Has anyone noticed that the Australia oil and truck forums pretty much don't even mention 30 weight oils. They talk about how they use 5w40 in a Prius or in a Hilux. I don't know man, some how there is a disconnect between the way Americans think about oil and the rest of the world. Something isn't right here.
Australia Forums
- Thread starter Badlees
- Start date
It's because we are fed marketing B.S. and they overrun the general population with fear to promote consumerism. In the rest of the world they seem to have common sense and think about necessity. IMO anways.. 
It seems like for the most part we are a bunch of pretty smart guys who have an interest in oil. That's good. I'm sure each one of us here can choose the right oil for their climate and driving conditions without holding on so tight to the manual in the glove box or the filler cap under the hood. We all know that the specs are there for people who need guidance and will use that weight of oil year round. You know what to use in the bitter winters up North and what to use in the hot Summers in the Southern States. I'm going to use my best judgment and switch oil weights for the conditions of my driving and weather for now on. No more of this tight tolerance [censored]. Tell that to the Aussies who run 15w40 in everything and you see their trucks still running after 20 years on those nature shows in the Outback. LOL.
The difference isn't between America and the rest of the world. It's between Australia and the rest of the world. The Honda Insight gets sold with a 20 weight both here and Japan. Same for the Prius. When they arrive in the EU, they start with a factory fill of 5w-20, but I'm not sure the recommendation. Why anyone would pay the premium for an Insight/Prius and run a 40 weight in it.....
An argument could be made that recommendations for 5w-20 are pretty rare outside of NA and Japan, but that's due to two easily explainable factors. First, our government run fuel efficiency ratings mandate the use of the same oil during the tests that is recommended to end users. So manufacturers are forced to recommend 5w-20 here, which creates the demand that wouldn't be seen if they could run the tests with any oil they wanted and still recommend 5w-30. Second, we have a lot of demand for all petroleum products, and a very large refining capacity... so we have the supply to meet the demand.
As for the Hilux, that's a truck. And truck people loves them some thick oil. That's true here too. I'm sure there's Tacomas all over running 5/10w-40.
Originally Posted By: bepperb
The difference isn't between America and the rest of the world. It's between Australia and the rest of the world. The Honda Insight gets sold with a 20 weight both here and Japan. Same for the Prius. When they arrive in the EU, they start with a factory fill of 5w-20, but I'm not sure the recommendation. Why anyone would pay the premium for an Insight/Prius and run a 40 weight in it.....
An argument could be made that recommendations for 5w-20 are pretty rare outside of NA and Japan, but that's due to two easily explainable factors. First, our government run fuel efficiency ratings mandate the use of the same oil during the tests that is recommended to end users. So manufacturers are forced to recommend 5w-20 here, which creates the demand that wouldn't be seen if they could run the tests with any oil they wanted and still recommend 5w-30. Second, we have a lot of demand for all petroleum products, and a very large refining capacity... so we have the supply to meet the demand.
As for the Hilux, that's a truck. And truck people loves them some thick oil. That's true here too. I'm sure there's Tacomas all over running 5/10w-40.
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Finally! I'm really glad to see some sensible response on this said subject matter.
Q.
Also, most other markets run longer OCI's so starting with a heavier oil makes sense as it will end up thinner later in the interval.
I'm with Badlees though, run what makes sense, not whats on the cap...
I agree with Stevie in the 2nd post. Marketing [censored].
People in OZ love their 10w60 oils. Same way 5w20/30 is the bee's-knees in NA.
So here is an old post with pics of the 1GRFE motor in my Tacoma. Any reason not to run a 5w40 synthetic in it due to the mechanical makeup? These are as close to a high performance engine as it gets.
1GRFE Motor Pics
The 1GR-FE is the 4.0 L version. Bore is 94 mm and stroke is 95 mm. Output is 236 hp (176 kW) at 5200 rpm with 266 lb·ft (361 N·m) of torque at 4000 rpm on 87 octane, and 239 hp (178 kW) at 5200 rpm with 278 lb·ft (377 N·m) at 3700 rpm on 91 octane. This engine features Toyota's VVT-i, variable valve timing system on the intake cam and a compression ratio of 10.0:1. Inside, the 1GR uses a taper-squish combustion chamber design with matching pistons to improve anti-knocking and engine performance, while also improving intake and fuel efficiency. Toyota adopted a siamese-type intake port, which reduces the surface area of the port walls and prevents fuel from adhering to such walls. This engine has special cast-iron cylinder liners cast into the block, which are a spiny type to improve adhesion between the liner and cylinder block. With these special thin liners it is impossible to bore the block. In the event of cylinder wall damage (scoring, deep protrusions, etc), the entire cylinder block must be replaced. For increased block rigidity, the 1GR also receives a high temperature plastic insulator/protector, which fills the empty space between the outer portion of the cylinders and block material common to open deck engines. For increased cooling efficiency, the 1GR employs water passages between the bores of the engine. There are such two passages for each bank for a total of four. This reduces cylinder hot-spotting and keeps combustion chamber temperatures more uniform.
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I ran 5w20 in my 1GRFE( I got rid of it becasue I moved to the mountains and my truck was not a 4x4). The valvetrain though not rollerized is not high pressure and there is a piston skirt spray. I think as long as it is ILSAC (5w20, 5w30 or 10w30) this motor mon;t know the difference. I see no justification for going to a 40 weight.
Originally Posted By: Bryanccfshr
I ran 5w20 in my 1GRFE( I got rid of it becasue I moved to the mountains and my truck was not a 4x4). The valvetrain though not rollerized is not high pressure and there is a piston skirt spray. I think as long as it is ILSAC (5w20, 5w30 or 10w30) this motor mon;t know the difference. I see no justification for going to a 40 weight.
I think we need some Oz participants in this thread. Probably a time Ozone thing.
There's no place like the Oz.
It's pretty simple.
Aussies have "thicker is better" mentality. No logic really. They'll come around with enough time.
Motorcraft, Pennzoil and PP all 5w20. Always intended to do a uoa on it but never got around to it. The 4.6 powered Ford Explorer that replaced it gets better gas mileage though. 
If it had been a 4wd I would have kept it forever but one winter in the Rockies convinced me that forever wouldn't be that long in a prerunner Tacoma.
If it had been a 4wd I would have kept it forever but one winter in the Rockies convinced me that forever wouldn't be that long in a prerunner Tacoma.Very interesting topic Badless.Here in NZ the major oil companies only sell 40and 50 weight oils.They are obviously influenced by Australia where the blending plants are located.For instance Mobil One is only available in one grade,5w50,Caltex Havoline Synthetic and Shell Ultra are only available as 5W40,Castrol Edge however is available as 5W30.All the conventional oils are 15w40 with the exception of Castrol Magnatec 10W40.
Here in NZ the majority of cars are of Japanese origin and these all call for 10W30 oil.If you need such oil the only suppliers are the major independants,Fuchs,Valvoline,Elf and Penzoil(US made).
All this talk about 20 weight oils is just a joke here,the only available is Fuchs GT1 a very expensive Diester oil.
So do you run 40 weights in the Japanese cars or go out of your way to find a 40 weight? It sounds like most of you "Kiwi's" are running 40 weights for the most part. How many old trucks and cars are running over there with 200k miles on them using a 40 weight? I'm going to run Chevron Delo 400 on the next run for July and August, the hottest towing months of the year. It says right on the bottle SM so I'm going to give it a try.
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Since diesel vehicles make up at least 1/2 of what Aussies and Kiwis drive there, naturally, the market tends to lean heavily towardes heavy weight motor oil and that's what the shelf stocking flows quickly and the price would be more reasonable to go with, say, 10W40 or 20W50 to that of 5W30 (if it's ever available commonly off many shelves).
Because of that, people would go with whatever makes good economic sense to them even though in reality, it may not be ideal for their own gasoline engines to begin with.
Now comes the interesting part: gas station and automotive service centres in Japan typically stocks oil from 0W20 all the way to 20W50 and their pricing seems to properly reflect on what's the ratio of gasoline engine vs diesel running on their roads. Also: Most Japanese vehicle manufacturers owners manual oil weight requirements in their domestically sold/serviced gasoline vehicles are reflective to that of NA, or parts of industralised European countries.
Bottomline: what you ended up using in your gasoline vehicle engines maybe reflective to the supply/demand of the lubricants available in your geographical regions and may/may not be what the gasoline engine manufacturers want (ideally)
Q.
Q.
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It's the culture here that thick oil is good, thicker oil even better, that why you can hardly find any w30 or w20 oil here.
After i change my wife Mitsubishi 380(Galant) to Amsoil 5w30(yes, i manage to find it online here), my fuel efficiency improve from around 14L/100km to 12L/100km. Now I'm really happy with the smoother engine operation and much better fuel efficiency.
I don't know what oil the previous owner put in but it must be some thick [censored] for such efficiency gain.
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Originally Posted By: peterdes
I agree with Stevie in the 2nd post. Marketing [censored].
People in OZ love their 10w60 oils. Same way 5w20/30 is the bee's-knees in NA.