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Well, hopefully nothing is damaged, but those places aren’t known for using the best oil. One guy told me they just dump 30wt oil in whatever comes in – they don’t care what it uses. I thought he meant 5w30, but he said, “no, striaght 30wt!” my eyes got as big as golf balls.
I would use what the manual recommends. A 5w20 won’t hurt anything though. The 0w20 is just a little better flowing when the engine is cold – which might be beneficial to you in the winter time. I’m sure anything you get will be better than what they were using.
Thanks Third Gear for the reply. The car seems to function OK, and I’m not having any issues, but when I read that I started thinking about different issues that could arise, and I wasn’t sure if there could be possible damage. I’m old school as far as my thinking goes on oil changes. I figured oil was oil. Then when I started reading the owners manual maintenance booklet my mind started thinking about how technology is changing. I never thought that there would be a requirement for synthetic in a car. After talking to several people, companies like Toyota and Subaru are requiring synthetic at all maintenance intervals. There’s even talk on Toyota forums about how dealerships aren’t prepared for the new oils required from the manufacturer. In my opinion I think requiring synthetic at oil changes is overkill. I’m not sure I would of purchased this car if I had known that.
Quoted From Squibcat: Is synthetic necessary, or can i use the 5w20? Thanks
Synthetic oil and the viscosity of oil have nothing to do with each other. You can get a 5w20 in either synthetic or conventional oil.
Wasn’t it Toyota that had problems with sludge forming in their engines? I remember that being talked about, and the probable cause was people neglecting their oil changes. In any case, one of the reasons they may be calling out synthetic oil now may be because it’s less likely to sludge like the dino oil and cause problems.
I would use whatever they tell you in the owners manual – if they call out synthetic, you use synthetic. If there were ever a warranty claim and they proved that you did not use the recommended oil, the $30 you saved would cost you thousands.
Quoted From Third Gear:
Well, hopefully nothing is damaged, but those places aren’t known for using the best oil. One guy told me they just dump 30wt oil in whatever comes in – they don’t care what it uses. I thought he meant 5w30, but he said, “no, striaght 30wt!” my eyes got as big as golf balls.
I would use what the manual recommends. A 5w20 won’t hurt anything though. The 0w20 is just a little better flowing when the engine is cold – which might be beneficial to you in the winter time. I’m sure anything you get will be better than what they were using.
I don’t know how some of these places stay in business. A coworker of mine had his oil changed on a new Jeep and they didn’t tighten the oil filter properly (or used a defective one). He got about 2 blocks away and oil was everywhere. Don’t even get me started on them stripping the oil drain plugs. I wonder if they charge extra to replace the one they strip? Must be.
Even at the dealer where I used to work they just put what was ‘in the tap’ in just about everything because they were too lazy to go to the parts department and get the correct oil. I’m big on using what the manufacturer calls for but as has been stated it doesn’t have to be synthetic as there is conventional oil rated at the same viscosity so if the manual doesn’t call for synthetic don’t worry about using it. Tolerances inside a modern engine are much better than they used to be and advances in PCV systems have also made it so that ‘thinner’ oils are used, these are the main reasons for the switch. That said if you run synthetic you can extend your interval to at least 5-6K as the other reason they may require synthetic is to stick with their stated maintenance cost over time, extended intervals make for lower maintenance cost but this is arguable since synthetic costs more.
In summery stick with what the manual calls for and you should be fine and DON’T count on your oil change place to do the right thing or use the correct oil however you could counteract this by bringing your own oil to the facility and MAKE SURE they use it and it doesn’t end up in the bottom drawer of one of the techs boxes.
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