Which 5w-30 Oil

[RS4]

I buy my oil from our local Toyota dealer: Pinkstones. Last time I bought filters as well: oil cost under £14 for semi synthetic Toyota 5-30W..

I bought some this morning to renew at 6 months along with filter, be prepared! It's now £16.88/5 litre.

Toyota recommend it and Pinkstones use it plus it's good for 10k miles or 12 months, so that'll do me. Why pay more unnecessarily?

I went to my local Toyota dealer to find out the specification of the "Toyota own brand 5w 30 oil". I could not find any details on the 5 litre container (that I looked at anyway) to indicate if its a mineral oil, semi synthetic oil or fully synthetic oil. The approvals on the container were as follows: ACEA A1/B1, ACEA A5/B5 and API SL. I have looked on the internet and can not find a data sheet to clarify if its mineral, semi or fully synthetic oil and also to check out the other important properties such as the viscosity index, HTHS etc.

Someone said it costs £16.88 for 5 litres.

Without doing too much investigation I found the following oil on TPS's website:

Quantum Synta Z 5w 30 at £12.84 inc VAT for 5 litres, with ACEA A1/B1, ACEA A5/B5, API SM/CF approvals and the data sheet states its fully synthetic.

So, in summary, the above Quantum oil has: the same ACEA approvals, a more up to date API approval, the data sheet states its fully synthetic and its £4 cheaper than others say the Toyota oil costs. Indeeed, why pay more?

[RS4]

So what is the difference between synthetic and semi synthetic? What do the 5W mean etc on the bottles?

What should I be getting for a 95 Rav?

Taking each question in order.

Question: So what is the difference between synthetic and semi synthetic?

Answer: The clue is in the question. A fully synthetic oil has a larger percentage of synthetic base oil, per pack of oil, than a semi synthetic oil. I think I have read somewhere a semi can be a minimum of 30% synthetic base oil, maybe others could confirm.

Question: What do the 5W mean etc on the bottles?

Answer: The 5w refers to the low temperature viscosities for cold cranking and pumping. Each grade (e.g. 0w, 5w, 10w, 15w etc) falls into a band of viscosities at a given cold temperature for cranking and pumping. Generally, the lower the number before the w, the lower the viscosities are for cold cranking and pumping.

Question: What should I be getting for a 95 Rav?

Answer: Is it petrol or diesel? Have you looked in your Toyota Owners Manual? Maybe go online, say Castrols website, put in your registration number and get their recommendation. Other websites such as Opie Oils, miller oils, Fuchs, Mobil allow you to do this as well.

[Big Kev]

So what is the difference between synthetic and semi synthetic? What do the 5W mean etc on the bottles?

What should I be getting for a 95 Rav?

....the walking stick from Acetip's avatar...?????

Quality banter, what?

Name withhidden.....

[acetip]

So what is the difference between synthetic and semi synthetic? What do the 5W mean etc on the bottles?

What should I be getting for a 95 Rav?

....the walking stick from Acetip's avatar...?????

Quality banter, what?

Name withhidden.....

Like it big kev.

how many times are these same questions are going to be asked about oils.

you would think some poster would make the effort and use the search functionor. indeed refer to their handbooks for answers such as what oil should they put in their engines.

another of one of my rants.

[Cookie-monster]

I use the Carlube brand oil from Euro Car Parts, and its always been fine in all my previous cars - the Yaris has the 5W30 Semi (about £16 for 5 litres) and runs fine on it, but when I was up at Pinkstones the other week for some spraypaint, I did get a Toyota oil Filter for a reasonable price for the next oil change - seems they are not as expensive as I would have thought for oil or batteries either. But I wouldnt pay through the nose for oil for a 1.0 Yaris thats 12 years old, and with Castrol, Mobil, Esso etc you are just paying the extra for the brandname and whats in the can does just the same thing as Carlube stuff.

Just bear in mind, that its the frequency of the oil and filter changes that is more important than the brand of oil - once a year or every 10K miles is the best for the engine. Cars used for very short trips should be changed every year even if they only do 3K in that year, as low mileage use can create sludge more easily. Regular oil changes are very important in engines that use timing chains (Like the Yaris) rather than belts, and especially important for the VVT system, which can be clogged with old knackered oil and malfunction.

[corradovr6]

i have some 10W40 semi synth from VW (Synta silver), that used in my Corrado. Would this also be acceptable for the Yaris, again changed yearly or at around 6000 miles? Its mainly town driving although i like to give it a run every so often down the motorway.