2013 2GR-FE - special considerations or any old 0W20?

Joined
Apr 6, 2006
Messages
2,228
Location
Toronto-ish, Canada
My SO had a 2009 Sienna w/ 2GR-FE and due to minor collision causing write off just replaced it this year with a 2013 Sienna w/ 2GR-FE.

Pre-me (0- ~150,000km) the old one had dealer OC's every 5,000km or so with who-know's what. It had heavy staining all over the oil filter canister, the VVTi startup clatter and the piston slap the older 2GR-FEs are known for. I started doing the OCs with Edge 0W20 or 5W20 and once the 0W40 I use (which stopped all of the noises and gave better power delivery) until it was totaled around 260,000km. Staining and noise never worsened or improved despite the change in habits (and one round of AutoRX I still had around)

The new one has unknown history (other than carfax showing minor collision and visits to the dealer for "service" at regular intervals), passed a PPI with no issues, is around 140,000km, no VVTi clatter, no piston slap, and the filter canister is bright clean shiny metal. Yay!

Are revisions to the 2GR-FE (and perhaps luck) going to mean there's no concern about those other problems developing. Shall we literally run any 0W20 or 5W20 we care to or can things be optimized by making any particular choices? Is 0W20 really the right choice is or that more CAFE driven? My personal experience is almost entirely Euro.

Climate: Great Lakes, garaged at night, work commute is "medium" (15-20) with a bunch of short trips thrown in.
 
Oil is oil with the proper ratings . Yes 20w oils are CAFE driven.Though a good choice in arctic conditions.
 
Had a 2009 V6 Venza, it specced 5W-30.
Given your mileage and location, I would run 5W-30 in it if it was mine.
Max 10,000 km oil change interval - I did 8,000 kms.
I used PP 5W-30 and OE filters until it was traded in, in a much colder climate than Toronto.
No issues at all.
 
For what it’s worth...we have a 2011 Highlander with the 2GR-FE that had been fed only Toyota/OEM 0w20 synthetic (except for one OCI with Mobil 1 0w20) until it’s last change where I used NAPA 0w20 synthetic. It had the startup clatter and generally was a loud, clattery thing at idle. No issues with it ever, but the switch to NAPA oil has changed the character a bit for the quieter. Good thing because I took advantage of their sale recently and have a nice stash of it!
 
I am running Mobil1 5W30 EP in my SIenna. Excellent UOA, no oil consumption, and I run it 10k miles intervals.
With Sienna it is good to invest in block heater as that vehicle needs forever to warm up.
 
Why not just go with a 0W40 that has already shown that it works well in a similar engine?

Edge 0W40 has been discontinued in my country, as far as I can tell. The replacement I've chosen for myself at this point is PP Euro 5W40. That is so far from the "0W20" on the 2GR-FE oil cap, I'm not sure I'm going to suggest that be the year round oil in the Sienna. When we ran Edge 0W40 one time, it was just heading into summer and we wanted to see if it managed/masked the issues with the old engine, and it did. Since this engine doesn't have any pre-existing issues we're aware of, we'd just like to do our best to ensure it doesn't develop any.

I am running Mobil1 5W30 EP in my SIenna. Excellent UOA, no oil consumption, and I run it 10k miles intervals.
With Sienna it is good to invest in block heater as that vehicle needs forever to warm up.
Had a 2009 V6 Venza, it specced 5W-30.
Given your mileage and location, I would run 5W-30 in it if it was mine.
Max 10,000 km oil change interval - I did 8,000 kms.
I used PP 5W-30 and OE filters until it was traded in, in a much colder climate than Toronto.
No issues at all.

Having not heard anything special required to keep issues at bay, I may look harder at PP grades up to 5W30. That means we'll be running the same brand and, when it goes on sale, it goes on sale for both vehicles and we stock up.
 
My SO had a 2009 Sienna w/ 2GR-FE and due to minor collision causing write off just replaced it this year with a 2013 Sienna w/ 2GR-FE.

Pre-me (0- ~150,000km) the old one had dealer OC's every 5,000km or so with who-know's what. It had heavy staining all over the oil filter canister, the VVTi startup clatter and the piston slap the older 2GR-FEs are known for. I started doing the OCs with Edge 0W20 or 5W20 and once the 0W40 I use (which stopped all of the noises and gave better power delivery) until it was totaled around 260,000km. Staining and noise never worsened or improved despite the change in habits (and one round of AutoRX I still had around)

The new one has unknown history (other than carfax showing minor collision and visits to the dealer for "service" at regular intervals), passed a PPI with no issues, is around 140,000km, no VVTi clatter, no piston slap, and the filter canister is bright clean shiny metal. Yay!

Are revisions to the 2GR-FE (and perhaps luck) going to mean there's no concern about those other problems developing. Shall we literally run any 0W20 or 5W20 we care to or can things be optimized by making any particular choices? Is 0W20 really the right choice is or that more CAFE driven? My personal experience is almost entirely Euro.

Climate: Great Lakes, garaged at night, work commute is "medium" (15-20) with a bunch of short trips thrown in.
Just use what the dealer put in to get the vehicle to 140k kms, there must be a record of what was used. The way you describe it the engine sounds happy, so what's the problem?
 
Back
Top