Hey guys,

My neighbor wanted me to change his oil for his xA, but he bought 5w-20 instead of 5w-30. I was wondering if it is safe or will it kill the engine? I googled around and all it says is gas milage will be affected. Thoughts?

 

just exchange it for the correct oil... better safe then sorry...
though it will "probly" be ok, there is a reason why toyota calls for 5w-30 and not 5w-20.. the 5w-20 will just be a little lighter weight then the 30, but why risk it? oil is like $2 a quart....

 

I work at a dealership and trust me when I say...It doesn't matter! The engine is NOT gonna die or stop running...

 

just means how it is gonna handle diff temps......

 

Not the end of the world.

 

You don't mention where you live. At the north pole you would want even thinner than that, if you live in Death Valley I would worry , anywhere else should be ok for this oil change ( hoping that he changes at least the 5k mark)

 

ive run 5w20 in my xB for since the day i got it new.
id run 0w20 if i could find it in the 5 quart size
most of the new toyotas call for 5w20, its not going to kill your engine.

First, while an oil's viscosity has traditionally been viewed as its major friction-fighting property, that viscosity invariably thickens when the oil is cold and thins when it is hot. This is unfortunately exactly the opposite of what an engine needs the oil to do. So right off the bat, motor oil is falling down on the job. Multiviscosity motor oil addresses this very fundamental problem to a degree, by having chemicals added to it (long-chain molecules called polymers) which cause it to thicken less when cold, and thin less when hot, that is, less than the oil would if it were a straight weight oil.

depending on were you live can change what weight oil you would want to run.
if you ran a straight 40 weight in the dead of winter and you lived in upstate NY, your oil would be to thick to get up to the top of the head.
but would work just fine in "death vally"
the flip side is true also

i live in mid MO so me running a 5w20 works out just fine because we don't get too hot during the summer.

 

0W20 Amsoil comes in 5 qt

 

With all this talk of motor oil, anyone ever used Royal Purple in their xB? http://www.royalpurple.com. I had a tranny rebuild and used RP... the tranny is still solid as a rock with over 380K miles (dodge transmission).

 

royal purple is good stuff its a class 4 synthetic
i use mobil 1, i know its only a class 3 but its not like my egine is a forced iduction that revs to 12k or anything.
a class 3 is plenty good enough.
i plan on using RP when i change my trans fluid

 

Royal Purple in the xb at present

 

Ditto to the Royal Purple User. I know we don't have high performance engines but it works for me.

 

Just curious as to how you Royal Purple users and worshipers think it's working in your small cubic inch displacement engines?

You really think it's "better" than regular engine oil?

 

I've been running 0W20 Mobil 1 (yeah, yeah, I've been happy with it for years in all of my cars) since last fall. I'll probably stick with it.

If I could find Royal Purple, I'd love to try it.

 

Most places you have to ask for it... it's one of those top shelf hidden type things.

 

well yeah
I think Amsoil is a it better actually
I get pretty decent mileage
and I really like the extended drain intervals and of course nothing wrong with minimizing engine wear


PS
oh and I now run 12sec 1/4's with minor mods

 

There is a TSB on using 5W20 rather then 5W30 in the xB engines which also applies to many different Toyota engines, I can't remember the number, basically no harm can be done.
My last oil change I switch to Royal Purple for the first time and what a waste of money. My gas tank light used to come on like clock work every time at 330-340 miles now since the switch to Royal Purple the light has been coming on at 295 miles for the last three tanks since I switch. That is the only thing I switched, I drive the same route every day. Next time I will save my money on the synthetic oil and go back to the dinosaur oil next time. I might even do it sooner to get the Royal Purple garbage out of the engine. I have not seen any beifits to using this particullay brand of synthetic.

 

i believe it's already been said, but toyota now suggests 5w20 for their cars. no biggie.

 

I would rather be safe than sorry, but its your car. I am seeing some people say go for it, but heck its not my car ha ha.

 

the TSB recommending 5W20 is for 2006 production year or later in US models.

http://scionlife.org/Scion_Docs/Scion_TSBs/eg01806.pdf