Oil Viscosity

I just watched this video by this super smart young man and he has an interesting topic on oil viscosity. In my 2024 Hybrid Tundra the recommended oil is a fully synthetic 0W-20. In the video, he trashes Chevy, Ford and Ram on their reliability and questions in pretty advanced engineering speak their recommended 0W-20 oil recommendation. So which is the proper oil viscosity to use?

I’d love your thoughts on this with regard to our Tundra V6 engines.

Engineering Explained video link

 

@hagrid

 

Here we go guys, buckle in.
The comment section in that YT video is gold. Almost as good as here!

 

CAFE standards for the manufacturer dictated oil viscosity. they are chasing percentage points, low friction, thin oil will decrease mechanical losses in the engine...thus yielding more efficiency...at the trade off of shear and wear protection.

I have swapped to 0W-40 SRT Pennzoil Ultra platinum, just got done with a 500 mile road trip to florida and back. Zero issues. 18.5MPG on the trip down, with 35s, 5 people in the truck and a bed full of luggage.

You will have people saying things left and right about "follow the manufacturers recommendations"....but in my experience, high compression, high(ish) boost vehicles, which generate a lot of heat, and have a lot of load on the engine will benefit a thicker oil film with greater shear characteristics within the major components. Main bearings, crank bearings and piston skirts.

FWIW, i ran 5w-50 in my GTI with a GT3071 at 26psi.

Zero issues through track days and hard street abuse.

 

Oh, boy... https://www.tundras.com/threads/anyone-using-a-higher-viscosity-oil-in-their-tundra.155814/page-5

 

These threada are always good! can't get rid of them.




I used 0w20 since new, both naturally aspirated cars. Tundar has 150k miles, venza shpenza has 60k miles. No issues(yet, I think). Lots of gang say gasoline penetrative happens stronger in direct injection turbocharged engines, therefore, I believe its a good idea to jump a step up in viscosity. Or, change pil more often, 6mos/5k miles.

 

If your proactive in checking your oil every 1000 miles. 0w20 isn’t going to make or break you. I’m stuck with 0W20 till 85K since I purchased the prepaid maintenance. My intervals are 5K. One by me and the 10K by the dealer. I have thought about getting an oil extractor. Switch to a 0W30. When the dealer changes it suck their oil out and fill it with 0W30.

 

Why the masochism? Isn't it better to just nit go in for oil changes and do it yourself instead?

Or...if it's mandatory for warranty, just use whatever they put in it and alternate with your own recipe every other time.

 

I will point out that GMs solution as part of their recall for bad bottom end bearings on engines that havent failed is to run a heavier oil.

The Toyota 5.7 V8 owners manual suggested a heavier oil for hard use. It was also confirmed to call for heavier oil overseas.

Finally, I think auto-stop/start is a joke and starves bearings for a split second every time. Why else would manufactures have to beef up the bearing material when auto-stop/start came into play? Even the new EPA head calls it a "climate participation trophy." It's disabled for me. I just wish there was a way to kill it permanently without a dash light.

 

I actually enjoy changing oil. What the dealer doesn’t know won’t hurt them, lol. I assuming they’re using Toyota brand oil which is made by Mobil. I’m using Mobil EP when I do it. If do suck it out I’ll go with Amsoil Euro 0W30 every time.

 

Is this 0W-20 any "better" than 'OEM' 0W-20, or even any other Mobil 1 0W-20?



"That is specially formulated for truck and SUV engines to provide outstanding performance and protection in normal and more severe driving conditions, such as towing and hauling"

 

Uh, for trucks: they mean v8.

 

I'd use the Mobil1 ESP spec oil over all others in the Mobil lineup.

 

EP or ESP would be better. ESP has Euro specs.

 

Thank you Pine_Cone67! I wasn’t aware of this oil until now and it’ll surely be one I investigate more as about 1x/month I used my truck to tow an enclosed 25’ aluminum car hauling trailer (about 8k lbs) and I’d like the oil to work hard when the engine and drive train are working hard.

 

Why?

 

Because it's a special blend of oil that is derived from a special oil well that harness the power of billion year old crude that has been pressurized into a special blend that only Mobil has access to. I hear Amsoil has a special well too. I saw a YT video that said their oil is expensive because their well is in Antarctica so their crude oil has also been through a cooling process that makes the oil even more pure. You should look into that.

 

The ESP line has shown to resist shear, some will go from a 40 to a 30. Amsoil, Redline,, Ravenol, Motul,, valvoline etc.resist shear more than others.

 

I've taken 8 engines over 200k miles with 5-10k oil changes on full synthetic 5W30 mostly Pennzoil platinum. 3 of those have gone over 200k. One of those went 455k before I sold it. Zero engine issues. That's across 5 brands. 4cyl through 8 cyl. There's little magic to this, and $20 a quart oil isn't necessary.

 

I've switched my nazi scooter's crankcase over to squirrel jism.

 

What type of squirrel? My girlfriend's cousin's neighbor's landscaper said they used Eastern Grey squirrel and their engine blew up

 

FFS... grey squirrel squeazins' has particulates in it that abrade main bearings.

Fox and black squirrel for the win.

 

sham-oil

 

Oh look it's that special Antartica oil I was talking about. This bottle is actually even more special because it's the Signature series that not only combines the cooling effects of Antartica but also has special dinosaur whale sperm from the Antarctic Ocean for even more wear protection.

 

GTMO 0-20 for the win. Those guys aren't dummies, changing out millions of $ worth of motors. If the oil was the issue they would be changing it also. Chevy is doing a Chevy thing, Inspect it, if it hasn't blown up "yet" run thicker oil would make me sleep better at night