Mobil 1 0w-40

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Hi.
I live in sydney Australia and my car is 2001 year model 2.2L toyota camry.Done 32000kms.Summer in sydney is very hot but not all the time, some days it can be go up to 42c' normally 28-38c' in winter 2-10c' but it can go down to 0c' in some mornings. Can i use 0w-40 grade engine oil as a year round oil? Such as mobil 1 0w-40? owners manual say above 0c' 10w-30, 15w-40 or 20w-50 and below 0c' 5w-30 doesn't say any thing about 0w grade. Toyota Australia recomended 20w-50 year round use.If i use 0w-40 will my engine damage? or shorten the life?
Thank you.
Prasanna.
 
Since the recommendation is for a conventional oil & you're considering a fully synthetic PAO oil, you'll have more protection than what's required. I'm using the 0W-40 year-round here (0°F - 100°F) but will switch to their new 5W-40 in my turbo engine. In your temp range, you'll probably find the M1 15W-50 does great year-round for you as well (if it never got below 0°C here I'd use this grade exclusively).
 
I use Mobil 1 0w-40 oil and love it.

However I do not live in your lovely warm country.

If I did I would use Mobi1 1 15w-50.
 
Mobil 1 0W-40 is fine engine oil and is particularly well suited to vehicles living anywhere in Canada. I'm currently using it in my Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Its approved viscosities in my mild-temperature region* are 0W-40, 5W-40, and 5W-50, and Porsche LOVES M1. The 0W-40 is the ony one I can find locally, so that's what I'm using. However, I have a couple cases of Red Line 5W-40 on the way and will be changing soon.

Recognising the viscosities recommended by your importer, I'd go with M1 15W-50.


*--the Arizona desert, which sounds similar to your Australian weather.
 
Mobil1 0w40 will perform quite well at those temperatures and is an excellent year-round oil for any climate. Don't let the low winter weight fool you; this oil is not just for cold climates.

I think you'd find 15w50 too heavy for wintertime use although it would be fine in the summer.
 
quote:

Originally posted by Toyota18:
Hi.
I live in sydney Australia and my car is 2001 year model 2.2L toyota camry.Done 32000kms.Summer in sydney is very hot but not all the time, some days it can be go up to 42c' normally 28-38c' in winter 2-10c' but it can go down to 0c' in some mornings. Can i use 0w-40 grade engine oil as a year round oil? Such as mobil 1 0w-40? owners manual say above 0c' 10w-30, 15w-40 or 20w-50 and below 0c' 5w-30 doesn't say any thing about 0w grade. Toyota Australia recomended 20w-50 year round use.If i use 0w-40 will my engine damage? or shorten the life?
Thank you.
Prasanna.


Hello Prasanna:

How fascninating that for your 2001 Camry Toyota of Australia recommends a 20W-50 year round, but here in North America a 5W-30 year round.

I doubt you will have a cold-flow problem with a 20W-50 or a 15W-50 at 0 C. Where I live, it can get down to -42, so cold flow is a VERY big deal.

If you want to use a full synthetic, Mobil of Australia offers Mobil 1 5W-50, why not try that?

Jerry
 
Prasanna, I believe you do NOT need a 0-vis. oil. Those are designed to flow at VERY low temperatures which you don't experience. Also, they contain viscosity-index improvers* that are best left unneeded. If you like M1, use the 5W-40 or the 15w-50. All will protect your engine better at the high temps you have.

*--or at least more of them than the narrower-range oils do.
 
Toyota18 as an ex M1 0W40 user I have another thought. Buy a 20-litre drum of BP visco 5000 5W40 (13.95 cSt @ 100C) from your local BP distributor for under A$120. PAO basestock and ZDDP anti-wear that performs brilliantly on my mate Rons Timken. Best buy in oil available here in Oz IMO. M1 5W50 is over double the price.
 
I think either Mobil 1 0W-40 or 5W-50 will work very well all year in your climate. You will of course get slightly better fuel economy with M1 0W-40. Delvac 1 5W-40 is probably an even better choice if you can find it. I would not use Mobil 1 15W-50 as it is too thick and you will waste fuel and not get any additional benefit in my humble opinion.

[ March 01, 2004, 01:35 AM: Message edited by: Sin City ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by Sin City:
I think either Mobil 1 0W-40 or 5W-50 will work very well all year in your climate. You will of course get slightly better fuel economy with M1 0W-40. Delvac 1 5W-40 is probably an even better choice if you can find it. I would not use Mobil 1 15W-50 as it is too thick and you will waste fuel and not get any additional benefit in my humble opinion.

I purchased new a 1990 Toyota 4Runner with 3.0 V6. From new I ran Mobil Delvac 1 5W-40, as I have pails of the oil in my shop for my fleet.

When I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, I switched to Mobil 1 15W-50, which I used year round. At the time, Mobil claimed the 15W-50 was safe down to -30 C / -20 F.

A lot of folks claimed I was wasting a huge amount of fuel by running so heavy an oil. I tried a short OCI with Mobil 1 5W-30.

Want to know how much fuel economy I gained?

Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada.

Under the same high-speed Interstate driving conditions at high elevations, my 3.0 got the same fuel economy whether running the 5W-30 or the 15W-50. Except for one and only one short trip that I got around 0.25 MPG more, and I can't explain why I got that slight increase.

Most tests for claimed fuel economy "benefits" have uncovered a 1-3% max increase in fuel economy. In most driving, that would be statistically irrelevant.

FWIW: my official Toyota shop manual was obviously made in Japan, based on the grammer and typos. The shop manual recommended a 5W-30 cutoff of +50 F / +10 C, where the owner manual, made in Canada, recommended using 5W-30 up to +30 C.

So this isn't the first time we have seen such a glaring contradiction in what viscosity of oil to use here in North America and in the "rest" of the world.

BTW: BP recommends their "Visco 7000" 0W-40 in the Corvette sold in Europe. Here in North America, Chevy recommends Mobil 1 5W-30 year round. Why??

This BP Visco sounds like good oil for Oz, and it also sounds a LOT more reasonable than Mobil products.

Jerry
 
quote:

Originally posted by DEWFPO:
Heyjay, why did you switch from 5w-40 to 15-50 when you moved to SLC?

DEWFPO


I was going to the University of Utah. The condo I was living in forbid working on your vehicle.

Since I didn't want to monkey with finding a place to change my own oil, I just went to a Toyota dealer.

I also didn't want to monkey with bringing along 2 gallons of Delvac 1, expecting the guy changing my oil to measure it out, so I just went to Pep Boys in Murray and got 6 qts of M1 15W-50. This was about $1 qt cheaper than Delvac 1 anyway.

I found Larry H Miller Toyota in Murray very easy to deal with and handy too, as it was right next to the I-215 Loop. Took 8 minutes to drive down to on the I-215 Loop, turned off at the Murray exit, and was there in no time.

In and out in 15 minutes.

I thought the mechanic working on my 4Runner would chide me for using 15W-50. Actually, he took me aside and told me, in NO uncertain terms, that I was VERY smart to do so.

I used to do a lot of hard/heavy mountain driving on I-80 and I-15, plus desert driving the four years I was there.

The motor seemed to love M1 15W-50. I only changed the oil once a year, never budged from FULL even at +16,000km OCI. The few times it dipped to 0 F, instant oil pressure and no noises in startup.

When I graduated, I moved back to Canada (Still regret that!) and went back to Delvac 1.

Jerry
 
I agree with you heyjay. No relevent difference in fuel economy using different grades of oil. Also, no mpg difference alternating between dino and synthetic. I think these mpg improvement claims are just bunk. Many other factors have a MUCH more significant affect on fuel economy.
 
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