I had my first service at 5K miles. I talked to the dealer's mechanic about not wanting the oil over the full mark and he commented he normally puts in 4 and 2/10th quarts of 5w-30 in the Camry Hybrid. They did not have 5W-20 oil at the dealer (Chula Vista Toyota)!?! I asked him to just put in 4 quarts and he agreed.

I checked the level afterwards and it was just a hair below the full mark. I mean within 1/32 inch of full. I'm glad I had him just put in 4 quarts. I can't tell any difference in how the TCH is running with 5W-30. I'm still showing 46mpg on the tank average after putting on a few hundred miles.

I asked the dealer to check the alignment as the TCH wanders a bit. I suspect it is mostly the tires, but wanted to be sure the alignment was not contributing. My TCH will not track straight for more than 10 or 15 seconds before wandering off to one lane or another on straight sections of freeway (I-15 between I-8 and HWY 78) It feels like it is trying to follow the grooves in the freeway. The alignment was off slightly. The left front toe was -0.12 before and 0.01 after. The right rear toe was 0.28 before and 0.01 after. The car tracks better now, but still tends to wander after a while. Honda Accords I've had would track straight for miles (litterally!)

Lastly I asked about changing the auto recir to manual. The hybrid tech did not know how to do it. He said it would likely be an hour's labor to change it I declined at that point and offered to send him the Toyota IGuide info on this. I mentioned in my email that the IGuide refers to the recirculate function as "Air Inlet Mode". I also included a screen capture of the page. I also found info that says this behavior can be changed by setting the "AIR INLET MODE" function to manual and should be listed in BE-13 (BODY ELECTICAL - MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION).

I'm hoping it's something that can be done for less than $94

 

Lastly I asked about changing the auto recir to manual. The hybrid tech did not know how to do it. He said it would likely be an hour's labor to change it I declined at that point and offered to send him the Toyota IGuide info on this. I mentioned in my email that the IGuide refers to the recirculate function as "Air Inlet Mode". I also included a screen capture of the page. I also found info that says this behavior can be changed by setting the "AIR INLET MODE" function to manual and should be listed in BE-13 (BODY ELECTICAL - MULTIPLEX COMMUNICATION Nash, On my VW I can change all those modes and more on my laptop, just takes a program. I wonder if anyone makes one for Toyota? sure would be handy.

 

The official oil grade from Toyota customer service I called today recommends the 0W-20 oil grade for 2007 TCH across the board and 0W-20 is the weight I would have put in anyways...

 

What’s the deal with the manual stating 0-20W or 5-20W and the dealers substituting 5-30W instead?

If folks like I (do-it-yourselfers) did this Toyota would most likely void our warranties (we must keep our receipts)!

 

For more discussion on non-recommended oils and Toyota's official position, check this earlier discussion:

Click here to read about non-recommended oil in Camry Hybrids

 

Steve,
I was hoping that your experience was an exception.....A guess not!

 

Checked my oil level today, and it's exactly at the high fill mark. Will do some research on Prius posts and see what the implications might be. Meanwhile, I've likely solved my poor gas mileage problem, and it now seems unrelated to motor oil. Will post my findings under a separate heading to avoid crossing topics.

AKM, maybe it's just all San Diego Toyota dealers???

 

Newb here, just curious how did u know they substituted the oil, was it on the receipt or they told you?

 

I asked if they used 0W-20 or 5W-20 on the TCH oil change. They said they used 5W-30, and showed me a copy of a page stating 5W-30 was ok to use in the TCH. I've emailed the dealer's hybrid master tech to see what his comments are.

 

Has anyone done an in depth research and got convinced that 5W-30 will protect the internal parts on the ICE on an 2007 TCH better than 0W-20 or 5W-20? I was going to use 0W-20, but after reading some posts and research I am more inclined to use 5W-30 (dealers preference as well) as it makes more sense to protect the engine longer than getting better gas mileage. Any thoughts? What SAE oil grade other TCH owners used so far for the first or subsequent oil change(s)?? Still undecided though as I hope when I approach 3-4k miles will have an answer. Tough decision, I wish TOYOTA had not changed the oil grade of 5W-30.