I've been using 10w-30 synthetic, I'm in the hot weather in the south. Moved from mobile 1, to penzoil platinum (PP), to pennzoil ultra (PU). There was moment when I put in 5w-30 PP and went on about 6.3k miles on it. When I changed the oil, it was missing 1.5 quarts. Since then I've been changing it a little more frequently to get some of that burnt oil out.
Which grade do you use and why preferred? Want to hear some input from the drivers here.
Last edited by avalonshoe; 04-03-2011 at 03:29 PM.
Here in lovely Mansfield, Texas, I use 5W-30 Castrol GTX in three of the family cars. I have to add oil once in a while with my Camry but I change it every 3K. With the older vehicles, I run 10W-30 to quiet down the start up. From my understanding, both 5W-30 and 10W-30 will have the same viscosity at operating temperature. I heard that 5W-30 have a bit more additives while 10W-30 is more durable.
I read up on it every now and then, but get confused in the end. BITOG forums had some explanations not in plain english. I guess for us using synthetic, it wouldnt matter much. But regular oil, I'd still go for the slightly thicker from 5w to 10w oil to compensate for the bearing clearances.
I have been running val max life 5/30 in my 2001, normally change the oil at 4K. At this point I will be anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 low on oil but color still looks good.
Even though the color still looks good I choose to change at this point vs adding oil. I prob could get more mileage on the oil but with the sludge issues common to this motor I dont want to risk it.
I run 5W-30, whatever is on sale at the time. Change oil every 5K miles; don't need to add anything in between so far. Coming up on 145K mile oil change.
I agree with you both, changing the oil is key and for me is better than adding oil. Last time i found some oil burn out (1.5qt) from an oil change. It was due to my flop and busy and schedule, so decided to change the next interval at 3k miles running Platinum Ultra. To my suprise, I put in 4.5-4.7 quarts and got a little more out than what I had put in. It's a good thing I guess. The difference this time is that the drained oil was much more black instead of clear reddish despite only running 3k. My assumption is that the new oil took some of that burnt oil with it.
When i was younger i would change oil at 3k miles while running synthetic and the oil would be a little clear when it drained. I didn't know then that i could run a little longer with synthetic and this was my baby. (i've had this car for long time!)
I have a 2005 Subaru Outback that I broke in for 10,000 miles on dino oil before I switched to synthetic. Then I noticed for the next 40,000 miles that I had to check the oil frequently and add at least a quart between 3,000 mile oil changes. Finally, someone suggested to me that I switch back to dino. Immediately oil consumption dropped to practically nothing and now at 64,000 miles I rarely even check it between changes. I have no explaination other than that particular engine seems to drink synthetic oil. It might be worth a try at your next oil change to try the dino and see what happens.
By the way, I also prefer 10W30 and that is what I put in all my cars. I suppose if you live in a bitter cold climate the 5W30 might be a good idea. I always use Toyota filters and Wal-Mart Super Tech oil. My Avalon doesn't burn a measurable amount of the full synthetic 10W30 and at about $18 for a 5 quart jug it is the best deal I have found.
I just recently got my Avalon, and it was running on a 5W-20 synthetic blend installed by the dealer. I decided to go to what's recommended in the owner's manual, which was 5W-30. Used 3 qts regular Penzoil, mixed with 2 of Penzoil Ultra synthetic. Now, when I switched tires from Michelin Energy MX4 LRR to Goodrich Advantage TA's (good tire), there was no penalty in gas mileage. But so far, according to the dash readout, I'm paying about a 3 MPG penalty for switching to heavier oil.
Did not think it would make that kind of difference.
I just recently got my Avalon, and it was running on a 5W-20 synthetic blend installed by the dealer. I decided to go to what's recommended in the owner's manual, which was 5W-30. Used 3 qts regular Penzoil, mixed with 2 of Penzoil Ultra synthetic. Now, when I switched tires from Michelin Energy MX4 LRR to Goodrich Advantage TA's (good tire), there was no penalty in gas mileage. But so far, according to the dash readout, I'm paying about a 3 MPG penalty for switching to heavier oil.
Did not think it would make that kind of difference.
I've been interested in running 5w-20 in the avy but i thought it was more frugal with an engine that has less miles on it. For high mileage do you think the trade off is losing some economy by using heavy oils to compensate for bearing clearances or gaps in the metal in the crankshaft?
I'm always using full synthetic, so maybe 5w-20 all the way wouldn't matter?
You have a point about the 5W-20 VS Synthetic 5W-30. There might not be a lot of difference. But then again, if the car is already burning some oil, I'd think the heavier weight might work out better. I did a Google search and hit on a site that had an image of the following TSB from 2006:
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1999 Toyota Avalon
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