Smilin' Jack,

Several issues.

1) While the engine is still fairly new, I would rather have an oil that is on the "thin" side of my engines "range" to allow the oil to get to the bearings faster. This might not be a problem given that our hybrid engines are spun up to 1000rpm or so before spark and fuel are added. The oil pressure SHOULD be there but I am a pessimist by nature...

2) 0w-20 oil will give slightly better fuel economy than 5w-20. The shorter your trips (engine does not get a chance to warm up) the more this will help. This will probably be your case if you only put 1600 miles on the car in 6 months.

3) Driving short trips is harder on the engine than multiple long trips. If this is the type of driving that you do, take the car out for a "Sunday drive" of 20 to 25 miles every week or two and get the engine hot enough to burn off any water or fuel that might be in your oil.

4) 0w-20 oil will require synthetic while 5w-20 can be had in synthetic or "dino" flavor. Regular oil will work given our short 5,000 mile OCI but that interval would be shorter in your case (6 month OCI).

5) Synthetic oil will generally have a MUCH higher resistance to breaking down under temperature extremes. It will keep is viscosity into a higher temp range than regular oil but does cost anywhere from 2 to 3 times more.

6) Flip a coin. Either oil will work but personal opinion would be to use 0w-20 or 5w-20 oil. You will never have an argument from Toyota if you use their recommendations regarding oil viscosity. I use 5w-20 but it is a synthetic and don’t have any complaints about the engine being “noisy” (I also use that oil in 7 other cars).

 

I asked the local Lexus dealer if they carry 0W20 and how much they want for it. Their price was competitive with full-synth at NAPA so I'll just have them use theirs at the upcoming change.

Actually, it's about a $6/qt premium for the 0W20 synth. The dealer is asking $7.35/qt vs (at NAPA) $7-8/qt or ~$1.25/qt for 5W20 dino by the case. On the other hand, the NAPA guy suggested you can run the synth oil longer (just change the filter at mid-run and end) which should offset a little of the extra cost. I'll check with the dealer on warranty issues for the longer run before doing it.

I'm also getting the block heater installed while it's in the shop--which led me down another interesting line of inquiry, yesterday.

Benton 4dec08

 

As a distributor for Nippon Oil, I can say with confidence that Nippon Oil supplies the 0W-20 factory fill to Toyota Engine & Assembly plants including TMMK (Kentucky) where the Camry & Camry Hybrid is made and TMMTX (Texas) where the Tundra is made. http://www.toyota.com/about/our_busi...mmk/index.html

Nippon Oil also manufactures the Toyota 0W-20 genuine fluid (red quart bottles).

I am working on getting data on specific vehicles/engines that are factory filled with 0W-20 from both Nippon Oil & Toyota Engineering.

 

skoh,

Glad to see you came out of the closet and now claim to be a distributor for Nippon Oil. Why did you keep trying to tell us that you were not employed by them in your earlier posts?

 

Because technically, I am not employed by Nippon Oil. I work for Chrysan who is the Master Distributor of Nippon Oil-ENEOS on the East Coast.

 

OK. Here is the response from Toyota Motor Sales regarding which vehicles / engines are factory filled with 0W-20.

==============================================
Factory Fill Engine Oil [Incident: 081205-000000]

Discussion Thread
Response (JSpe) 12/09/2008 05:39 PM

Suk Koh,

Thank you for contacting Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

The following Toyota vehicles are filled from the factory with 0W-20 oil, synthetic oil.

Camry 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine
Camry Hybrid 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine
Corolla 1.8 liter 4-cylinder engine
Corolla 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine
Highlander 2.7 liter 4-cylinder engine
Highlander Hybrid 3.3 liter V6 engine
Land Cruiser 5.7 liter V8 engine
Matrix 1.8 liter 4-cylinder engine
Matrix 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine
RAV4 2.5 liter 4-cylinder engine
Sequoia 5.7 liter V8 engine
Solara 2.4 liter 4-cylinder engine
Tacoma 2.7 liter 4-cylinder engine
Tundra 5.7 liter V8 engine
Venza 2.7 liter 4-cylinder engine

Jay Spencer
Toyota Customer Experience

==============================================
I can not go into more detail as Nippon Oil & Toyota may consider it to be confidential and proprietary information.

 

This is strange. Mine is a 2007 model TCH. I'm now wondering if Toyota started using the 0W-20 oil in the newer models. When I did my first oil change (5000 mi) to 0W-20 oil, I picked up about 2 mpg. I don't think my mpg would have increased if my car had come with synthetic oil.

 

Maybe 0W-20 was not in the older 2007 Camry Hybrid model at that time. But it is the factory fill fluid now.

 

I wonder if your contact could go into any detail as to when the synthetic became the factory fill? I bought my '09 TCH in April, built in Georgetown. I did NOT use synthetic at the 5K oil change, and saw no change in MPG. I DID use it on my last change, but my MPG has dropped significantly due to colder weather so I can't make a valid comparison.

 

OK on going with the synthetic. Starting the cold engine, the oil gets up to the valvetrain much quicker. Overall the synthetics get through the engine quicker even in the coldest weather.