Use of 0w20 Motor Oil In Very Warm Climates

I've read a pcv valve clogged so that it's closed, not letting air through, will lead to pressure build up in the crankcase, and oil either leaking past seals or past piston rings to be burnt.

Not sure about EGR but I like to blame everything on that system, so yeah!

 

Actually he is doing a favor for his car as I am doing the same. Look up CAFE standards to get a clear picture of why every new car in the USA is using 0W20 oil. But other countries 0W30 and 0W40 is allowed and recommend in the Prius.

 

I checked this out and you are correct they list many oil weights.

Some Prii even run premium fuel.

 

They call for premium fuel (higher octane) somewhere in the world, where was that?

I've tried high octane, mainly to try ethanol free, but that's another thing, not specified.

 

In Florida 0-20 in my G2 motor makes quiet a racket. Noise is wear. 0-20 is a very thin oil. Use 5-30 in that heat. Buy 5 quart Mobil One 5-30 at Walmart for $25. Buy OEM filter cartridge at the dealer or online. I use Redline 10-30 in Florida and the engine sounds really good hardly notice the solid tappet racket. And it fixed my slight oil eating too. I take a slight mpg hit but could care less.

 

Bumping up this thread. Good stuff. I'm all confused as heck again, but very good points from all sides.

I'm thinking a good compromise, might be to use 0W-30 all year 'round. Those "CAFE" standards bother me.

 

In your shoes I stick to 0w-20.

 

My size 14 shoes don't have anything to do with it. It's a good thread. Cold vs hot, Euro oil specs vs U.S., CAFE standards, etc. I like a good oil fight.

 

baby oil

 

In the US, the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act gives the owner great protection against the manufacturer declining warranty claims. They have to prove that you skipped maintenance or used the wrong part. I would wait until the 60,000 mile power train warranty was up to experiment with 'wrong' oils. YMMV

"The federal minimum standards for full warranties are waived if the warrantor can show that the problem associated with a warranted consumer product was caused by damage while in the possession of the consumer, or by unreasonable use, including a failure to provide reasonable and necessary maintenance." - Wikipedia

 

mineral oil?

 

I completely agree with you and I enjoy reading your posts. I love your choice in oil but I wanted to point out one minor thing that’s not hurting anything..... Redlines 5w30 has silently replaced their 10w30. This is because the 5w30 is just as robust with just as high of an HTHS and both of them are straight weights, no VIIs added. The 5w30 has a slightly better base oil and will flow slightly better when cold but everything else is the same. The odds of noticing any difference from switching are prettty much nil, but I had to point it out. Sorry for the waste of a post.

So do these cars need occasional valve adjustments? I’m curious now, about the solid tappet comment. I also noticed a huge reduction in noise when hot and when cold when I swapped to this weight and brand and I agree, noise is wear and lost power. Changing the transmission fluid to D4 had an almost impossible level of noise reduction on all whining noises. The car is soooo much quieter now and even my wife noticed, which is beyond rare. I need to get a ride in another Prius to see if mine is extra quiet now or if it was extra loud before. I bet it’s both but probably more toward the loud end before the swap. IMO, a fluid shouldn’t be able to make the kind of difference mine did unless there was something wrong with the old stuff.

 

Wao! So Prius can be used to tow trailer too? Never knew that can be done

 

It would be interesting to see actual date on both coolant and oil temp operating in a hot climate -- say 110. There is a very wide operating range for most vehicles typically in the 192 up to 222 range. An engine operating in the winter is not gong to be the same as one with the AC on and 110 degrees outside.

I'm not an oil nut -- using a particular brand oil in most vehicles will make no difference. It's so important to use the correct weight -- since much wear occurs on start up its important to have the correct weight for that temp. With 0w30 now widely available -- I think it would be my choice in AZ or other very hot climates.

The conspiracy theory is a bit over blown -- I henry he see things when we went to 10/30 and 5/30 ... 0/40 had to be a conspiracy .. and now 0/20.

 

I am an oil nut.

Brands of oil make a huge difference, compare god awful dealer vat oil to say 100% pure base stock synthetic oil and you will feel the difference in your car. And enjoy a much much longer engine life.

Thank you Buickgn for the props and the redline info. The G2 motor uses solid tappets and the way the valves are adjusted is to use shims. Valave lash is examined and if excessive wear indicated bigger shims are installed.
Very big job the cams have to come out and cannot remember in 11 years on this site anyone performing this
I believe the reason the engine does not use hydraulic lifters is because of the VVT system where intake cam position is actually rotated by the VVT vane. Someone please correct me if I am wrong. A car with solids
Will appreciate an oil with a zddp package and redline engine oil has that in addition to 100% ester base stock.

I use Redline D6 in my trans. D4 is type4 and is much thicker fluid. WS is a dex6 level fluid. It probably runs Super smooth and quiet though. Leave it in there it’s excellent stuff.

I tow all the time. I rent a 4x8 trailer from UHAUL all the time for $25 which includes the I want to bring this pos back on fire on a flatbed insurance. Curt hitch on this car is an excellent investment.

 

That's truly one bug bear of second gen: the sand-pounding complexity of valve adjustment. Almost on par with a head gasket replacement, requires taking the cam shafts off, and having a supply of shims on hand. On the other hand: it's more stable?

It's hopelessly onerous for the DIY'r, say compared to screw-adjustment style. These I did myself on former Hondas, a fairly easy chore. The only issue I had with our last, an 06 Civic, was the increasing difficultly of access, typically with modern cars.

The third gen Prius has hydraulic adjusters, never needs adjustment. Well, I guess until it fails, if that's possible.

I've used bulk oil from a local dealership for the last 2~3 years. It is said to be the same Toyota 0W20 (third gen spec I formally purchased in bottles. I take them at their word. It looks identical. That's all the car used from day one, with no problems, issues.

I'm also using their bulk Toyota 5W20 (conventional oil) on a Honda Pilot that calls for that weight. Again, the oil looks very clean, performs fine.

 

I ended up going with the D4 just because my car sees literally 99.9% highway miles with lots of hills but the big factor is the typical 98F to 114F ambient temps for sometimes a month straight and the 12 mile uphill climb with at least 3/4 throttle and no break when leaving work. The real deciding factor was that I already had some D4 from my other car that specs DexIII. Either fluid would work equally as well.

I actually used Redline's Type F (no friction modifiers) in my Acura. That's back when everyone said nothing but Honda Z1 or it will die a horrible death in 2 seconds. The shifts went from the typical Honda V6 auto bump shift..... slip slip slip then engage all at once which would slightly throw your head back, to lightning quick yet I could no longer feel them. It was after that change that it never left any clutch material in the drain pan again. I had surprisingly perfect shifts for the next 147,000 miles. Never had a transmission issue whatsoever but people freaked when I first put the Type F in there. Then one guy who lived in a hot climate had to out do me and he used their Lightweight Type F in the same car, extremely thin, and saw no ill effects in his daily driver.

It's good knowing people tow with these cars, that they have enough reserve in the cooling systems and such. I should not even say this on here but during my commute, people will get stacked up behind a diesel, not pass when there's ample room, and go 35mph the whole way even though the speed limit is 55+. There is one particularly good place to pass that's downhill, straight, wide, no side roads, and literally 3/4 mile of visibility. My wife's V is governed to 105mph, absolutely no doubt. Mine has seen 117mph so far and was still climbing when I let out of it. I didn't mean to go that fast in this type of car, I figured I was just getting upwards of 90mph, but I was keeping an eye on the road and didn't look at the speed till I was letting off. I certainly don't like passing people with that kind of a speed differential even with the super wide lanes and runoff area. I was a bit surprised that it's not governed to 105 like the other one is. I know most are governed to the speed rating of the factory tires, by law, they can't exceed this rating. Even my Grand National was factory governed to 124mph which was the rating of the tires it came with in the '80s.

Last, even with my oil obsession, I'm going to go back to RL 5w30 at the next oil change because it's already overkill and it will mean buying just one oil type for all of my cars and no one around here will have to listen to my Redline oil mixing posts anymore lol. I think everyone has done a great job, bringing to light that the "recommended" weights printed on the oil fill cap and in the manual are not necessarily the wishes of the engineers that designed the equipment. The "severe service" recommendations are a good way around CAFE and I have to laugh many times when you look at what qualifies as severe service in the manual and it's pretty much every type of driving. It's good to see what is recommended and considered acceptable in other countries where CAFE and others don't have their hand in things. Many years ago I bought a bunch of white papers regarding oils and after seeing that these manufacturers are heavily "encouraged" to specifically print the 0w20 on the cap and in the manual, and that it was usually not what the manufacturer would have recommended, I went back to common sense and basing the type and viscosity on ambient and working conditions which could include a 0w20 one day if I ever move back to Tahoe. What were we talking about again?

 

That's a relief for sure, thanks! That does not sound like a fun adjustment, I've honestly never come across anything like that. My last valve adjustment was actually the J32 in my Acura. Very easy to adjust like you said, but with the exception of reaching the rear bank of rockers while being accurate. I figured that would be the last one I ever do except for the other turbo car that unfortunately had to use a solid cam against my better judgment. The damn thing renders the knock sensor useless.

 

Well .. Mobil 1 puts a trace additive for the FSS. All those cars use 0w-40 andy way -- that's why most places only have the M1 in that weight ... it's big range as well so its complex.

I run a fleet of cars and have for 30 years ... 100's of cars --- millions of miles. Use the correct weight ..and you will be fine. We have never had any kind of oil related engine damage .. and that includes reg oil using 7500 - 10k oil changes back in the early 00's. On my classic cars I always use the OE filter and SYN .. because I leave the oil in for 2 years and SYN has the additives to do that. We try and use the OE filters ... filters are important for some cars.

The Prius is not stressing out the oil .. anything is fine. Oil matters at the extremes .. no extremes with the Prius.

 

Really dig that post Buick keep them coming!