Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5W-30 • 5200mi • 2019 4Runner 1GR-FE VVT-i

Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
121
Location
GA
This is my first report on this vehicle. Nothing too surprising here but the goal was to start a baseline for future analysis once the worst of the break-in metals flushed out, so I can dial in the oil change intervals for our vehicle use. I bagged two 5qt jugs of the QSUD last year on sale at under $20 a jug, and think its an excellent value and a good fit for most vehicles. This was run with an OEM Toyota filter cartridge. This fill saw it all - long distance road trips (1400mi), towing a small camper in the mountains, stop and go, and then long periods of sitting and short tripping due to COVID changing our work schedules.

I'll likely hear some inquiries about why i'm not running the factory recommended 20wt. We use our 4Runner according to the manufacturers severe use description which involves towing, heavy cargo loading, cargo carrier use, off road work and sometimes 2 or 3 of those combined in high temps. As such we're within the manual's recommendation to go up a grade, and the engine loves it - very quiet, doesn't use a drop and our gas mileage hasn't changed. The engine is also spec'd for up to a 40wt in other markets, so we're well within tolerances.

s5LOwzRh.jpg


The factory fill was drained at 700 miles with no filter change.
Filled with Mobil1 5W-30 and a fresh filter for a short run to 4,022mi
Currently using RGT 5W-30 (another great looking oil on sale at Tractor Supply, nearly the same price as QSUD) with another OEM filter and will likely report back sometime late next year (y)
 
This is my first report on this vehicle. Nothing too surprising here but the goal was to start a baseline for future analysis once the worst of the break-in metals flushed out, so I can dial in the oil change intervals for our vehicle use. I bagged two 5qt jugs of the QSUD last year on sale at under $20 a jug, and think its an excellent value and a good fit for most vehicles. This was run with an OEM Toyota filter cartridge. This fill saw it all - long distance road trips (1400mi), towing a small camper in the mountains, stop and go, and then long periods of sitting and short tripping due to COVID changing our work schedules.

I'll likely hear some inquiries about why i'm not running the factory recommended 20wt. We use our 4Runner according to the manufacturers severe use description which involves towing, heavy cargo loading, cargo carrier use, off road work and sometimes 2 or 3 of those combined in high temps. As such we're within the manual's recommendation to go up a grade, and the engine loves it - very quiet, doesn't use a drop and our gas mileage hasn't changed. The engine is also spec'd for up to a 40wt in other markets, so we're well within tolerances.

s5LOwzRh.jpg


The factory fill was drained at 700 miles with no filter change.
Filled with Mobil1 5W-30 and a fresh filter for a short run to 4,022mi
Currently using RGT 5W-30 (another great looking oil on sale at Tractor Supply, nearly the same price as QSUD) with another OEM filter and will likely report back sometime late next year (y)

If I'm not mistaken, RGT is rebranded QSUD. The report looks good, and it seems that your engine is not hard on oils. For the same money you can get M1 FS 0W-40 which has a more robust additive package and a way higher TBN, better cold flow and more protection in hot weather. In that motor you can run just about anything, it's easy on oils.
 
If I'm not mistaken, RGT is rebranded QSUD. The report looks good, and it seems that your engine is not hard on oils. For the same money you can get M1 FS 0W-40 which has a more robust additive package and a way higher TBN, better cold flow and more protection in hot weather. In that motor you can run just about anything, it's easy on oils.
Not sure I‘d spend money for any UOA with name brand synthetic going 5k in a Toyota engine …
 
Looks like a good report. The copper does stick out to me.

Its above average but with the engine being so new its going to continue to trend down. These 1GR engines seem to take their time breaking in, judging by other UOAs.

Looks good!
QSUD 5W30 is one of my go-to oils.

yep, i like it. wish the TBN was a bit higher to start with though.

If I'm not mistaken, RGT is rebranded QSUD. The report looks good, and it seems that your engine is not hard on oils. For the same money you can get M1 FS 0W-40 which has a more robust additive package and a way higher TBN, better cold flow and more protection in hot weather. In that motor you can run just about anything, it's easy on oils.

Well i learned something today! I guess I'll be seeing similar numbers next time then.

I've actually been considering doing exactly that - my other vehicle runs M1 0w-40. I'd love to simplify my stash down to a single oil. I have no doubt the engine would love it, particularly given our long warm season here. Both this and my other car are a total PITA to do an oil change on, so the longer I can wait between drains the happier I am anyway.

Not sure I‘d spend money for any UOA with name brand synthetic going 5k in a Toyota engine …

Understandable. We put this 4Runner right to work with less than 1000 miles on it towing a camper fully loaded up into the mountains and its seen some time off road as well. Just wanted to see if that exacerbated any break-in characteristics. I've also seen a lot of talk about QSUD around here but haven't seen too many 5W-30 reports, so I figured this might be a helpful data point for the forum as well.

I will likely only test 1 or 2 more times to figure out how far I can push an OCI given how we use the vehicle and then leave it alone.

I've been running RGT 5w-30 in my 2018 4Runner for the last two changes. Like your experience, quiet, smooth engine with no difference in gas
mileage. Will not be going back to 0w-20. I even purchased an OEM 5w-30 oil cap just to finish the deal.;)

I like your style...I may need to grab one of those caps too.
 



  1. To the best of my knowledge it hasn't been substantiated. The specs are a little different (Could be lot to lot variation) but I suspect they started with QSUD and tweaked it slightly. Possibly by a little higher minimum GTL percentage. Of course speculation exist that SOPUS often dumps excess GTL production by adding GTL to oils like QSUD using Read Across so I can't say if the typical product is actually different.
EDIT: No clue how I screwed up that quote.
 





  1. To the best of my knowledge it hasn't been substantiated. The specs are a little different (Could be lot to lot variation) but I suspect they started with QSUD and tweaked it slightly. Possibly by a little higher minimum GTL percentage. Of course speculation exist that SOPUS often dumps excess GTL production by adding GTL to oils like QSUD using Read Across so I can't say if the typical product is actually different.
EDIT: No clue how I screwed up that quote.

It's actually been discussed here on BITOG before, and it wouldn't surprise me. Neither does it bother me. Heck, Advance Auto Parts had RGT 5W-20 and 5W-30 on sale for about $10 per 5-quart jug. I almost bought some to gift to family and friends, but then I thought that it might come across weird, as everyone is particular about their oil and whatnot.

GTL is awesome, as long as it's not used solely or in very large amounts like 80% or so in the base oil mix. I don't know what the natural viscosity of their high-end GTL is, however, for sure it's not like PAO. That's why they need a sh*t ton of viscosity modifiers to their GTL based oils like PUP. You can see this especially in oils like PUP 5W-30 (it shears down to a thin 5W-20 in no time), and PUP 0W-40. They're trying to put GTL in everything as they have lots of it. I doubt that this is the case for RGT and QSUD though. I hope they leave these two brands alone for the foreseeable future, as they are very good oils for how much they cost. At $10 for a 5-quart jug of synthetic high-quality oil like RGT, I consider that a steal
 
It's actually been discussed here on BITOG before, and it wouldn't surprise me. Neither does it bother me. Heck, Advance Auto Parts had RGT 5W-20 and 5W-30 on sale for about $10 per 5-quart jug. I almost bought some to gift to family and friends, but then I thought that it might come across weird, as everyone is particular about their oil and whatnot.

GTL is awesome, as long as it's not used solely or in very large amounts like 80% or so in the base oil mix. I don't know what the natural viscosity of their high-end GTL is, however, for sure it's not like PAO. That's why they need a sh*t ton of viscosity modifiers to their GTL based oils like PUP. You can see this especially in oils like PUP 5W-30 (it shears down to a thin 5W-20 in no time), and PUP 0W-40. They're trying to put GTL in everything as they have lots of it. I doubt that this is the case for RGT and QSUD though. I hope they leave these two brands alone for the foreseeable future, as they are very good oils for how much they cost. At $10 for a 5-quart jug of synthetic high-quality oil like RGT, I consider that a steal

My actual suspicion is QSUD is certified as a straight GIII Base but often receives some GIII+ (GTL) in production. The RGT would have included some GTL when certified. How close this was to production QSUD is open to speculation. If I understand the Write Across rules correctly you can use another GIII as long as it has the same or higher VI. How much is a very large question mark.
 
Sorry for what might be a naive question here: why did the 100C viscosity drop from 11.6 to 9.5? The report doesn't suggest fuel in the oil and I am confused. Thank you for posting the report!
 
Sorry for what might be a naive question here: why did the 100C viscosity drop from 11.6 to 9.5? The report doesn't suggest fuel in the oil and I am confused. Thank you for posting the report!

That might be the GTL base stock that @Gene K was talking about. Since SOPUS is very (and I mean VERY) secretive about what goes into their oils and they obfuscate the data on their MSDS reports, it wouldn't be out of line on my part to assume that SOPUS uses a higher percentage of GTL for this particular oil. Maybe they tweaked the formula for RTG and use less GTL there. We'll see when OP will post his next UOA with RGT oil.

Since the ILSAC GF3 days, at least, oils were made to "temporary shear" to enhance fuel economy. This means that even though you put some 5W-30 in your sump when under pressure it was acting like a 5W-20. Unfortunately, those polymers in the viscosity improver to last forever, so motor oil shears. This isn't only the case for ILSAC certified oils, look at some 0W-40 ACEA A3/B4 oils, they do the same thing. I put M1 FS 0W-40 in my HEMI knowing that I'll barely get a 0W-30 oil in there, but I'm okay with that. The additive package is good, and I also added 15oz of Lubegard Bio/Tech for good measure. We'll see what the UOA says when I do my next oil change.
 
Sorry for what might be a naive question here: why did the 100C viscosity drop from 11.6 to 9.5? The report doesn't suggest fuel in the oil and I am confused. Thank you for posting the report!

That would be shearing. It's pretty common in a GF-5 5W-30. The most cost effective way to meet the fuel conserving part of the regulation is with a thinner base stock and more VII. Some engines will shear these type oils.

A few manufacturers are doing something different (Castrol Edge comes to mind) but I haven't got a clue what they are doing. It would almost have to be a different type of VII in my opinion. It starts relatively thin but just doesn't seem to shear. I've heard using mPAO can have this kind of effect but it's almost universally excepted that it's not economically viable in mainstream oils.
 
That would be shearing. It's pretty common in a GF-5 5W-30. The most cost effective way to meet the fuel conserving part of the regulation is with a thinner base stock and more VII. Some engines will shear these type oils.

They're actually engineered to shear. The baseline oil for the fuel test is PAO based, and so everything from a conventional to a parasynthetic, to a full synthetic has to beat the baseline oil by one or two percent in order to get certified. So oil manufacturers cheat by employing temporary shearing, which after a while becomes permanent. Call me shocked... 😲

A few manufacturers are doing something different (Castrol Edge comes to mind) but I haven't got a clue what they are doing. It would almost have to be a different type of VII in my opinion. It starts relatively thin but just doesn't seem to shear. I've heard using mPAO can have this kind of effect but it's almost universally excepted that it's not economically viable in mainstream oils.

Castrol EDGE and EDGE EP ILSAC oils are made from Group III base stock. Instead of shearing like crazy, their cSt@100C and above is stable, however, the values are laughable, like 8.2 for 5W-20 and around 9.8 or 10 for 5W-30 (I'm quoting from memory).

Castrol EDGE 0W-30 and 0W-40 ACEA A3 oils are made from PAO+Group III base stock. They do shear a little bit, but not as bad as ACEA A3 oils made from GTL like Mobil 1 FS 0W-40.

I believe that BP didn't invest in GTL, and as such, Castrol is confined to using Group III base stock for most of their oils. If you go over the many MSDS files from Castrol, you'll see that they only use PAO absolutely (and only when they absolutely) have to. I think the saying at Castrol goes: "Don't waste PAO unless you absolutely have to and there is no other way around using a Group III base oil to make the product!"

Royal Purple (aka The Purple Gimmick) is mostly Group III, like almost all of it, even HPS/HMX. Calumet is making a conceded effort and very difficult for regular folks to find a viable MSDS for their oils. Usually, the color of motor oil is given by the base oil and additive package. Royal Purple might be the only manufacturer I've ever seen to die their motor oil purple and then charge a premium for it. Sorry, if I want high-performance motor oil then I'll go to Red Line, Driven, Amsoil, and so on. Fewer gimmicks, more oil...
 
They're actually engineered to shear. The baseline oil for the fuel test is PAO based, and so everything from a conventional to a parasynthetic, to a full synthetic has to beat the baseline oil by one or two percent in order to get certified. So oil manufacturers cheat by employing temporary shearing, which after a while becomes permanent. Call me shocked... 😲



Castrol EDGE and EDGE EP ILSAC oils are made from Group III base stock. Instead of shearing like crazy, their cSt@100C and above is stable, however, the values are laughable, like 8.2 for 5W-20 and around 9.8 or 10 for 5W-30 (I'm quoting from memory).

Castrol EDGE 0W-30 and 0W-40 ACEA A3 oils are made from PAO+Group III base stock. They do shear a little bit, but not as bad as ACEA A3 oils made from GTL like Mobil 1 FS 0W-40.

Actually it's around 10.4 for 5W-30 not that it matters. What matters is HTHS and whether it remains within design parameters.

I'll take a 10.4 - 3.04 shear stable oil over a 11.0 - 3.1 that shears to 9.4 - 2.9 any day of the week.
 
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