Toyota Brand 0w20 - is this full synthetic?

Check out Jayman's posts on synthetic oil. He's one of PriusChat's oil experts. My understanding of what he's said before is that not all oils sold in the US with the "Full Synthetic" label are full synthetic, but 0-20's always are full synthetic. Only a full synthetic will pass both the SAE 0-20 viscosity tests and the SAE performance tests. So, it seems the Toyata oil could be a good value.

Enjoy, Dan

 

It is not about labeling, but specification. The Toyota oil meets all the requisite specifications, i.e. it is fit for purpose. And, for the record, it probably is fully synthetic in the traditional sense of the word as far as the oil industry goes. All the -0- weight oils are.

The connotation of the word synthetic changed when Castrol brought out their Syntec products years ago (based on what are called severely hydrotreated basestocks) and called them synthetic. Mobil took issue with it and lost in arbitration. Since then, the market has tolerated the use of the term to describe motor oils incorporating severely hydrotreated basestocks (group III+) as well as the traditionally synthetic ester or PAO based oils.

If I had to guess, I would say that most synthetic oils are group III+ based (or substantially so) with the lower weight oils, notably the -0- weight oils, having a significant fraction of PAO and or ester, depending on the brand. The cost difference is profound to the manufacturer.

If you were to drag a chemist out of the lab and ask them "really, which is a synthetic?," they would respond that they all are. All modern motor oils are products of chemical processing that would, strictly speaking, be considered synthetic. A non synthetic oil might be something like an extracted vegetable or animal oil, e.g. castor oil ,whale oil, peanut or olive oil. Motor oils are anything but these days.

What does it matter? It doesn't--if the oil meets the appropriate performance specifications, it is fine regardless of whether it is group III or IV based.

On a comsumer level, this matter has been 100% overthought; we are way beyond analytical paralysis on the issue. If it were the problem that some make it out to be, where are the massive and frequent failures? And, all of the OEs would require discrete products instead of a specification...

Toyota's OEM oil is a good product as is any specification meeting motor oil from a major manufacturer.

Don't worry about a couple three bucks, the price difference over 10,000 miles is insignificant.

 

That could be, and probably is, pure marketing hype. The question that needs to be addressed is "is the additive's function unique?" In other words, is there no other additive on the planet that can provide these properties (I doubt it) or is this product just unique to the Toyota oil and other manufacturers use a different product to perform the same function.

Toyota does not make oil, they work in conjuction with motor oil companies to specify and approve products that meet their needs. In North America, Toyota probably gets its oil from ExxonMobil or one of the other majors.

The big difference with the new oil is that it is -0- weight and specified for an extended change interval. That requires a more robust additive package than a 3-5k mile oil to ensure that the oil will go the distance and that it can, as a -0- weight oil, lubricate properly. None of this is technology is unkown or unique, for the most part, to the Mobils, Castrols, Pennzoils, Nippons, Totals, Lubrizols etc of the world. After all they created it for the automobile, truck and engine companies.

 

I happened to have call my local Toyota dealer the other
day on this very topic. I didn't know that there was a
"Toyota brand," but my question was whether or not
they would do an oil change with synthetic, either
provided by me or they provide. In the latter case, I
told him my concern was that not all "synthetic" oils
were 100% synthetic. He then replied that they use
Mobil 1 products.

Now I am wondering if either he didn't know about Toyota's
own brand, or if Mobil OEM's Toyota's oil.

 

The quoted price for the "genuine" Toyota 0W-20 seems a bit too good to be true. If the Canadian oil is made by Esso, I wouldn't be afraid of it.

However, until we see a lab analysis, we won't know how they compare to other 0W-20 offerings from Mobil, Castrol, Amsoil, Penzoil, etc

 

What does it matter as long as the oil meets Toyota's AND the industry standards for 0W-20 specifications, e.g. API, etc?

BTW, no extended oil is going to be 100% PAO (probably what you are thinking is "true" synthetic) as the additive package would not be sufficiently soluble in it.

What do you think are the functional differences between all those 0W-20 offerings? Are they significant? What is needed is not an analysis, but, performance data. And for that, you must rely on the companies that have actually done the testing. (Try asking some of the lesser oil companies how they certified their product...)

 

No best before date if they are kept in the original packaging. Once pured into an engine then it needs to be changed every 1-2 years.

 

So I go into the Toyota dealer the other day to price the 0w20 oil. The parts guy says $6.99 per quart. I say thanks but I can buy Mobil 1 0w20 at Walmart for $6.27. He says that he will save me a trip and sell the Toyota oil to me for the Walmart price, and that the Toyota oil is actually Mobil 1 anyway. Waaaaaaa?

 

Not sure about the Toyota dealer in your part of the country, but in my neck of the woods they use Kendall GT-1 0W20 full synthetic.

 

According to the Conoco/Kendall website, their 0W-20 is a far better oil than their 5W-20