Toyota 2AZ-FE hard on oil?

[John_Snyder]

I have a 2009 Pontiac Vibe (bought new) with the Toyota 2.4 2AZ-FE engine. I'm a very easy-going driver, and at least 80% of my driving is around 100km/h (about 60-65MPH). My daily commute is 58km each way. Fuel economy averages between 7 and 7.5 L/100km (about 31-34 MPG U.S.) The car currently has about 21,000km on the odometer. Warm-up times are minimal - I live only 200m from the freeway on-ramp. Cold idling is usually kept to under 1 minute. I've been using Motomaster Synthetic 5W20 for the last two oil changes. This is a SOPUS product sold at Canadian Tire. I ran it for about 7,500km the first change, and I'm only a bit over 4,000 on this one (just over a month). The oil appears to be darkening up more than I'm used to seeing at such a low mileage. It's a rather dark tan color now. I always figured that the darkening of an oil was it doing its job cleaning the engine - but I don't think I should have much cleaning needed yet. Admittedly I'm using a fairly inexpensive oil filter - Defense by Honeywell (probably the same guts as those Orange cans). Virtually all of my driving is on fully paved highway - and it's often wet around here - so dust isn't much of an issue. In my mind I can't see the need to run a really "premium" filter under my driving conditions. Even my air filters don't usually look bad after 50,000kms in my cars. Would this filter somehow contribute to this early darkening? If so, please educate me! I'm interested... If there is a certain oil that seems to work well in these engines, I'd be interested to know. I've had good results with this oil in other applications, so I stocked up a bit when it was last on sale. I'm not interested in doing extended drains until it's out of warranty - and not necessarily even then. The manufacturer's specified 8,000km OCI does seem a little short to me though - by today's standards. Too bad it doesn't have an OLM. I haven't found much negative press about this engine - so hopefully I've made a good choice. I intend to keep this vehicle as long as possible. If shorter OCI's are needed to keep it happy - I can do that. I'm probably just too picky about what color the oil is. I was just used to seeing the oil appear to stay "cleaner" in my last car for much longer. It was a 2002 Sunfire with a push-rod 2.2. QS 5W30 didn't look this dark until it was up near 8,000km in that car. I typically used QS (Purolator) filters in that car - as I found the ADBV in some of the Orange Can products didn't work as well in colder temps. The filter was mounted sideways on that engine. On the Toyota engine, it sits "right way up: - so I didn't figure it would be a concern. Any input/opinions would be appreciated. I'm probably just a bit paranoid with this being my first sort-of "import" - well at least the mechanical bits. Hopefully I can squeeze 15-20 years out of this thing... Thanks, John

 

[addyguy]

2.4's aren't hard on oil. Use any 20-weight oil you want, but since you have to stick to 8k km intervals, dino or a sale synthetic will be best....

 

[PT1]

My 2008 Rav4 2.4 runs great on PP 5w20 or QHP 5w20 and the oil stays clean about 3000 miles. I run the factory OCI of 5000 miles with a Pure One filter. The QHP seems a bit quieter than the PP.

 

[miker1]

This engine has been found to produce high insolubles. This is the reason Amsoil stopped making the EA oil filter for this engine and several other Toyota engines. Here is a link to more INFO;https://www.amsoil.com/dealer/techservicesbulletin/Filtration/TSB%20FL-2009-05-01%20EaO%20Toyota.pdf

 

[JohnBrowning]

They are not hard on oil but they can produce a lot of insolubles especialy inthe winter time. With normal filtration ie screw on canister I go 6 months between oil changes with any decent full synthetic or one marketed as such. I think that Mobil-1 and Redline are the two oils that seem to absolutely love Toyota's engies and vis versa!! Try to avoid long idle periods and lots of short drives and insilubles will not pose a problem for you at all. Youcan run anythingyou like in it as well! Esso XD3 0W30 is an excellent product in these engines for winter use and XD3 oW40 is great for warm weather use. M1 0W40 is a great all around oil in this engine. I ahve to say I am ignorant of Sopus's 5W20 that they sell in Canadaian market place.

 

[pcfxer]

No one has corrected the issue here. The colour means nothing as far as the oil's ability to clean or protect. Redline oil "cleans" engines and stays amber for many miles in many scenarios. The same goes for many other types of synthetics. You didn't make a bad choice at all and you should continue doing what you're doing.

 

[John_Snyder]

Thanks for the input guys! I wasn't aware of the potential insolubles issue previously. With my driving habits I wouldn't expect it to be an issue, but perhaps I'll try switching to a Toyota filter for my next change and see if it "looks" any different. It's hard to find much other than Fram related units around here. It's all WM sells, and at Canadian Tire they had nothing on the shelf for it. Most of their house brand ones are now made in China. I've heard the Toyota ones are fairly decent, and not too badly priced here - so I'll check and see. While under warranty, I'm going to stick with what's recommended for viscosity - which is only 5W20 or 0W20. Once that's done, I'll maybe try to find an outlet that sells the Esso 0W30 and try it. I've used the 0W40 in my '65 Valiant - which is the only viscosity they seem to stock at WM here. To me switching to a XW40 in an engine specifying XW20 is a big jump - but I'm no fluid engineer. I'm aware that some oils seem to change color sooner than others - which is why I was hoping that maybe somebody else has experience with the particular oil I'm using. I'm sure the oil is of good quality - so perhaps it's "normal" for it. I've got at least 3 more jugs of it in my stash - so I think I'll just try a different filter next time and see if there's any difference. Again - thanks for the info guys! BITOG is a great knowledge base! John

 

[Gunatics_Adler]

My Scion TC really seems to love Mobil Extended Performance 5w-30 and Quaker State Q HP/Ultimate Durability 5w-30 with the longer and bigger Wix Camry Filter.