Originally Posted by Bryanccfshr
0w40
For the HTHS. If you have driven your Tacoma much on the interstate yet you will realize that anything over 70 mph the transmission will downshift from 6 to 5 and find its happy place in 4th if there is any headwind , hill or heavy load. So you will be in that rpm range a lot if you take many long interstate tripsat 75-80. The faster you go the higher the load due to the nature of driving a brick into the wind.
I am not afraid of 0w20, I am running my toyota care oil toward its 5k. Then the 0w40 goes in for 5k. One more toyota care oil change after that and I can run higher HTHS oil full time and push it a little longer perhaps.
I run nearly 400 miles, 240 of it @80 mph every couple of weeks, to and from where I work rotationally.
So hours of hours of sustained 3500 rpm and there is a load on it, the truck wouldn't stick to 4th to stay in the power band if there wasn't.
5th and 6th are more handy at 50-60mph, for fuel economy,
Wow...youve read my mind! This is exactly what is going on. Let me explain....I have a company truck. Its a 2.7 (2tr-fe) 4x4 with the auto trans and a 4:30 in the rear end. It also has several upgrades including BFG All-Terrain LT 265/75 R16 tires which are very heavy. It also has steel armor on the bottom side which adds weight. Im a red meat eating, beer drinking, 6'3 nordic...which also adds weight. This truck is killer off road setup like this...better than my TRD. The downside is that it revs fast on the interstate. With the cruise on 75mph it basically sits in 4th gear at 3-3500 Rpms. It occasionally goes into 5th and settles into about 2500 RPMs...but its only briefly. 6th gear is useless...and i drive a TON..60,000 miles a year! But the truck also sees a lot of purpose driven off roading...hence the tires.
Im concerned that the 0w20 may not protect the engine adequately. The owners manual allows for a heavier weight in severe use situations. I need to run a 10k oci.
What say you all with the info at hand?