I have been driving GM vehicles for years and have always put in can of BG MOA with every oil change. I am new Toyota owner and work for a dealer in town. Our bulk oil is Valvoline 5w20. Looking for advice and or comment from the Toyota owners out there. Any comments, answer or advice is greatly appreciatted!

I think the most important thing is to change the oil as recommended and with the recommended weight. I personally use Mobile One 0w 20w and change every 5,000 miles. I use Mobile One on all of my vehicles and that includes my Harley's. Never had any oil related issues and it seems to help a little with the fuel efficiency. Also run as much air as your tires recommends and check often.

Bob

Thank you for the reply and opinion. I was at Wally World today and synthetic oil isn't that out of reach, no matter the brewer. My local Wal-Mart doesn't carry the 0w-20 and in New Mexico we stay above 20 deg F even in winter...I have found out that the 0w20 Toyota oil in the red bottle is Kendall and not Mobil 1? I know a SERIOUS Toyota guy that is a lubrication freak tech/mech in Desert Storm. He also recommends Mobil 1.

For 35 years (before you were born) Toyota has been building engines that last 500,000 miles or more without using oil additives or synthetic oils:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/18rcb.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/leowrfield.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/957-1.jpg

But if you want to use a synthetic anyway, Toyota 0W-20 (red bottle) is a full synthetic
designed by Toyota's engineers for use in Toyotas. Toyota contracts with the Nippon Oil Co (a Japanese company) and Mobil to make the Toyota's synthetic to Toyotas specs.

The synthetics stand up to heat better and take longer to start losing their viscosity. They also don't have the impurities that regular oil has. I figure if Mobile 1 is good enough for Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes it’s good enough for my vehicles. I’ve used it in my Harley’s for years because they are not water cooled motors and are tough on motor oil. Never had any problems. I have gotten them on sale at Wal-Mart in the big 5 quart jug for $15 on sale. I bought all they had. I'm good for several years now but if you keep your eye out they do that from time to time and that makes it as cheap as regular oil.

Bob

Corvette, Viper, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes don't have long established 500,000 - 1,000,000 mile track records of engine durability like Toyotas & Hondas do. Many of them don't even have engine oil coolers so the engine oil gets very hot. It's true that synthetics will hold up longer if the engine oil is extra hot and that's why these performance cars come from the factory filled with synthetic. But on it's website, Shell admits this potential benefit is irrevalent to most engines because the oil doesn't ever get hot enough to badly oxidize conventional oil.

If you spent days searching all the tens of thousands of posts to the Tundrasolutions forum over the years you'd not likely find even one where an owner reported excessive engine wear, damage or failure that resulted from the use of conventional oil. Instead, you'd find hundreds of posts about engine damage or failure caused by abusive driving habits or delayed, neglected or improper preventive maintenance to the engines systems; i.e. lubrication system, cooling system, ignition system, fuel system, emission system and exhaust system.

kathyricks

You are absolutely right with your statement. My bike is a 2cly (1800 cc) and not water cooled so I want the best heat protection I can find. Mobile 1 has worked extremely well with that environment and therefore I wanted it for my cars also.

I have always tried to take extremely good care of my equipment and machines. I also don't mind spending a little more to assure I have the best fluides. I'm sure if you do the recommended service and regular oils are used you will probably have no problems. For me I like to go that extra mile.

Bob

What base or "conventional" oil brand do you use?

For 35 years (before you were born) Toyota has been building engines that last 500,000 miles or more without using oil additives or synthetic oils:
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/18rcb.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/leowrfield.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y189/mastertech/957-1.jpg

But if you want to use a synthetic anyway, Toyota 0W-20 (red bottle) is a full synthetic
designed by Toyota's engineers for use in Toyotas. Toyota contracts with the Nippon Oil Co (a Japanese company) and Mobil to make the Toyota's synthetic to Toyotas specs.
What base or "conventional" oil brand do you use?

Thank you for the info on the "red bottle" Toyota oil

Corvette, Viper, Ferrari, Porsche and Mercedes don't have long established 500,000 - 1,000,000 mile track records of engine durability like Toyotas & Hondas do. Many of them don't even have engine oil coolers so the engine oil gets very hot. It's true that synthetics will hold up longer if the engine oil is extra hot and that's why these performance cars come from the factory filled with synthetic. But on it's website, Shell admits this potential benefit is irrevalent to most engines because the oil doesn't ever get hot enough to badly oxidize conventional oil.

If you spent days searching all the tens of thousands of posts to the Tundrasolutions forum over the years you'd not likely find even one where an owner reported excessive engine wear, damage or failure that resulted from the use of conventional oil. Instead, you'd find hundreds of posts about engine damage or failure caused by abusive driving habits or delayed, neglected or improper preventive maintenance to the engines systems; i.e. lubrication system, cooling system, ignition system, fuel system, emission system and exhaust system.

Lets be more fair ;-) Most posters on this site and others have not and will not send their used oil to a lab to get evaluated for engine wear, so really, you cannot conclude that because no body has posted oil related engine failures on this or othe sites that this proves anything.

If you go to BobIsTheOilGuy.com and check their threads for hundreds of UOA's (used oil analysis) provided by independent labs, specializing on used engine oil, you will find that in many cases engines that used synthetic do in fact protect better then those that use conventional, but to be fair, that gap in protection difference is narrowing more and more.

Synthetic is better because it flows faster and this is important at the time the car is first started in the the morning, and I mean even warm mornings like in Arizona or New Mexico. It's the flow that makes the difference, and this is more important then oil pressure.

And just because you cite three examples showing Toyotas going massive miles has much, much more to do with proper maintenence, then the type of oil used.

Steiglitz, I agree with your statement.

I believe in UOA's. A valid assessment cannot be made without baseline data.

I have used M1 since 1977. It was the only game in town at that time. And although it's formula has done a 360 change as of late, it seems to be the front runner for commercially available Syn Oil.

Armchair quaterbacking is just smoke in the wind.

Wallmart, NY 5qt jug M10W30 $19.88 ( Green Bottle Cap )

Idemitsu Lubricants America Corporation (http://www.apolloamerica.com/index.htm)



Check out this link!



Toyota 0w20 "full synthetic" red bottle for my '09 Corolla S!!!


:amen:

Mobil 1 for me! Except for I'm letting the dealership handle the oil changes for now. lol so its whatever they're puttin in the car.

but for all my other vehicles I've ever had I've always used Mobil 1.