noob with rav4 question

[manuetdeo]

Hi all, first I'm new here and still digesting all the great info on this site. Had a hopefully easy to answer question about my wife 2003 toyota rav4 2wd 2.0. It has about 86000 miles on it and the oil cap specs 5w-30. Now I tried and switching to full synthetic mobil 1 and got a lot of top end noise(which went away after i added about a qt to top if off-and I've never noticed anything that looks like a leak so I'm not sure why i need to add) which im guessing from what I've read is from toyotas not liking the change from dino to syn. So at the next change I will switch back to dino unless anyone here thinks i should wait it out and see if the noise comes back again.
Now here is my question, my wife drives 13 miles one way to work and that is all this car really moves except a little sometimes on the weekend and I was wondering if the 5w-30 is the best grade for it?
Also to consider is a friend of mine suggested running some injector cleaner once a month to help out or take the thing for a road trip every month to clean it out.
Sorry for being so long winding I hope I gave all the info I needed to and thanks in advance for any and all help.

 

[dparm]

"Not liking the change to syn" is hogwash. That's an old myth that never dies.

It is true that some engines respond differently to different oils, so I would suggest trying a different synthetic to see if it's any quieter. Noise is not necessarily indicative of a problem, though.

That car was backspec'd to allow 0w20 or 5w20, which I would suggest switching to:

 

[manuetdeo]

thanks for the reply. both my ram and her camaro both liked the change to synthetic so i hope the toy would too. any brands in particular? i used to used pennzoil or valvoline before the switch to syn

 

[GutsyGecko]

Try pennzoil platinum/ultra in the 5w-30. It runs quieter in most of my cars.

 

[4D-56]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[901Memphis]

You could try Toyota or Mobil 0w20 since it's backspecd or continue to us 5w30, your choice. I would only stick to synthetic if you're going to push the oil change intervals past factory recommendation otherwise a 5w30 conventional is pretty Stout these days.

Be picky about what Injector cleaners you use as they are not created equal. The top two are Techron and Gumout regane. Other over the counter injector cleaners don't have the solvent PEA that is in those two. Royal Purple and Redline make good injector cleaners too but they cost more usually. Techron regularly goes on sale at Autozone buy one get one free. Avoid anything made by Lucas IMHO.

I would only use the injector cleaner before each oil change giving it enough time to run through the system and get your fresh gas moving before changing out the oil. Every month is overkill for such a product unless you use cheap gas. Google top tier gas and find a top tier station, they are worth the extra pennies. If you can find ethanol free gas that's an even bigger bonus.

Don't forget to check into cooling system and transmission maintenance, they are often overlooked and vastly more critical.

 

[johnachak]

Welcome aboard, how about Pennzoil Platinum?

 

[Donald]

Once a month is too often for Techron. Follow the directions.

 

[supercity]

I have the same vehicle and have tried mobil super 5w30 which is blend here. There was noticeably more engine noise using that oil but if you check the UOA section, you can see that the noise does not relate to wear. I would continue with M1 5w30 if it is cost effective for you.

 

[rustypigeon]

We have a 2003 Rav4 AWD, owned since new. I have used Valvoline conventional 5w-30 for every single oil change, changed every 5,000 miles. The Rav4 now has 250,000 miles on it, with no problems.

I'm not sure you need the injector cleaner. Just make sure you take it on a long trip once in a while.

 

[steve20]

According to anectdotal evidence from previous users, Mobil-1 has produced top end noise on many motors. It has also shown to generally have higher Fe (iron) ppm numbers in UOAs. Several users have reported more oil consumption with M-1 as well.
For every user who has experienced these issues with M-1 there are users who have not had issues, and love it. I'm one of the ones who experienced these issues and will not use M-1 again
IMO, choose either a SOPUS conventional live PYB or QS, or SOPUS syn like PP or QS