Toyota Camry 1998 : Oil Change : used 5w20 instead of 10w30

[coolguy004]

Hello,
I have a 1998 Toyota Camry : 175K miles.
I went for a oil change and the shop did not have 10w-30..so he used 5w-20 instead.
Will that be fine..I live in California..and the temp is about 90(max) during the summer.
Any side effects or any problems that u forsee?
thanks...in advance

[judge34411]

Originally Posted by coolguy004

Hello,
I have a 1998 Toyota Camry : 175K miles.
I went for a oil change and the shop did not have 10w-30..so he used 5w-20 instead.
Will that be fine..I live in California..and the temp is about 90(max) during the summer.
Any side effects or any problems that u forsee?
thanks...in advance

Hidy Ho brother,.

It is all good, and if they used syn its really all good. Every one freaks about viscosity it is not that big a deal for the average driver.

[judge34411]

Originally Posted by coolguy004

Hello,
I have a 1998 Toyota Camry : 175K miles.
I went for a oil change and the shop did not have 10w-30..so he used 5w-20 instead.
Will that be fine..I live in California..and the temp is about 90(max) during the summer.
Any side effects or any problems that u forsee?
thanks...in advance

Me Bad, welcome to TN, an some others may say diff. But the viscosity is not that important if you drive normal.

[coolguy004]

Thank you for posting replies:
The oil I have put is not synthetic:

However my doubt is :
5w20 means that the oil is thinner than 10w30...will that cause my engine to work more and cause more stress? is that true.
If the temp gets too hot will 5w20 be able to lubricate the same way as 10w30.


What do u mean by average driver?

Thanks in advance...

[judge34411]

Originally Posted by coolguy004

Thank you for posting replies:
The oil I have put is not synthetic:

However my doubt is :
5w20 means that the oil is thinner than 10w30...will that cause my engine to work more and cause more stress? is that true.
If the temp gets too hot will 5w20 be able to lubricate the same way as 10w30.


What do u mean by average driver?

Thanks in advance...

Average means not racing,if you are, then you want to go thicker. Most important. Keep changing oil and even more filters, air filter, oil filter as well, they are actually more important than the oil. (at times needed Ie: 5000 miles).

You will be fine.

Your engine will not work more either way. It is more about warm up and cool down.

[Mike Gerber]

First of all, I think your car should be using 5W-30 oil instead of 10W-30. Check your owner's manual or even the top of the oil cap, if it is the original cap. The recommended viscosity should be written on the top of the cap. The 5W-20 should be fine, although your engine might consume a bit more oil than the 10W-30. Check your oil periodically until the next oil change. Top off the oil if it get's a bit low. You should be fine.

If you are uncomfortable about this and the oil change shop did not tell you they put in the 5W-20 until after they did the change, then you might go back and ask them to redo the oil change, using the proper recommended oil, at their expense. If you agreed to the 5W-20, then leave it until your next oil change.

Either way you should be fine.

Mike

[islandboy57]

Originally Posted by Mike Gerber

The 5W-20 should be fine, although your engine might consume a bit more oil than the 10W-30. Check your oil periodically until the next oil change. Top off the oil if it get's a bit low. You should be fine.

The thing is though, most people will never check their oil. My mom's gen 3.5 has to be on 10W-40 otherwise it smokes at startup because thinner oil gets past the worn valve stem seals. Same with my friend's '99 Corolla. My mom's Camry uses very little oil between oil changes, and honestly, I don't think it's "using" any oil - just whatever drips out from that infamous Toyota oil leak that's really minor but expensive to fix on the V6.

To the OP: I'd change your oil in 3-4 months, but keep an eye on whether or not your car starts smoking from the exhaust. Nothing to be alarmed about, but that means that your car is burning oil and you don't want to be caught w/o oil.

I personally am more comfortable on 5W-30 even if the car calls for 5W-20. I use 5W-30 in my aunt's and friend's 2004 Accord/CRV both with the 2.4L I4. Doesn't sound so loud with slightly thicker oil. My girlfriend has decided to stick with 5W-20 until her powertrain warranty is up though on her recently purchased '09 Camry.

[coolguy004]

Thank you all for your responses..each and every one of your response has helped and I did see some smoke come out of the exhaust one morning.i will regularly check for oil level and will revert to 10w-30 for my next oil change...

[AlmightyCamry777]

I'm in California too. And i think 5-20 is too thin for this time of year. To me the fix is simple, i'd just pour in a bottle of STP. That will raise the viscosity to make that oil thick enough alright.

[coolguy004]

Sorry but i really dont where to add the STP?
STP to be added in the oil tank or gas tank?
and which kind?

[Mike Gerber]

"Sorry but i really dont where to add the STP?"

You add treatments like STP to the oil, not the gas tank.

Mike

[mkv_camry]

Sorry for waking up an old thread,

i recently bought a 1998 Toyota Camry LE - I4. It has done ~130k and i did an oil change at approx ~127xxx miles when i bought it.

My question is, should i stick with mineral oil or should i go for a full synthetic one?

If i decide to go for synthetic oil change, what are the precautions that i should take? Also which synthetic oil should i get?

Initially when i bought it, the engine was very silent, now the noise of engine has gone louder and gruffy. That's what i have noticed in past week or so.

Anything i need to worried about? How to make sure what kinda oil does the service guy puts? I will be getting the oil change from Midas here, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

[islandboy57]

One thing to be aware of is that switching to synthetic oil will make oil leaks more apparent. It won't cause an oil leak, but it will clean the engine out of those small bits of crud which may be keeping an oil leak at bay.

If the previous owner did regular oil changes, I don't see a problem - but it's up to you. I switched my '95 V6 to synthetic in '08/'09 and have had zero problems. I like synthetic because it gives me some leeway if I'm late with an oil change, and both of my Camrys basically do all stop and go city driving so any extra protection I can get, I'll take.

Good luck!

[mkv_camry]

Originally Posted by islandboy57

One thing to be aware of is that switching to synthetic oil will make oil leaks more apparent. It won't cause an oil leak, but it will clean the engine out of those small bits of crud which may be keeping an oil leak at bay.

If the previous owner did regular oil changes, I don't see a problem - but it's up to you. I switched my '95 V6 to synthetic in '08/'09 and have had zero problems. I like synthetic because it gives me some leeway if I'm late with an oil change, and both of my Camrys basically do all stop and go city driving so any extra protection I can get, I'll take.

Good luck!

Thanks, i am vary of oil leaks. So i am in two minds what to do. I have 300-400 miles remaining before i go for oil change so need to make up my mind fast. It will be due next week. Just like you, i do lots of stop and go city driving. my basic break up of miles done is 20 miles a day on freeway and 20 miles a day in stop and go traffic during weekdays, on weekend it is usually 10 miles freeway and 20-30 miles city driving.

till now, have no problems buying this car, i don't want problems to crop up after migrating to synthetic. that's why the confusion.

can you advice how to check for sludge which was apparent in 98 camry and how to check for oil leaks? i am a noob when it comes to opening an engine compartment and looking.

thanks

[AlmightyCamry777]

Originally Posted by mkv_camry

Sorry for waking up an old thread,

i recently bought a 1998 Toyota Camry LE - I4. It has done ~130k and i did an oil change at approx ~127xxx miles when i bought it.

My question is, should i stick with mineral oil or should i go for a full synthetic one?

If i decide to go for synthetic oil change, what are the precautions that i should take? Also which synthetic oil should i get?

Initially when i bought it, the engine was very silent, now the noise of engine has gone louder and gruffy. That's what i have noticed in past week or so.

Anything i need to worried about? How to make sure what kinda oil does the service guy puts? I will be getting the oil change from Midas here, so any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you

At the mileage it is at, i would stick with dino (non synthetic) oil. And change it every 3,000 for maximum cost and engine life benefit. I see no point in switching to synthetic now at twice the cost, use either type of oil and you will probably get another 130 k out of this car or maybe more.

The engine sound change might be due to fuel type? I use cheap gas but the higher octane stuff once in a while in my 2002 V6 and the engine runs much better on the good gas. Other then that, its anybody's guess to why the engine sound would change in a week. Sometimes my engine runs smooth like a top other times at idle there is a low "clop clop clop" sound from the front (belts area). It doesn't seem to affect anything so i leave it be.