best oil for Toyota's 3.5L 2GR-FE v6?

[smithph]

Originally Posted By: Clevy
Originally Posted By: HKPolice
Venza is a good 4-500lbs heavier than a Rav4 so the engine in a Venza is working harder all the time. That's the only big difference I can see. Then again, if you use 5w20 dino it'll be worse than a 0w20 full synth.

Originally Posted By: Danno
Somewhat O/T.
Why is the 0W-20 back specced for RAV4 but not the Venza V6? Running a 2009 Venza and am very curious on this one.

Good resource here.

http://www.rav4world.com/pdf/2GR-FE.pdf



Why would it be worse. That would be entirely interval dependent. Both would perform the same if the intervals were short. Synthetics last longer in service. That doesn't necessarily mean a conventional wouldn't be fine as well.
Op
If your engine was back-spec'd for a 20 grade,and you aren't operating in the "severe service" realm then a 20 grade would be fine.
Millions of engines run 20 grades and they are lasting longer than the car around it does,just consider that tidbit of info.
Go buy the Toyota genuine motor oil in the 0w-20 flavour. Its a Mobil product and we've amassed quite a few used oil analysis here with that oil,and it's proven to be a fantastic product capable of their 10000 mile interval easily in most applications.
I wouldn't even consider any other options to be honest. You've got an oil that's engineered for Toyota engines available and since it's been in use its been tested and talked about to death here,and is a proven quality product.
If it really concerns you using a 20 grade,engineered for Toyota,then substitute a quart or 2 for m1 0w-40.
You end up with a mixture that has a sky high viscosity index,which is good,and the mix ends up having properties combined that are better than what you can buy off the shelf in a 30 grade b

Here it's called the Caterham blend. Use the search function and get comfy. You'll be there all night.


I am running the Caterham blend in that very engine. It has a 6.5qt sump so 4qts of TGMO 0w-20 and 2.5qt of M1 0w-40 gets very close to the recommend blend percent. Just could not bring myself to go straight from 5w-30 to 0w-20 so like Will Smith said 'I blend'.

 

[userfriendly]

"Conventional" 5W20 is blended from what is called "group 2+" and synthetic 0W20 and 5W20s are blended from group 3 base oils.
How is the performance of the latter any better than the conventional 5W20 as stated in the above thread?
Everywhere I read oil companies material they all say the same thing.

That group 3s rival the performance of synthetics, and group 2s (especially 2+) rival the performance of synthetics.

For a little experiment I set my freezer as low as it would go which was -30C and placed 5 different engine oils from the same manufacture in it.

The 20W50 would not pour, but had to be squeezed out of the bottle.
The 0W30 and 5W30 poured out of the bottle as if -30C was just a tease.
The 10W40 conventional was quite thick, and took a long time to run out of the funnel.

All of the above is to be expected, but the surprising result was comparing 10W30 CJ-4/SM and the same brand of mono-grade SAE30, which is a group 2 product as that is all the manufacture uses in their "conventional" lubricants.

At -30C (48 hour) both poured and ran through the funnel at approximately the same rate.

Close enough that if I didn't know which was which ahead of time I would not be able to tell them apart.

 

[MZ-Bird]

so what is the verdict? does it matter that the chart posted up is from Canada I am told and I am not ?

what about a blend ? since I already have a jug of 0w-20 ? lol...

 

[CATERHAM]

No it doesn't matter that the oil chart is from Toyota Canada, the cars and engines are the same and it can get just as hot in the summer here as in Louisiana.
If you've already bought an aftermarket 0W-20 go ahead and use it. The main difference vs the Toyota brand (TGMO) 0W-20 is that the latter is lighter on start-up. You can try Toyota's own brand if you like next time.

 

[Patrick0525]

I have a Venza V6 and it has a 6.5qt sump. So if I did caterham blend 4qts of TGMO 0w-20 and 2.5qt of M1 0w-40 what are the viscosity properties compared to straight M1 EP 0W-20? Would you recommend this blend if the car is still under warranty?

 

[MZ-Bird]

I have bought it aleady...but still thinking of blending it. dont know...another member of the Rav4 forum told me not to and I dont know what to think now. I mean its on the chart and I dont know what would be difference in the car just cause of a chart.

car is not under warranty, has 62K miles.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
No it doesn't matter that the oil chart is from Toyota Canada, the cars and engines are the same and it can get just as hot in the summer here as in Louisiana.

What? New Orleans and Toronto are similar in the summer? I don't think so. You might get a warm day up North every now and then, but not the unrelenting heat of Louisiana. That's why many manufacturers recommend thicker oil for warm climates.

 

[Shannow]

CAFE allows the OEM to get credits depending on how they (NHTSA) view the modifications.

They like low friction lubricants, as they can be applied "at any time", whereas things like electric power steering and VVT can applied at refresh/redesign, and smaller displacement/turbo engines at redesign phase. Backspeccing is one of those activities that a manufacturer can claim "at any time", and be used to send credits back in time up to three years ... if your engine is the same mechanically, clearnace wise, and operating speed wise the the one that fits, chances are yours is backspecced also.

They aren't doing it for your benefit, nor looking at the table to "simplify" the recommendations as some here have claimed of that table in the past.

Yours is "specced" as suitable for 0W20, 5W20, 5W30, the backspeccing in light of what I've linked above.

I'd blend your TGMO purchase to at least the bottom end of 30 HTHS wise (2.9 or 3) ...that's what Toyota ACTUALLY specced in your day before they backspecced...

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: Patrick0525
I have a Venza V6 and it has a 6.5qt sump. So if I did caterham blend 4qts of TGMO 0w-20 and 2.5qt of M1 0w-40 what are the viscosity properties compared to straight M1 EP 0W-20? Would you recommend this blend if the car is still under warranty?

You've made yourself a light 0W-30 that is no heavier due to its 200+ VI than M1 0W-20 at typical start-up temp's. But the fact remains your engine doesn't require a 30 grade oil.

The latest version of the TGMO is spec'd for both 5W-20 and 0W-20 Toyota applications. It so shouldn't come as a total surprise but I don't know of a better engine lubricant for your Versa
.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: MZ-Bird
I have bought it aleady...but still thinking of blending it. dont know...another member of the Rav4 forum told me not to and I dont know what to think now. I mean its on the chart and I dont know what would be difference in the car just cause of a chart.

car is not under warranty, has 62K miles.

You haven't mentioned which 0W-2

 

[Patrick0525]

What is the downside of the catherham blend which is a light 0W-30 that is no heavier than M1 0W-20? It starts easier than M1 0W-20 in the winter and it won't shear in the summer time heat since it is 0W-30. Right? I guess the Venza engine's fuel mileage will be lower and engine temps are higher trying to "digest" the 0W-30.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: MZ-Bird
I have bought it aleady...but still thinking of blending it. dont know...another member of the Rav4 forum told me not to and I dont know what to think now. I mean its on the chart and I dont know what would be difference in the car just cause of a chart.

car is not under warranty, has 62K miles.

Sorry about the that, I'm typing in my phone and hit the wrong button.
As I started to say, we don't know what 0W-20 brand you've bought as it is TGMO that marries up well with M1 0W-40. But since the synthetic 0W-20 grade has been back-spec'd in place of a dino 5W-30 that's the oil that would be the best
choice for your low mileage Rav 4. Keep in mind that Toyota's oil recommend includes extreme service such as lots of full throttle useage in mountainous terrain and you mentioned you don't even speed so the 0W-20 grade is more than heavy enough for the generally conservative way you operate your new (to you) vehicle.

So use the oil you've bought with confidence and if you get a chance down the road try TGMO and see if you can notice the difference.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: Patrick0525
What is the downside of the catherham blend which is a light 0W-30 that is no heavier than M1 0W-20? It starts easier than M1 0W-20 in the winter and it won't shear in the summer time heat since it is 0W-30. Right? I guess the Venza engine's fuel mileage will be lower and engine temps are higher trying to "digest" the 0W-30.

You're right but your Venza simply doesn't require a 30 grade oil at operating temp's. TGMO all by itself will of course be even lighter on start-up while providing all the high temp' viscosity you can use.

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Patrick0525
What is the downside of the catherham blend which is a light 0W-30 that is no heavier than M1 0W-20? It starts easier than M1 0W-20 in the winter and it won't shear in the summer time heat since it is 0W-30. Right? I guess the Venza engine's fuel mileage will be lower and engine temps are higher trying to "digest" the 0W-30.


I have used M1 0-20(10K OCI) in 95 to 109F temps and their is no sign M1 0-20 sheared out of grade. Explain.

 

[Patrick0525]

Have not done a 0W-20 UOA test yet. My concern was that the viscosity would drop below ratings of 20 during the summer. 1st car using 0W-20 oil.

 

[MaximaGuy]

I use exclusively PP 5W30 with a 10K OCI on my 2011 Lexus ES350

 

[lexus114]

Originally Posted By: MaximaGuy
I use exclusively PP 5W30 with a 10K OCI on my 2011 Lexus ES350



Is that permissible in the owners manual to use 5W30? or are you just doing it?

Curious

 

[tortillasoup]

I have an ES350, tried the 5w-20 and got worse fuel economy than with 5w-30. I recommend sticking with the 5w-30.

 

[mrdctaylor]

I have this engine in my 2012 Highlander. So far, I've used M1 0W20. I've got 3 OCIs' worth of Napa Syn 0W20 that I bought on sale that i'll be using next. After that, i'll have well over 100k miles and will probably go to a synthetic 5W30 since that is what all of my other cars get.

 

[RTexasF]

Backwards spec or not for the USA (which I severely question), the RAV4 V-6 from 2006-2012 was speced for one oil only ......5W30 to be changed every 6 months or 5,000 miles whichever came first. That's all ours have ever seen (dino) and we have two with the V-6.