Can I use 5W30 instead of 10W40 in older car ?

[Lightsilver]

I have a 1988 Toyota Celica ST that I bought new. It has only 62K miles on it; I store it during the winter. It has the 3F-SE engine. (Base engine). It doesn't use any oil at all, BTW

I also have a 2005 Pontiac Vibe, (twin to the Toyota Matrix) with the Toyota 1ZZ-FE engine. (Base engine).

The '88 Celica owners manual calls for 10W40 oil for temperatures above freezing, and 5W30 oil for temps below freezing.

The Vibe manual calls for 5W30 oil all year around.

Both cars use the same Toyota oil filter, which is very convenient.

I only use Castrol GTX dino oil; I change it every 3000 miles.

The Celica gets the oil changed in the fall, before I store it for the winter. I only put about 2K/summer on it, since I got the Vibe.

I got to thinking: the 5W30 oil we have today is considerably superior to the 5W30 oil of 21 years ago.

So I was wondering: Would it would be OK to use 5W30 Castrol GTX oil in the Celica, during the summer? Then I would only need to keep one oil weight on hand.

TIA!

 

[StevieC]

Because you store it during the winter (drive only during the summer) why not run a straight 40 weight would resist shearing better than a multi-vis oil.

Also I would stick with the weight that Toyota calls for. There must be a reason they call for a 40 wt, especially when 20 & 30wt's were around way before that car was produced.

 

[element_42]

Originally Posted By: StevieC
Because you store it during the winter (drive only during the summer) why not run a straight 40 weight would resist shearing better than a multi-vis oil.

Also I would stick with the weight that Toyota calls for. There must be a reason they call for a 40 wt, especially when 20 & 30wt's were around way before that car was produced.



LOL Stevie, don't scare him away, he;s only 3 posts deep!

 

[StevieC]

Oh shoot... Where's my manners...

to BITOG!

Now can I scare him?

 

[element_42]

There ya go, hes been officially initiated. Now let's tell him all about evil cancer causing VII's and high iron mobil one

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted By: element_42

There ya go, hes been officially initiated. Now let's tell him all about evil cancer causing VII's and high iron mobil one

Don't forget the Fram OCOD (Orange Can of Death) filters!

 

[JohnBrowning]

Yes you can. Bach then Toyota and most other manufactures other then GM used the SAE Oil Viscosity Chart. It had a pretty graph that had Temp ranges and oil viscosities indexed. This allowed the end user to choose an oil for his driving cycle. Back in the 1980's 5W30 was only recomended below freezing and only for low speed driving it was not considered good enough for sustained high speed driving. Todays 5W30's are not the same beast's that they where back in the 1980 and 1990's!!! So yes as long as you have good oil presure with 5W30 you can run it with no problems. I have ran everything from 15W50 to 5W30 in old Toyota engines the two that stand out in my mind would be my 1982 Toyota Starlet and my 1986 Toyota $runner with 22RE.

During the same time frame GM had all but banned 10W40 from it's vehicles because it was having problems with people in the Northern States or North Eastern States spinning bearing left right and center running 10W40 during the winter!That is when GM pulled the temp/viscosity charts and went to recomending only 5W30 and 10W30 almost across the board.


Truthfully if I was only going to drive an older car dureing the warm months then toss it in the pole barn for winter I would not run a multi-viscosity at all I would go with Valvoline Blue SAE 30 HD!

 

[jorton]

Later on you'll decide it's not worth it to try to stash one grade for 2 different animals. Then you'll go back to your old ways.

 

[Lightsilver]

Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
Yes you can. Bach then Toyota and most other manufactures other then GM used the SAE Oil Viscosity Chart. It had a pretty graph that had Temp ranges and oil viscosities indexed. This allowed the end user to choose an oil for his driving cycle. Back in the 1980's 5W30 was only recomended below freezing and only for low speed driving it was not considered good enough for sustained high speed driving. Todays 5W30's are not the same beast's that they where back in the 1980 and 1990's!!! So yes as long as you have good oil presure with 5W30 you can run it with no problems. I have ran everything from 15W50 to 5W30 in old Toyota engines the two that stand out in my mind would be my 1982 Toyota Starlet and my 1986 Toyota $runner with 22RE.

During the same time frame GM had all but banned 10W40 from it's vehicles because it was having problems with people in the Northern States or North Eastern States spinning bearing left right and center running 10W40 during the winter!That is when GM pulled the temp/viscosity charts and went to recomending only 5W30 and 10W30 almost across the board.


Truthfully if I was only going to drive an older car dureing the warm months then toss it in the pole barn for winter I would not run a multi-viscosity at all I would go with Valvoline Blue SAE 30 HD!


Thanks for the info!

During the winter, when the streets are clean and salt free, I do take the Toyota out and drive it for 15 or 20 miles, mostly on the freeway. The car does have an engine heater, which I use before I start it.

The brake rotors get a fine layer of visible rust on them, even when the temp hasn't gotten above freezing, for weeks on end.

But I wouldn't want to be driving in 10F weather with straight 30W oil.

One thing I really like about my Celica: it came from the factory with an oil pressure gauge.

It seems like very few cars come with oil pressure gauges, anymore.

Having an oil pressure gauge really lets you know how long it takes for the oil pressure to come up, even in the summer.

I've been idling my car for 15 seconds (longer in the winter) before I put it in gear, for decades.

The car manufactures all tell you to just start the car, and drive it right away, even in the winter.

When it's -20F, it takes a full minute idling for the oil pressure to come up, if the car hasn't been plugged in.

Driving a car with no oil pressure seems like a very bad idea, in my book.

 

[sako]

I own a Toyota 2 years older then yours. I bought it from a private party last May. The maint. records given to me by the previous owner, showed that the dealership that serviced this car regularly, used 5w-30 oil. I have a 5L bottle of Total Quartz MC3 5w-30 that I am going to use in this car when I change the oil next in late Nov.