Thinking of switching to synthetic (toyota tundra)

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So I found this website only days ago searching for information about switching to synthetic oil, but wow what a great place to learn about oil! I've been reading through the posts and links to other sites with long explanations on oil and thought I would ask the community their opinion on my truck and my specific driving habits.

1. I have a 2006 Toyota Tundra with almost 75000 miles
2. The owner's manual says to use multi-grade ILSAC engine oil with 5W-30 viscosity and change every 5k miles.
3. I live in California but will most likely be moving to central Oregon where it is much colder!
4. Usually cruise around 70mph but have a ScanGauge to help me keep the foot light.
5. My daily drive is really all over the place. Commute anywhere from 20 to 50 miles to a specific town and then do at least 15 stops and starts through out the day with maybe only 2 of the stops the engine is off more than 2 hours the rest usually under an hour.
6. The truck is in great condition as far as I know. I did increase the tires from 30inch to 33's (only mod i made to the truck).

I was thinking of either switching to Mobil 1 (not sure what "make") or Castrol Edge. My brother works with race trucks and says I should go Amsoil but I feel like for my driving, mobil or castrol should do the job just fine. Also not sure about which oil filter is best for my situation.

The other undecided issue is viscosity. Toyota says to run 5w30 but I hear 0w30 is better for cold start ups which might translate to better wear on my engine? To quote THIS giant oil article:

Quote:
Oil type... Thickness at 75 F...Thickness at 212 F

Straight 30...... 250......................10
10W-30............100......................10
0W-30..............40 ......................10

Straight 10........30....................... 6

Now you can see that the difference between the desired thickness your engine requires ( = 10 ) is closest to the 0W-30 oil at startup. It is still too thick for normal operation. But it does not have far to go before it warms up and thins to the correct viscosity. Remember that most engine wear occurs at startup when the oil is too thick to lubricate properly. It cannot flow and therefore cannot lubricate. Most of the thick oil at startup actually goes through the bypass valve back to the engine oil sump and not into your engine oil ways. This is especially true when you really step on that gas pedal. You really need more lubrication and you actually get less.


Also I drive about 100 or miles a day 5 to 6 days a week. I've been having the dealership do the oil changes (only $35) but I'll be doing my own oil changes when I switch to synthetic. I'm currently leaning towards Mobil due to it being everywhere I go, (I haven't noticed castrol edge but I probably haven't been looking) but I've been hearing good things about castrol since reading this forum. I also purchased a UOA and hope to compare results of the switch.

So basically just wondering if you guys think its a good idea to switch and maybe give some advice on either mobil or castrol and what viscosity I should use. Oh and oil filter recommendations with either oil. Thanks so much!
 
Personally I'd go with PP 5W-30, but of the two you asked about, Castrol Edge. With a PureONE, NAPA Gold, or FRAM Xtendedguard filter
 
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A 5w-30 will work great for you.

Mobil 1, Castrol Edge or even Pennzoil Platinum would be great choices.

Stick to somewhere between 5-10,000 mile oil changes with regular Mobil 1 and PP. 7500-10,000 miles with Mobil 1 EP or Edge.

Amsoil is great oil and would be good choice if you dislike changing oil and want to run long OCI's (Oil change Intervals)

Some very good filters are: Mobil 1, Purolator Pure One/Bosch Premium, Wix/Napa Gold/Carquest Blue.

Walmart has killer oil prices by the jug.
 
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I personally think synthetics are always a better option than conventional oils. Both Mobil 1 and Castrol Edge are great oils. Both are very very reliable oils that shouldn't ever cause a problem. Personally, I think I've heard more issues with people not liking mobil 1 than people not liking castrol edge. So I'd go castrol. And about 0w-30 vs 5w-30, unless temperatures are getting to 20-30 degrees below, 5w-30 is just fine. In your case in Oregon, I'd run 5w-30 during summer and 0w-30 during the winter.
 
I don't care what anyone says. Mobil 1 does make a great oil and you can find it everywhere.

You never see a bad looking engine that was run on Mobil 1.
 
Of course when you are the "KING" Like Mobil 1 is you are bound to get more heat too.

You might have 10 million Mobil 1 users out there and 500,000 Castrol Edge users.

The more users you have the higher chance that some may not be happy for whatever reason(s). And even a small portion of unhappy Mobil 1 users can be a large number.

I have no feelings either way for Mobil 1. I am just fickle and like to try different oils.
 
There are many oils that would work well for you. Edge, PP, M1 etc, are some proven group III performers. If you want a true group IV oil you'll have to use one of the better Amsoil products or GC, which is available at Autozone.
 
Originally Posted By: ZZman
Of course when you are the "KING" Like Mobil 1 is you are bound to get more heat too.

You might have 10 million Mobil 1 users out there and 500,000 Castrol Edge users.

The more users you have the higher chance that some may not be happy for whatever reason(s). And even a small portion of unhappy Mobil 1 users can be a large number.

I have no feelings either way for Mobil 1. I am just fickle and like to try different oils.


don't tell this to the subie turbo motors that drink mobil 1 like water and have spun bearings :D
 
Can you post something on that?
Did they spin bearings using other oils?
Do these cars drink other oils like water? How many cars do this, a few, all?
Did they abuse their cars and it would happen anyway?

Please give some more info agam.
 
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First forget 90% of what you read in the article. What are your oil change intervals going to be on your Toyo? Is syn required or recommended by the mfg? Remember 99% of the articles on the internet is just that,articles... Beware of the internet experts. The syn oils best advantage is below 0*F starting and extended oil change intervals, So if you do not extend your oil change intervals , start below 0*f , unless the Mfg recommends syn oil, Or you actually run an engine hard enough to gain any advantage syn oil will give you from its somewhat higher [depending upon its basestocks ]heat resistance to breakdown. There isn't a whole lot to gain from running syn oil over dino.
 
Originally Posted By: Steve S
First forget 90% of what you read in the article. What are your oil change intervals going to be on your Toyo? Is syn required or recommended by the mfg? Remember 99% of the articles on the internet is just that,articles... Beware of the internet experts. The syn oils best advantage is below 0*F starting and extended oil change intervals, So if you do not extend your oil change intervals , start below 0*f , unless the Mfg recommends syn oil, Or you actually run an engine hard enough to gain any advantage syn oil will give you from its somewhat higher [depending upon its basestocks ]heat resistance to breakdown. There isn't a whole lot to gain from running syn oil over dino.


I thought a main advantage that the synthetic has over the mineral based oil is the ability to lubricate at startup. Don't both have the same operating specifications while running, but at startup viscosity characteristics are different?. (Synthetic oils do not thicken as much on cooling, they have better fluidity as the temperature drops). That's one of the reasons why people say synthetic makes your engine last longer?

I also gathered that the lower the first number in multi viscosity oil the better due to being more fluid under colder temperatures (for example the oil in the engine at start up). So wouldn't for example 0W-30 synthetic oil be noticeably better than 5W-30 dino oil that I'm currently running? Or have I mixed everything up?
 
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