Quality of Engine Oil

[Wooster]

TonyHSD told us he used Petronas engine oil.  This in less than one third the cost of Toyota's oil.  There are many brands of oil available all (apparently) with the correct specification. I asked Opie Oils what the difference was.  I received a (imho) remarkably detailed answer, which I've copy and pasted below - and you might find interesting:

Oils can vary a lot, even though they say similar things on the label.  For example, there are three different types of synthetic basestocks, so there can be a big difference between the basic make up of oils, even though the labels essentially say the same thing.

Oils labelled as synthetic can be mineral oil derived, proper genuine synthetics or ester based synthetics, all of which affect the price. Shell have thrown a spanner in the works with that classification as they now use a different method to produce the group 3 oils, which uses gas as the raw material and reduces the level of impurities in the finished product, so in theory the Shell group 3 basestock is pretty good stuff.

Another way of affecting the price of an oil is to alter the additive package. The additive pack is a very important part of the oil and can greatly affect the oils properties, but it can be reduced in quality or quantity to reduce the production costs. That can mean that the oil will not last as long or work as well.

Quality control affects the price and quality, the more samples are tested during production, the more it costs, but the more likely it is to be what it says on the label. Some cheap oils have been found to be well out of grade (one of the worst I've heard of was something that was supposed to be a 5w-40 was actually a 20w-40).

Paying for the name is one way of looking at it, the other way is reassurance due to a trusted brand. Yes, Castrol, Shell and Mobil can be expensive, but everyone knows those brands and very few people have ever had problems with them. Some of the smaller brands are less well known and people don't know how good their products will be. That's not to say they won't be fine, but paying an extra few quid for peace of mind can be worth it.

Actual manufacturer specifications can cost a lot of money, so that pushes the price up.  Long story short, Petronas is fine for your car.

[Guest]

I lost faith in Opie Oils when they recommended 5W30 for my engine as the correct viscosity!

I wonder where that essay was copied and pasted from?

Interesting Andrew, in spite of that.

[Parts-King]

The oil market is one of those BS markets that will have you purchase the next wonder juice because it is the latest product and "must have" There are vast differences in oil quality, the man in the street will ask for fully synthetic oil at a price point, in reality, he has no idea what the oil is, apart from the price. My advice is to stick to the correct grade, by one of the market leaders, at least they have resources to create a good quality product, even though it might be a tad more expensive, choose a brand/type and get it for the best price you can. Just because it says fully synthetic does not mean you are buying good quality synthetic, it could be anywhere along the synthetic spectrum 

[TonyHSD]

For the oils as well as for the all other car parts and accessories we need to remember that prices are not always a sign of a high quality products or guaranteed authenticity of these products.
For example some resellers can sell same brand, same type , same viscosity oil at very different prices which can lead us wrongly believe or questioning their quality.
There is another thing now with fake parts and lubricants which obviously is the worst to have as those are well out of specs for your car.
Best for any car owner and diy er is to buy only from well established business, real car dealers, large parts stores, names that are well known.
If you in doubt about the quality of the parts and lubricants and if you are unable to distinguish real thing from fake better to stick to a local dealer and buy from them or let them service your car, that way you can return and ask questions or been taken care off. 
Petronas oils are fine lubricants made in Italy for the UK market and as high quality as any other big name brands like Mobil 1, Castrol, Motul,  Elf, etc.

I have been using only Petronas Syntium 0w20 in my Auris hybrid since 2016 50k miles -> 216k currently and I do 10k oil changes. 
I have no problems so far caused by using this particular oil or change intervals at 10000 miles as per Toyota recommendation. Transmission fluid and coolant I use only original Toyota bought from dealers through eBay or locally.
Oil filters always been using oem, with some exceptions been using mann filter, and now I am switching to them, blueprint air and cabin filters which seems very good one too. All in all Petronas lubricants are high quality products and as long as they are genuine we should not worry about their qualities. 👍
 

[flash22]

2 hours ago, mrpj1 said:

I lost faith in Opie Oils when they recommended 5W30 for my engine as the correct viscosity!

I wonder where that essay was copied and pasted from?

Interesting Andrew, in spite of that.

5w30 is an acceptable alternative

[Yugguy1970]

https://bobistheoilguy.com/

 

[Yugguy1970]

Also I dont know if Toyota dealers do this but I used to get genuine Merc service kits from a Merc dealer via eBay and they were actually pretty good value.  You knew you were getting approved stuff as well.

[Parts-King]

2 minutes ago, Yugguy1970 said:

Also I dont know if Toyota dealers do this but I used to get genuine Merc service kits from a Merc dealer via ebay and they were actually pretty good value.  You knew you were getting approved stuff as well.

Quite a few dealers do this, however certain oil grades are in short supply in pack form

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, Yugguy1970 said:

Also I dont know if Toyota dealers do this but I used to get genuine Merc service kits from a Merc dealer via ebay and they were actually pretty good value.  You knew you were getting approved stuff as well.

Toyota official store, Burrows, Snow group west are the most popular on eBay, I buy from them or my local Steven Eagell St.Albans , guys always do good job and parts are available for collecting next day.
There are some traders like e-hybrid which has disappeared, now called parts4hybrid , that guy sells fake parts, actually this is how he started his business. I can see he offers real parts too, at least on the pictures but knowing he offered fake ones even he still have some fakes I personally will not buy anything from him. The prices he offers are also no cheaper than local dealer and he is not an official dealer or garage, only a solo trader. Petronas real thing sold by carparts4less previously now available from Pipercross  , they also offer 0w16 for your gen 4 hybrids. Opie Oils also sell these. 👍

[Cyker]

6 hours ago, Yugguy1970 said:

Also I dont know if Toyota dealers do this but I used to get genuine Merc service kits from a Merc dealer via ebay and they were actually pretty good value.  You knew you were getting approved stuff as well.

The less-awful dealer near me did that - Kit consisted of an air filter, oil filter, sump plug washer and they throw in 5L of 5w30 for free (!!) or 0w20 for a fairly steep discount.

Was a pretty good deal! Not sure if they still do it tho'.- Won't be able to take advantage of it again for a good few years while the Mk4 is still under warranty!

I have to say for service parts and fluids, getting Toyota stuff is pretty good value. It's just when you want something that isn't a service part, like a piece of trim or a mirror, that's when the prices tend to get a bit wtf!  

[Auris Geezer]

22 hours ago, Parts-King said:

The oil market is one of those BS markets that will have you purchase the next wonder juice because it is the latest product and "must have" There are vast differences in oil quality, the man in the street will ask for fully synthetic oil at a price point, in reality, he has no idea what the oil is, apart from the price. My advice is to stick to the correct grade, by one of the market leaders, at least they have resources to create a good quality product, even though it might be a tad more expensive, choose a brand/type and get it for the best price you can. Just because it says fully synthetic does not mean you are buying good quality synthetic, it could be anywhere along the synthetic spectrum 

What oil does Q/F Lindops actually use please?

 

Edited July 19, 2022 by Auris Geezer
typo

[Parts-King]

We are just changing over, we did use Total oils for the bulk tanks, we are now using TGMO (Toyota Genuine Motor Oil) for bulk, which I understand can be made by quite a few manufacturers such as Mobil, Texaco etc as it is supplied to a Toyota specification. In todays market, you need several manufacturers supplying you oil, because additives are in such short supply. We were caught short a few times with Total where you just could not buy bulk oil for love nor money, obviously not good for a garage! We had a back up plan to buy in barrels from Toyota so were never out of oil but it's a lot more difficult to handle/deal with/store in barrels 

[Guest]

20 hours ago, flash22 said:

5w30 is an acceptable alternative

Yes, but not for a permanent fill. 0W20 is Toyota's recommended and to only use 5W30 as a stopgap. Opie's first recommendation should be 0W20. Or do they know something Toyota don't?

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, mrpj1 said:

Yes, but not for a permanent fill. 0W20 is Toyota's recommended and to only use 5W30 as a stopgap. Opie's first recommendation should be 0W20. Or do they know something Toyota don't?

They definitely don’t. Opie Oils are oil resellers, where Toyota are car manufacturers including engines and so they do test oils to perform to its best properties to provide the most engine protection and deliver the greatest fuel efficiency. Every resellers uses different ways (catalogs ) to match cars manufacturers specs and those are made by humans and often wrong., same applies to all car parts. You always start looking for parts by the part original number and manufacturer database, then can cross match to aftermarket and here is were difference happens. 👍 Btw the worst ever oil that I had used was Toyota own 5w30 fuel saving engine oil, later discovered was made by Chevron-Texaco. The 0w20 Toyota oil was made by Mobil at the time around 2016 and tbh I haven’t seen any difference between this and the Petronas that I switched ever since. Back in 2017 I changed the oil to Petronas and went on Euro trip 6000 miles in 3 weeks in a heatwave similar to now , Germany temperatures were 39-40C° and throughout most other countries to the end of Europe and back to London, no drop of oil was lost, added or any issues. Fully loaded car with passengers and luggage and high speed drives 8-12 hrs per day, what better test than that can be. 😉👍