to a fully synthetic 5w30?

 

This seems to be a growing issue. Toyota recommends 0W20 or 5W20 and the dealerships want to put in 5W30 and then treat you like you're an idiot if you suggest using Toyota's recommended viscosity. I'm guessing it's because they purchase the 5W30 relatively inexpensively in bulk and don't want to buy the other weights.

I looked under my hood yesterday. On the fuel filler cap it lists 0W20 and 5W20 as the recommended viscosity. I'd guess that 5W30 won't hurt anything except mileage, but I don't want to bet my engine on it, especially since it's effect will probably not show up until after the warranty is history.

I hit 3800 miles this morning, so I've got a month to figure out what to do during my first oil change. I think I'll give their service department a call and find out what they use.

 

Al, I'd say that your dealer isn't staying very current on the manufacturers' specs and recommendations. Over the last few years, a number of new cars from many manufacturers have come out with 5w20 specified for improved mileage. For the Camry, it's not only the TCH, but also the regular 4cyl that says 5w20 or 0w20. (I'm not sure about the V6, but it probably does, too.) So, if the dealer is insisting on 10w30 or 5w30 in your TCH, he's also putting the wrong oil in ALL the Camrys, as well as many other cars.

 

Change is hard for some people. Anything that isn't what they are used to using has got to be wrong. Why? Just because! I remember back years ago when 5w30 started to replace 10w30 as the recommended viscosity for most cars. Even that minor change was tough for some people to handle. (Too) many years ago I used to have a job changing oil. I had this one older fellow tell me I was trying to wreck his car by suggesting this new fangled stuff and walked out to go somewhere else. Obviously the guy you spoke with needs to be poked out of his sleepy comfort zone and get back up to speed. Some of us had to educate our sales people on the TCH when we bought it, it unfortunately may not be rare that we'll have to educate our service people as well.

 

I pretty much had the same experience at my 5K service with Chula Vista Toyota. They said they don't carry 5W-20 and use 5W-30.

Personal opinion here, I don't really see a big difference between 5W-20 and 5W-30. Both will flow the same when cold, providing equal startup protection.

The main questions in my mind is the durablility of any extra viscosity index improvers in the 5W-30, and how do the HS (High Shear Rate) ratings comapare? I also wonder if 5W-20 increases engine wear?

I found this interesting claim at http://synlube.com/sae5w-20.htm:

You will definitely get better mileage with SAE 5W-20 then SAE 5W-30 oil, but not by much, usually the optimistic estimates are LESS than 1%. The bad news is about 30% reduction in engine life (from 100,000 miles or 10 years to 70,000 miles or 7 years).

Only manufacturers who have 3 years or 36,000 miles powertrain warranties currently recommend SAE 5W-20 oil to be used in their NEW 2000 through 2006 model vehicles (FORD, HONDA).

 

That is an interesting claim. Especially since it comes from a source that wants you to buy their synthetic oil that never needs to be changed! I thinked I'd trust regular oil changes of 5W-20 to what SynLube is selling to protect my engine...