Hi Folks!
Total noob here; apologies in advance for the lack of brevity, but the text in the “university” section encourages posters to provide as much info as possible b/c there’s some die hard oil geeks on here. Awesome! You are to whom I’m writing. That being said, I want to know what kind of oil to put in my old 4Runner.
Since I acquired my truck @ 165k, I have been running 20W-50 (unless I forgot to specify that @ the time of an oil change). My first truck had a GM 350 w/a Quadrajet, headers & cherry packs, and a guy at the gas station told me to always run 20W-50 “racing oil” in everything and I’ll never go wrong. For whatever reasons, that ‘advice’ has stuck with me for 35 years; however, recently I have begun to question the validity of it; after all, how could some gomer working at a Sunoco station in Scranton, PA know more than the Toyota engineers who designed the 3.4 litre 5VZ-FE DOHC V6 in my ‘98 4Runner – one of the most reliable “bulletproof” engines ever made by Toyota (or anyone else for that matter)? Yes, it is certainly possible that he could; however the likelihood is also low.
My truck’s 25 years old and has 261k on it; it’s clean, comfortable, reliable; it runs & shifts smoothly. It starts right up, doesn’t burn or drip oil and looks great. I love it and want to keep it for another 261k if I can. I have always had Toyota dealerships perform any services needed (including oil changes - at right around 5k miles). Since I try not to drive more than I must, my 5k oil change intervals often stretch to 10 months or more. But in rethinking my “always run 20W-50 oil” choice, I’m also thinking I should start changing my oil every 6 months (or 5k (which ever comes first)). And given 261k, I think I probably should “step-up” to changing my oil every 6 months, which would make me due right about now. But what oil should I use? Dino? Synth? API Service? Weight? I don’t care about the price (5 quarts of oil & a filter are cheap compared to an engine rebuild). But I also get the whole marketing thing and just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s the correct product for my situation.
As years go by I have increasingly noticed that when I tell the service reps that I want 20W-50, they have to make special trips to an auto parts store because Toyota service centers don’t keep 20W-50 on hand anymore (in fact, 20W-50 is becoming harder to find at auto parts stores). Also as time marches on, machining and engine tolerances get tighter & more refined, and oil weights get ‘lighter’ to meet those higher tolerances. Who knows which auto parts store he went to or what brand of 20W-50 he could find during his lunch break. I’m staring to feel like, if I really care about my old 4Rnr, (and I do) then I ought to be providing the most appropriate, best quality oil available for them to use when changing it.
Owners’ manual recommends SAE 5W-30 for climates up to 100°F, 10W-30 for climates from 0°F to over 100°F, and API service SJ – Resource Conserving. (Quick aside note: API SJ is relatively “old” in 2023. But if I’ve read & understood correctly, API’s SL & SM are “backwards compatible”. I do not know if services past SM (SN, etc.) are backwards compatible.) Per my manual, the 5W-30 is ‘preferred.’ There is no recommended oil change interval in the manual (that I could find). I am considering a synthetic formulated for high mileage, with gasket and seal conditioners, and detergents for sludge and varnish removal. But in my paranoia, I cannot help but wonder if the 20W-50 is so thick it’s keeping seals from dripping and moreover, that stepping ‘down’ to the recommended 5W- or 10W-30 synthetic may facilitate drips where there haven’t been any before. Toyota’s 5VZ-FE engine is known to develop leaky valve cover gaskets; mine were changed (along with the oil pan gasket) @ 221k.
This truck lives at the beach in Southern California, so it’s never really very cold, (low 50’s constitute a ‘brutal cold snap’ around here) but we’ve been over 115°F a few times in recent memory. I always warm up to full operating temp before driving (even if the engine may not require that, it’s still good practice for an auto trans w/261k on it). I run 91 octane gas & don’t push it too hard: redline is 5500 rpm, (I rarely even get to 3500 rpm) and very few hard off-the-line starts or stops. My driving is a mix of city and highway. I like to say I drive like a grandpa but I am nonetheless an impatient driver – not rude, aggressive or angry, just no threshold for BS: people farting around with their phones when the light turns green, not using their indicators, merging at the last second, gutter snakes, or random braking for no discernable reason, etc., are all completely unacceptable behaviors, and those types need to be not in front of me.
Thanx for your time!
Total noob here; apologies in advance for the lack of brevity, but the text in the “university” section encourages posters to provide as much info as possible b/c there’s some die hard oil geeks on here. Awesome! You are to whom I’m writing. That being said, I want to know what kind of oil to put in my old 4Runner.
Since I acquired my truck @ 165k, I have been running 20W-50 (unless I forgot to specify that @ the time of an oil change). My first truck had a GM 350 w/a Quadrajet, headers & cherry packs, and a guy at the gas station told me to always run 20W-50 “racing oil” in everything and I’ll never go wrong. For whatever reasons, that ‘advice’ has stuck with me for 35 years; however, recently I have begun to question the validity of it; after all, how could some gomer working at a Sunoco station in Scranton, PA know more than the Toyota engineers who designed the 3.4 litre 5VZ-FE DOHC V6 in my ‘98 4Runner – one of the most reliable “bulletproof” engines ever made by Toyota (or anyone else for that matter)? Yes, it is certainly possible that he could; however the likelihood is also low.
My truck’s 25 years old and has 261k on it; it’s clean, comfortable, reliable; it runs & shifts smoothly. It starts right up, doesn’t burn or drip oil and looks great. I love it and want to keep it for another 261k if I can. I have always had Toyota dealerships perform any services needed (including oil changes - at right around 5k miles). Since I try not to drive more than I must, my 5k oil change intervals often stretch to 10 months or more. But in rethinking my “always run 20W-50 oil” choice, I’m also thinking I should start changing my oil every 6 months (or 5k (which ever comes first)). And given 261k, I think I probably should “step-up” to changing my oil every 6 months, which would make me due right about now. But what oil should I use? Dino? Synth? API Service? Weight? I don’t care about the price (5 quarts of oil & a filter are cheap compared to an engine rebuild). But I also get the whole marketing thing and just because it’s expensive doesn’t mean it’s the correct product for my situation.
As years go by I have increasingly noticed that when I tell the service reps that I want 20W-50, they have to make special trips to an auto parts store because Toyota service centers don’t keep 20W-50 on hand anymore (in fact, 20W-50 is becoming harder to find at auto parts stores). Also as time marches on, machining and engine tolerances get tighter & more refined, and oil weights get ‘lighter’ to meet those higher tolerances. Who knows which auto parts store he went to or what brand of 20W-50 he could find during his lunch break. I’m staring to feel like, if I really care about my old 4Rnr, (and I do) then I ought to be providing the most appropriate, best quality oil available for them to use when changing it.
Owners’ manual recommends SAE 5W-30 for climates up to 100°F, 10W-30 for climates from 0°F to over 100°F, and API service SJ – Resource Conserving. (Quick aside note: API SJ is relatively “old” in 2023. But if I’ve read & understood correctly, API’s SL & SM are “backwards compatible”. I do not know if services past SM (SN, etc.) are backwards compatible.) Per my manual, the 5W-30 is ‘preferred.’ There is no recommended oil change interval in the manual (that I could find). I am considering a synthetic formulated for high mileage, with gasket and seal conditioners, and detergents for sludge and varnish removal. But in my paranoia, I cannot help but wonder if the 20W-50 is so thick it’s keeping seals from dripping and moreover, that stepping ‘down’ to the recommended 5W- or 10W-30 synthetic may facilitate drips where there haven’t been any before. Toyota’s 5VZ-FE engine is known to develop leaky valve cover gaskets; mine were changed (along with the oil pan gasket) @ 221k.
This truck lives at the beach in Southern California, so it’s never really very cold, (low 50’s constitute a ‘brutal cold snap’ around here) but we’ve been over 115°F a few times in recent memory. I always warm up to full operating temp before driving (even if the engine may not require that, it’s still good practice for an auto trans w/261k on it). I run 91 octane gas & don’t push it too hard: redline is 5500 rpm, (I rarely even get to 3500 rpm) and very few hard off-the-line starts or stops. My driving is a mix of city and highway. I like to say I drive like a grandpa but I am nonetheless an impatient driver – not rude, aggressive or angry, just no threshold for BS: people farting around with their phones when the light turns green, not using their indicators, merging at the last second, gutter snakes, or random braking for no discernable reason, etc., are all completely unacceptable behaviors, and those types need to be not in front of me.
Thanx for your time!
