Going from Conventional 5W30 to say Semi-Synthetic 5W20....

4rd Toys

Polishing my SVTs....
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I know this is a broad/generic question:



Since I traded in the '03 SVT MC a while ago and now I have an excess stash of 5W20 oil [semi-synthetic & full-synthetic] which only my SVTL uses..... Enough now that I have a 100K miles worth of oil....

I've got a 2wd Toyota Tacoma 2.4L 4-cylinder that's used on "rainy" days & during the snow/salt/sand months [winter]. The truck is basically stock with new replacement parts [Iridium spark plugs, washable air-filter, fuel filter, fresh green radiator-fluid, complete new exhaust from header-manifold to the tailpipe etc....]

I know newer models, in general, had same motors & went with thinner oil. Similar to Honda's too....

I was thinking It probably wouldn't hurt this 4-banger & probably lower engine pressure [making it more "peppy-er"] plus maybe get better MPG's in the process.

Has anyone done this or have a similar situation?

I was thinking the semi-synthetic 5W20 would be an improvement over the conventional 5W30 and then transition over to the full-synthetic 5W20 or 5W30.....
 

Black Thunder 715

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I wouldn't buy anything else but the real synthetic stuff like amsoil ss or maybe pennzoil ultra. I read a few years back an article in one of those car magazines (don't quite remember which one it was) that synthetic blend formulas are only about 20% synthetic and 80% conventional for almost the same price as the real stuff. Just research it and decide from there.
 
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It's ok to use the 20 wt oil. Using the non synthetic, change the oil at 3000, Using the the full synthetic go to 5000. Use up your 20 wt and get back to 5W-30 full synthetic as soon as possible.
 

Black Thunder 715

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It's ok to use the 20 wt oil. Using the non synthetic, change the oil at 3000, Using the the full synthetic go to 5000. Use up your 20 wt and get back to 5W-30 full synthetic as soon as possible.

I own a 2003 nissan maxima that I purchased with 18K mi. on the odometer and from day one I've used mobil 1 before they changed the formula because of govt. standards and I've always changed the oil between 10k and 12k mi. The car now has 232k mi. and still runs strong without any smoke and still using 5w30 in winter and 10w30 for the rest of the year. If you use the real synthetic oil like mobil1 extended performance, pennzoil ultra or amsoil ss, there's no reason to change it at 5k mi. and waste money, time and effort changing it. Even amsoil ss can easily be run for up to 25k mi. with the right filter.
 

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