TGMO Conventional 5w30 has much lower Moly than the Synthetic Stuff.. why?

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Nov 24, 2022
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So I have made an observation.

TGMO 0W-20 with its 700+ppm Moly content

I have a 2019 Toyota Corolla (2ZR-FE Engine), spec'd for 0W-20. I have just read the non US version of my owners manual and found out all other countries (Same 2ZR-FE Engine!!) say you can use 0W-20, 5W-30, etc.. (i think there were even some thicker ones listed in the foreign owner manual)

So it got me to thinking.. let me go check out what the old TGMO oil looks like.. you know before it was synthetic and was just the 5W-30 Toyota Oil.

I found info on the PQIA's website and was extremely surprised - almost no Moly content


If the Japanese Engineers wanted the moly so bad for "wear protection" then why did the old TGMO have almost no moly? (I think it says less than 1ppm for the TGMO Conventional 5W-30)


It looks to me like this was another one of those things Toyota did mostly for fuel economy....


I live in the Pacific northwest (Oregon) - the lowest temperature we see all year where I live is about 30 degrees F. So I am considering switching from TGMO 0w-20 to a 0W-30, 5W-30, etc. I feel it will give better wear protection than the 0W-20.


The reason I have been hesitant to switch to anything else is I was told the TGMO is superior, it has extra anti-wear additives not found in most oils its price. I see this is true from the Moly.. but is the Moly really there for wear protection and not just fuel economy?


Why did the thicker 5w-30 have almost no Moly? Did they not need the moly because the thicker oil had superior wear protection?






 
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Mazda 5w-30 also has a lot lower moly than it’s 0w20. I see that and in my mind the moly compensates for lower viscosity. It is a friction modifier but because it turns on with heat with its sulphur bonded atom is it also a EP that is not needed with higher viscosity? Sulphur has positive and negative points.
 
Mazda 5w-30 also has a lot lower moly than it’s 0w20. I see that and in my mind the moly compensates for lower viscosity. It is a friction modifier but because it turns on with heat with it’s sulphur bonded atom is it also a EP that is not needed with higher viscosity?

Interesting, I am going to research the Mazda Oil now. It seems like more than a coincidence that both OEM's bumped up Moly content when they dropped viscosity.
 
TGMO comes in conventional?


It seems they are still selling it, here is the part # for the Conventional TGMO 5W-30

002791QT5W01

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Moly causes deposits in TEOST test. xW-20 oils are excempt a pass, but xW-30 not.


Great observation! Now that you mention it, I remember reading that somewhere about getting an exemption for 0W-16 and 0W-20 for some sort of test. I had completely forgot about it until you mentioned it.

OK, well that at least leaves the door open for an alternative explanation versus my proposal of not wanting/needing moly in 5W-30.
 
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