5W-30 Oil In A 2008 Camry I-4

[Landngroove]

I don't like the idea of running 5W-20 oil in my 2008 Camry 4 cylinder, especially in hot weather. I would like to use a 5W-30 oil instead. Will this harm the engine, and if so why?

[Zmon]

5w-30 will be fine, I use it on my 07 4 cyl and its generally hot all year round around here.. Most of the dealers around here use that too.

[PhatRoyale]

You're A OK!

[BlackCam09]

my dealer just started using it in my 09 camry last oil change i got, they use to use 5w-20 and then they switched vendors so they use 5w-20 quaker state now.

[mmm666]

hello, according to the toyota offical oil application chart 2007 - 2010 toyota camry 4 cyl should use 5w20 or 0w20.

You can use 5w30. It is not going to destroy your engine.

[arabianobsession]

You can use 5w-30 if you really want. However, if you think you're harming your car by running 5w-20 in hot weather, think again. My 2011 Camry requires the use of 0w-20 oil and although I live in Wisconsin, we had 2 weeks straight of humid 95+ degree weather. No issues whatsoever, and I never expected any, as 0w-20 is what my car is designed to run on.

[Donald E. George]

Use 0W-30 like Mobil I. Better oil flow at low temeperatures and better full film protection at operating temperatures. I've have often wondered if the manufacturers tightened the clearances on their engines when they started specifying the 0W-20 oils. The rule of thumb that I heard from the many lubrication seminars I attended was use the thinnest oil that will stay in the bearing at operating temperatures.I guess that if a SAE 20 will stay in the bearings and on the cylinder walls it will work. The manufacurers know that a batch of bad engines due to lubrication failure will seriously hamper their bottom line.

[molson.david]

I use Valvoline 5-30 on 07 I-4.
Engine runs quieter and smoother.
Another thing: strength of the oil film under high temperature and load is more important than viscosity. Look for the oil with highest HTHS # within recommended viscosity range or one step up.
Most good 5-30 oils got better HTHS than toyota's 0-20 oil.
As far as know (my friend Google helped me a lot) absolute minimum HTHS for oils with new ILSAC GF4/5 certification is 2.6.
Toyota 0-20 oil HTHS- 2.9. Everything above 2.9 should protect your engine even better.
Valvoline Synpower 5-30 HTHS -3.3. Maxlife Synthetic-3.4. Mobil1 high mileage Synthetic-3.3.

You might lose 0.1-0.3MPG J but will gain better protection.

[AloRock]

Here in the Netherlands the dealer recommends 5w 30 for almost all toyota's. My 2010 2.5 camry, runs on toyota's brand, 5 w 30. With this oil, it runs much smoother, with less engine noise, in steat of the 0w 20 oil when I bought this car one year ago.
Engine starting in the winter is no problem.
One thing whats most important:
Some people at this forum told me, the valve maintenance (clearance) is not nessasary at an 2.5, because they adjust hydraulic. With this system, an 5 w30 oil is better lubrication, because an thinner oil wil leak faster out this. This will cause an tikking noise when your car has run more then 100000 miles and the engine is cold.
Hope this will help you, and others at this beautifull forum

[Zembonez]

Originally Posted by Landngroove

I don't like the idea of running 5W-20 oil in my 2008 Camry 4 cylinder, especially in hot weather. I would like to use a 5W-30 oil instead. Will this harm the engine, and if so why?

You won't hurt it using 5w30, but why do you think the way you feel about running 5w20 is somehow smarter than the engineers that designed the engine to run fine on lighter oil?

[molson.david]

but why do you think the way you feel about running 5w20 is somehow smarter than the engineers that designed the engine to run fine on lighter oil?

light oils were "pushed" to get better line average MPG.on new engine clearances are tighter too, but still, if motor "likes" heavier oil, than it is not a bad idea to use it, especially in hot climate.
well,

[Landngroove]

I think all the engineers care about is getting thier CAFE mileage up, so they will not be fined by the government. I don't think they could care less about the consumer. "If the engine wears out sooner so be it, we got what we need." Unfortunatly this is the world we live in tody.

[Zembonez]

Your "thinking" the engine "likes" heavier oil is actually just you thinking the old way of doing things is better. Nothing more.

Good luck!

[sxe-10]

my 07 4cyl burned almost all of the oil (5-20) and dealer wont do anything about it, now im using motul 5-40 and it has greatly reduced the oil consumption, i also noticed the engine did quiet down a bit throughout the rpm range

[PhatRoyale]

A lot of manufacturers nowadays spec their cars for thinner oil grades to meet more stringent EPA fuel economy standards. Switching to a thicker grade will decrase consumption at the price of fuel economy going down. Small price to pay for more wear protection.