They now have synthetic 5W-30 oil and are telling me to use it in my 2014 Toyota Yaris, so naturally a detect a trap. Is this oil actually as safe as the old 5W-30 oil?
I can't get a straight answer from the complacent idiots at my local Toyota dealership service department that is controlled by all-female nitwits answering the phones and service guys who never answer the phone and it just goes to their voicemail. The girls answering the phones were telling me all sorts of synthetic oil types that I already know are wrong.
So I bought four quarts of synthetic 5W-30 that they sold me at Advance Auto Parts, but I'm worried that it might leak out through the seals and start ruining my engine.
What do I do? Thanks in advance.
Yes you can use it on a 2014. "Synthetic" oil has been around much longer than that.
Yeah I am surprised they haven't been using it since day 1.
What kind and weight oil do they call for in your owner's manual?
All it says is SAE 5W-30, but it doesn't say anything about synthetic or non-synthetic
As long as it’s the same oil spec which your OEM recommends in your owner’s manual, sure.
*been blindly using full synthetic 5W30*
It isn’t?!
I have a 24 year old vehicle that I've used Castrol 5W-30 conventional since it was new.
I've been using the Castrol GTX Ultraclean 5W-30 syn-blend with no issues.
A 2014 should not have any trouble with a full synthetic.
Okay, thank you
If your engine was maintained by prior owners, then going full synthetic won't cause any problems. If it wasn't, and and it's worn, the detergency of full synthetic oil can cause sludge and gunk to be removed that was keeping the engine sealed and leak-free. This is somewhat hard to judge ahead of time.
Synthetic performs better in extreme conditions. It flows better in the cold and provides better lubricity in hot conditions. I wouldn't use it and prolong the oil change interval. The manufacturers claim you can, I use synthetic in my 1999 Ranger w/ 279k and have had no problems at all, but I also religiously change my oil every 5,000 miles or less. Prolonging engine oil changes is just silly to me, fresh, clean oil doesn't cause wear, dirty oil does.
I'd suggest getting a good jack stand, funnel and an oil catch pan and do it yourself. For $100, you can get all of that and probably get engine oil plus a filter and do it yourself for the cost of the oil and filter down the road. Then you know it's being done right. Before I bought my floor jack, I'd use the spare tire scissor jack that was in my car and put a stand underneath the car before I got under it. I never had a problem.
It is safe to change to the full synthetic and change it every 5k miles/once in a year. Since your engine has VVTi, it is a good idea to use a full synthetic oil.
Thank you for your responses, I'll switch to full synthetic on my next oil change, the previous owner who was the second own maintained the car for his daughter as she used it for school, he did tell me not to ever go past 4k miles without changing the oil.
So with full synthetic I have to change it every 5k miles correct?
Thank you for your responses.
Yes, 5k miles is good.
Thank you sirs
You're welcome and good luck.
Hey Scotty, I’m the third owner of a 2012 Mazda Miata Sport 6 speed manual with 48K miles. The dealer changed the oil with regular oil before I bought it. No idea what the previous owners used. Would you recommend changing to synthetic at the next oil change? Thanks, Miata Mike
I'm going with MountainManJoe on his answer. He really knows his stuff.
I know Scotty says to use the right weight oil in our engines and to use synthetic oil, but is it okay to use synthetic 5W-30 in my Toyota Yaris, where just plain regular 5W-30 is specified?
Thanks in advance.
You already asked about this, so I'm merging with your previous question.
Hi I've got an 06 toyota solara 4 cylinders 128k miles, it uses 5w30 oil, just got the car and this is my first oil change after 4k miles, the mechanic said it has been using regular oil, can I switch to full synthetic?
Is this advantageous?
Or should I stick to the regular oil and change it every 3k miles, they did say synthetic oil change will cost me about 60 bucks per oil change, will full synthetic make my car run better and engine last longer or does it just double the time I have to go in for oil change?
Thank you for your responses
