Toyota Avalon 2009 oil questions

[ron in sc]

Just bought a 2009 Toyota Avalon. Manual says 5W30 for best combination of cold weather starting and fuel economy. Temperature where I drive will rarely get below freezing. So I would not think I need -20 degree F protection.

My first consern is reducing wear and tear in engine.

Manual does not say anything about use of sythetic or dino.

I run synthtic in all three of my other vehicles, an SUV, a sports car and a 16 year old station wagon.

Any recommendation regarding oil weight or type?

 

[Quest]

5W30 is the one.

Q.

 

[Ken2]

Do one very short mileage oil and filter change, then use your choice of any top brand 5W-30 oil for the full oil drain interval shown in your owner's manual. If you have a reason to use syn, go ahead...opinions differ about when to begin using synthetic oil. Any top quality conventional oil will probably keep that engine going strong for the next, oh, 350,000 miles or so.

 

[Papa Bear]

Have a look at the other thread on BITOG about recommended viscosities around the world ......

You could probably get along quite well with 20W-50 !!

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Have a look at the other thread on BITOG about recommended viscosities around the world ......

You could probably get along quite well with 20W-50 !!

Or a 5W-20

Frank D

 

[greenaccord02]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: Papa Bear
Have a look at the other thread on BITOG about recommended viscosities around the world ......

You could probably get along quite well with 20W-50 !!

Or a 5W-20

Frank D


Or a 5W-50

 

[mgm13]

Just stay with Toyota's 5/30 weight and use Pennzoil Platinum and you will be fine for the first 200,000 miles and then re-evaluate.

Big Mike

 

[hate2work]

Many people think that it's important to change out the FF a little early. Some say dump it at 500 miles, some say go 1000 then dump it, still others don't think it makes a difference at all. Just wanted to bring that to your attention.

I would use 5W -30 synthetic, same as I use in both my Toyotas. Many good brands to choose from.

 

[HayBusMan]

I use 5W30 Pennzoil Platinum in my 2007 Avalon. I purchased the car in Sept. 2006. My wife loves it. I changed out the factory oil at 1000 miles. I change the oil every 6 months (approx 3500 miles) and change the filter every other oil change.
The oil filter is fine for 7000 - 8000 miles in my opinion based
on my own flow testing and 10X magnification inspection. I always fill the filter cartridge to the rim with oil before installing. The engine uses no oil that I can observe. In the summer you could run 10W30 if you are old school but it probably will not protect better than 5W30 IMO.

 

[4GRFSE]

Originally Posted By: ron in sc
Just bought a 2009 Toyota Avalon. Manual says 5W30 for best combination of cold weather starting and fuel economy. Temperature where I drive will rarely get below freezing. So I would not think I need -20 degree F protection.

My first consern is reducing wear and tear in engine.

Manual does not say anything about use of sythetic or dino.

I run synthtic in all three of my other vehicles, an SUV, a sports car and a 16 year old station wagon.

Any recommendation regarding oil weight or type?


I am running M1 AFE 0W-30 in my 4GR-FSE (2.5L direct injected version of the Avalon's 3.5L 2GR-FE, same mechanicals). The engine is very clean and does not use any oil in 5K changes. I have also used Amsoil SSO 0W-30, it kept everything very clean and ran great on that oil, too, just more $$$.

 

[3Toyotas]

Originally Posted By: ron in sc
Just bought a 2009 Toyota Avalon. Manual says 5W30 for best combination of cold weather starting and fuel economy. Temperature where I drive will rarely get below freezing. So I would not think I need -20 degree F protection.

My first consern is reducing wear and tear in engine.

Manual does not say anything about use of sythetic or dino.

I run synthtic in all three of my other vehicles, an SUV, a sports car and a 16 year old station wagon.

Any recommendation regarding oil weight or type?


Drain the factory fill at 2k miles & no more.
Run a good quality synthetic for 5000 miles or so after that and continue.
Also use a good quality filter like M-1 OR Amsoil EAO.

Stick with the 5w30 or go to a 0w30 for perhaps some better mpg. SSO is a top notch quality oil & has produced some stellar UOA reports. Not worth the $ though if you don't run extended OCI's.

I've done the above in all 4 vehicles i own, but i also run a 1 yr./ 15k mile OCI as well.

You can see in my sig line what oil i'm partial to.

 

[02zx9r]

seems to me it would be expensive to run top notch oil and filters for 5K intervals. Unless it takes him two years to get that

 

[RTexasF]

Toyota requires the oil be changed every 5K miles or six months. Any decent conventional oil will accomplish that. I just don't see where any synthetic can be justified for such short intervals.
Also consider that the 3.5l engine holds 6.5 quarts of oil. I'm sticking with conventional on our 2008 RAV4 V-6 until the warranty is history.