My Daily Driver, Rav4 2017, I used up my free oil change from the dealer. SO... Now if I go there again I will pay my dues for service (if I go get serviced).

I noticed that the stealership uses 15w40 on my Rav4!!! I was like wtf, but they said it is in the range as my manual says. I double checked and it was. I noticed that since they work there like an assembly line, they will try to work as fast efficient as possible.

Meaning they use the oils that are more flexible for different type vehicles to change oil. I only see like 3 different oil type hoses (guess for different category)

Getting to the point, so I am thinking to change to 0w 20 synthetic on my next interval. Will this create any problems? Leaks? or mix with residual oil?

what's your line of thinking toward a higher -viscosity oil? are you in a very cold environment/ somewhere that it also never really gets that hot in the summer?

The thinner oils like 0w-20 are used by manufacturers to help them out on the CAFE mileage standards. My Hondas and my truck both say 0w-20 on the oil cap but I run 5w-30 year round.

It's not going to cause any issues. 0w20 is what I see in an owners manual for a Rav4 2017.
Walmart has pretty good prices on Mobile 1 0w20 in the big jugs.

I would just use what your owner’s manual calls for, viscosity. Most of the newer vehicles call for synthetic oil. For me that would likely be Mobil 1 or Wal-Mart Supertech.

For the Summer temps I often bump it up a tad in viscosity.

Well. I am on the Texas area. The , kill me out of this heat, hot area on summers. I guess I can agree that 0w 20 is too thin for a hot area. But 15w40 is way way too thick. Dealer can get away with it since it shows on the list of oils allowed on the manual.

But I think too thick is now a good idea on the cilinders since it might not filter on the vents.

My 2013 rubicon, weekend ride, uses Mobil 5w30 synthetic. Never had a problem with it since Dealers put some Dino thick crap on my free services. They didn't even use decent axle oils, I had to do job again myself.

My 2015 Sienna uses 0W20W per the owners manuel. I'm driving to Florida this summer. I wonder if I should bump it up a little.

Knowing you're in a hot area I'd say 5w20 would be fine too - Your owners manual really stresses 0w20 though...

In the grand scheme 5w-20 or 5w-30 synthetic in the TX or FL heat wouldn’t hurt a bit. It’s not like the manual oil of 0w-20 wouldn’t be enough either, it’s almost a mental thing.


If I have leftovers I may even mix some 0-20 with 5-30 to get where I want to be. The types would both be the same of course, syn or conventional.

Been running 5w30 synthetic (a good weight for hot climates and easy to source) in my F150 since 2002 and 130k+ miles and everything is running just fine. Buy it from Wallyworld when its on sale, do your own oil changes, and spend the savings on ammo or guns.

thanks guys, I will go for the Mobil1 5w30. My rubicon never complained so I think a little rinky dinky rav4 wouldn't also.

I am usually a lazy bastard but these days I get shocked by the stuff dealers put on my car and what they claim.

2017 Toyota comes with 2 years maintenance I thought. 2 oil changes and 3 tire rotations.

I convert all my cars to synthetic. So far an acura integra with 275k miles, an 06 Avalon with 215k miles and now an 08 yaris that had 170k on it when I bought it. On the Yaris I discovered that the engine oil was not changed as often as it should (build up on the oil cap and very dark, dirty oil drained when I changed it the first time) have been so I plan to cycle out the synthetic oil every 5k miles until I reach the normal 15k change interval just to cycle out some of the contaminates.

I used to be a Mobile 1 guy but now I use Castrol Magna tech synthetic.

I wouldn't want to go thicker than what the manufacturer suggests. You get too thick and you will run into oiling issues.

Our Lexus is the same, the manual almost insists on 0w 20. I use Mobil 1 as well.

Slight thread drift...but oil related. I have personally seen an 8 horsepower increase by changing from conventional oil to Mobil 1. This was on a drag engine that was being dynoed.

Our 2017 CR-V requires 0-20 as well. I've read on the Honda forums that you should never deviate from that due to the lubrication of the turbo.