5w30 in a car spec for 0w16

Jackson_Slugger said:
Okay fair enough. But with 6.6 qts. of any weight (which is a crazy high capacity to me when for years they were trying to get below 4 qts seemingly on 4-cyls), I doubt your going to have to worry about speeds or loads, that engine has a history of the opposite - not reaching very high temps. I think a former mod here said his rarely went
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6.6 qts for which vehicle?
 
ZeeOSix said:
Journal bearings are "small oil passages" that are the main contributors to building oil pressure - and all engines have very similar journal bearing clearances. So really all engines have small oil passages. ;)
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20140817_140636_1__f85c38ad6a5b8e4ced7c4ad5ffaceaa230f67635.jpg


This is random picture of a ford 5.4. I was thinking about the oil passages in the front and rear cam caps. The cap bolts on and the head is not machined to match the cap's oil passage.
 
Bullet said:
20140817_140636_1__f85c38ad6a5b8e4ced7c4ad5ffaceaa230f67635.jpg


This is random picture of a ford 5.4. I was thinking about the oil passages in the front and rear cam caps. The cap bolts on and the head is not machined to match the cap's oil passage.
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Design and/or manufacturing error causing lack of lubrication. Same results would have occured regardless of the oil viscosity used. Positive displacement oil pump feeds oil to the cams. But if the passages are majority blocked because of a design or manufacturing flaw then even 0W-20 isn't going to make any difference.
 
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The Critic said:
How much EV usage do you anticipate? Most of the Prime owners I know have 40-60% EV usage. By the time you reach 250K the engine will have 150K at most. Does oil even matter?
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I drive about 50 Miles a day just for work. Work has a free charge station, I get about 25 miles per day of electric usage, I would say my average use would be 30 percent or so. I don't plug in at home or on weekends, I drive a lot outside of work I bought the car end of June, I have over 2k miles so far already
 
In this hybrid system do the electric motors work simultaneously with the engine during hard acceleration or going up hills etc?
 
Bullet said:
Some engines have small oil passages. You never know your engine may too, but I don't know if a 5w30 would be better or worse.
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Yep - Honda slimmed down the oil clearances in the 1st gen Insight and the Civic Hybrids for 0W-20. Even though Honda was already filling their Japanese production in the aughts with 0W-20(with their Ohio plant being next) across the board. The Fit used a variant of the I3 in the OG Insight but with one more cylinder and called for 5W-20. which eventually morphed into Honda’s 1.5T for the CR-V/Accord base/Civic EX-T and Touring.

with that said, Toyota doesn’t word their owners manuals with dire straits if thicker oil is used. But stick to 0W-16 and document your oil changes to keep a monkey off your back if you need engine warranty work done.
 
Gebo said:
I'd just go with a 0W-20 and never go beyond a 5K OCI.
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5k oil changes on a hybrid ? That's excessive. In those 5000 miles, the engine may have only been operating for 50% of the time or the equivalent of 2500 miles.
 
Mc357 said:
I just got a 21 Prius prime. It has the 2zrfxe engine.
Owners manual recommends 0w16, my question is would 5w30 Pennzoil synthetic be a better choice for longevity?
In the manual it states " an oil with a higher viscosity ( one with a higher value) may be better suited if the vehicle is operated at high speeds, or under extreme load conditions."

I'm not concerned about losing a few miles to a tank of fuel. I just don't want to put oil that is too thick if it may hurt the engine. I have read other countries allow thicker oils for the same engine, I don't know if the US model prime has a different oil pump that only will work with thin oil.
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I wouldn't personally do it under warranty. Outside of warranty I wouldn't be afraid to do it, but why? Hybrid engines are constantly cycling on and off and such. Having an oil ready to flow like water is probably more helpful than something a little slower to flow, would be my uneducated opinion. Now, if you're driving coast to coast and setting the cruise at 90 in the Midwest on the empty roads while bucking a headwind up mountain passes, a 0w20 or 5w20 or 5w30 or 0w40 might be worth asking an engineer at an oil company or car company.

Short version: in my uneducated opinion, run what the manual says to.
 
ZeeOSix said:
Design and/or manufacturing error causing lack of lubrication. Same results would have occured regardless of the oil viscosity used. Positive displacement oil pump feeds oil to the cams. But if the passages are majority blocked because of a design or manufacturing flaw then even 0W-20 isn't going to make any difference.
Click to expand...

Sure design and/or manufacturing error causing lack of lubrication is a factor, but there are lots of these engines with 200K+ miles. The issue is no one buys a new designed engine and knows there are going to be issues. So, would going to a 5w30 benefit avoid oil related failures?
 
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