Synthetic Oil

[HEMIMANN]

Good point.
I was just thinking functionally. With an engine having a marginal oiling system like Hemi, an engine oil heater in winter is a good idea if you leave your vehicle outside overnight.

Probably only need to plug both heaters in for only an hour or so anyway.

So I now agree - both heaters are good for vehicles left out overnight in cold climates.

 

[HEMIMANN]

90% of people in sub zero use the heater to defrost their windows? I don't think so unless they want a mess of glass. Tempt luck so many times on that 1.

Well, I wouldn't know cause old timers up here keep engines in heated sheds. By that I mean heated to 45 degrees F, not room temp.

 

[06 Dodge]

Well, I wouldn't know cause old timers up here keep engines in heated sheds. By that I mean heated to 45 degrees F, not room temp.

Must be nice to walk out to a 45 degree heated garage when its -25 outside, my self never got that lucky, did not live in the big city we were lucky to have population of 150 if we counted rabbits over 200, never knew of any farmer around me who would spend $$ on propane to keep their garage warm..

 

[HEMIMANN]

Must be nice to walk out to a 45 degree heated garage when its -25 outside, my self never got that lucky, did not live in the big city we were lucky to have population of 150 if we counted rabbits over 200, never knew of any farmer around me who would spend $$ on propane to keep their garage warm..

Yup - most of us came from small towns. My dad is rolling in his grave seeing the stuff I got.

 

[06 Dodge]

Yup - most of us came from small towns. My dad is rolling in his grave seeing the stuff I got.

I hear ya my dad would kick my butt big time if he was still around and I told him how much I paid for my truck, I recall him telling me back in the day the 5 acres we lived on cost him $4000 so my truck cost just shy of 20 times more than the acreage

 

[JHoward]

So I've been "complaining" about cold start knock (possibly piston slap), as well as pinging under load (towing) with RPMs >= 3000ish.

Talked to my mechanic, he said "what oil you running" and I told him HPL 5w-30. He said "try 5w-20 and see what happens".

So towing season is pretty much done for me this year and it was time for my winter oil change. Picked up 8 qts of the HPL 5w-20 (the basic basic PCMO, cheapest thing they sell) and dumped it in.

Lo and behold, my pinging is less? Like much, much less. I'm gobsmacked. I've been using 91 octane all summer, towing or not.

Anyone have any ideas on what's going on? Is it the oil weight, or is it the formula (PAO in the previous run of Euro No VII vs Group III in their base PCMO)? Or did I just get lucky at the pump with my gas quality while towing this last time and 1 week is not enough for a good test?

Cold start knock did not improve, if anything it is a tiny bit worse, very hard to say.

Why not let some miles accumulate on the oil you changed over to and then make an comparison to the "before" oil ...?

 

[ramffml]

Why not let some miles accumulate on the oil you changed over to and then make an comparison to the "before" oil ...?

I get what you're saying, but I know my truck as I've towed with it four 4 years, and I have tried a lot to get rid of that ping. I do have further thoughts on this but yes I'll wait a little longer before talking any more about it.

 

[BLUKTY2]

Hello all,

I decided to post this question here primarily because the main oil site forum (which will remain nameless ) to me seems antagonistic and just not very friendly. Vehicle specific forums are not much better. Not my style and very much the opposite of this forum. I will apologize right now if I am out of place to post this here and therefore to the Moderators: by all means delete this post if you feel that it is out of place or inappropriate- no hard feelings!

So now onto my question(s) or perhaps more appropriately, my dilemma. I recently acquired a 2023 Lexus with a 2.4L 4 cylinder turbo engine; T24A-FTS. This engine was first introduced in 2021 in one Lexus model and in 2022 was used in several Toyota/Lexus models and this multi vehicle usage extended into the 2023 lineup.

The US owners manual only recommended oil viscosity is 0W-20. It then states that if 0W-20 is not available, 5W-20 MAY be used but MUST be replaced by 0W-20 at the next oil change.

In contrast, the UK owners manual states that either 0W-20 or 5W-30 can be used, but also says that if 5W-30 is used, it SHOULD be replaced with 0W-20 at the next oil change.

Note the difference not only in the acceptable oil viscosities but also "MUST" and "SHOULD". Big difference between these two simple words.

IMHO, these light weight oils such as a 0W-20 are not conducive to long engine life- which is what I am after since I typically keep my vehicles for 18-20 years. And I drive my vehicles hard. So based on the UK's acceptable oils, it seems to me that either a 5W-30 or 0W-30 would be fine for this engine. 5W-30 in warm climates, or 0W-30 in colder climates. For me, in Alaska, it seems like a 0W-30 would be a perfect year long weight. I have no problem with the 0W; it's the 20W at operating temperature that I don't like.

So the bottom line is that I am curious what you all think of this. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and again sorry to stray from the RAM specific forum.

 

[knightjp]

Considering you are in Alaska, I don't see a problem using the recommended 0w-20 oil; especially if you stick to Toyota brand oil. Its good stuff.

PETROLEUM QUALITY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA TEST PROGRAM

The Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) is an independent resource for information and insights on the quality of lubricants in the marketplace. Our mission is to serve the consumer of lubricants by randomly sampling and independently testing lubricants taken from the field. Test...

pqiadata.org

Over here on the Ram forums and other "nameless" oil forum, some users have been using the manual recommended 5w-20 oil with no issues or facing the dreaded Hemi lifter tick. This oil thread is aimed at specifically solving or finding strategies at preventing that. Sure, we've posted stuff about other topics like bbq marinades, etc., so your question is welcome.

Issues don't usually show up until you've done more than a 100,000 miles or so.
My own experience with my "Hemi tick" it never showed up until my truck was over 7 years old and it reached over 150k - 160k kms on the clock. In that time, I was running 5w-20 recommended Mopar Max-Pro oil, assuming that I was doing the right thing. I wasn't.. not for my climate though.
I later found out that the main FCA dealer was using 5w-30 in the cars that came to them. They knew the secret, but didn't see any issue in selling me 5w-20 oil for me to do the changes myself or share that piece of info.
After rebuilding my engine with new lifters, etc., so far I've run 5w-30 oil and even 0w-40 oil with no issues.

If you want to run 0w-30 oil in your engine, I see no issues. I would recommend sticking to the Toyota brand stuff though. Might help in keeping any warranty and I'm sure it won't be expensive.

 

[Burla]

5w30's are as thin as ever, you really need to specify a brand as opposed a weight, but either way either your car throws a code or not, no way we can know that. I run 30 weight in my rav 4 that "requires" 5w20, no issues many years.

 

[BLUKTY2]

Considering you are in Alaska, I don't see a problem using the recommended 0w-20 oil; especially if you stick to Toyota brand oil. Its good stuff.

PETROLEUM QUALITY INSTITUTE OF AMERICA TEST PROGRAM

The Petroleum Quality Institute of America (PQIA) is an independent resource for information and insights on the quality of lubricants in the marketplace. Our mission is to serve the consumer of lubricants by randomly sampling and independently testing lubricants taken from the field. Test...

pqiadata.org

Over here on the Ram forums and other "nameless" oil forum, some users have been using the manual recommended 5w-20 oil with no issues or facing the dreaded Hemi lifter tick. This oil thread is aimed at specifically solving or finding strategies at preventing that. Sure, we've posted stuff about other topics like bbq marinades, etc., so your question is welcome.

Issues don't usually show up until you've done more than a 100,000 miles or so.
My own experience with my "Hemi tick" it never showed up until my truck was over 7 years old and it reached over 150k - 160k kms on the clock. In that time, I was running 5w-20 recommended Mopar Max-Pro oil, assuming that I was doing the right thing. I wasn't.. not for my climate though.
I later found out that the main FCA dealer was using 5w-30 in the cars that came to them. They knew the secret, but didn't see any issue in selling me 5w-20 oil for me to do the changes myself or share that piece of info.
After rebuilding my engine with new lifters, etc., so far I've run 5w-30 oil and even 0w-40 oil with no issues.

If you want to run 0w-30 oil in your engine, I see no issues. I would recommend sticking to the Toyota brand stuff though. Might help in keeping any warranty and I'm sure it won't be expensive.

5w30's are as thin as ever, you really need to specify a brand as opposed a weight, but either way either your car throws a code or not, no way we can know that. I run 30 weight in my rav 4 that "requires" 5w20, no issues many years.

Thank you both for your reply's and for not bashing me for posting what I did on this forum!

I replaced the factory fill at 1K miles with M1 0W-20 and plan on sticking with this weight at least through the warrantee period. Going to stick to 5K oci's rather than the suggested 10K but will probably change brands.

knightjp; As you mentioned the Toyota oil looks to be a very good choice and I should be able to purchase it locally; I haven't looked into it yet.

Burla; Good point on the brand, I should have thought of that. Other than the Toyota brand, I am also strongly considering PUP, perhaps with Lubeguard, and although I cannot purchase PUP locally, I can order it so I just need to plan ahead. It is helpful to know that you have been using a 30 weight without issues. I'm really leaning towards either of these two brands in a 0W-30 but since I have quite some time left on my warrantee, I won't be making a change any time soon.

I just wanted to start thinking about a long term lubrication strategy and really respect the collective knowledge and experience that members on this forum have. Thanks again!

 

[Burla]

If you look at that engine, I would look at high end gas and perhaps redline si-1. Lubegard is a high CA product, I wouldnt go using that in a di turbo, especially one known for injector issues like your engine. What is good for hemi's isnt necessarily good for a di turbo, or even helpful. I would find the oil with the lowest CA and highest mag I could.

 

[chrisbh17]

As it turns out, my Kirkland Signature oil was not "weak"...found a broken exhaust manifold stud today. The ticking noise at startup wasn't lifters filling, it was that.

Now I just gotta get my dealer to cover it under MaxCare ...

 

[BLUKTY2]

If you look at that engine, I would look at high end gas and perhaps redline si-1. Lubegard is a high CA product, I wouldnt go using that in a di turbo, especially one known for injector issues like your engine. What is good for hemi's isnt necessarily good for a di turbo, or even helpful. I would find the oil with the lowest CA and highest mag I could.

I have been using high end gas from day one and don't plan on changing. I did not know this about Lubegard and CA. This really gives me something to go on- thank you!

 

[Burla]

As it turns out, my Kirkland Signature oil was not "weak"...found a broken exhaust manifold stud today. The ticking noise at startup wasn't lifters filling, it was that.

Now I just gotta get my dealer to cover it under MaxCare ...

good news it isnt lifters..

 

[chrisbh17]

good news it isnt lifters..

Yep!

It would really annoy the hell outta me because I do everything to try and limit it (no idling, good oil choice, meticulous about changing early, etc)

Manifold bolt(s) suck but much less of an issue. Easy to diagnose too, that heat shield is flapping in the wind lol

 

[farout75]

I have a question. Instead of miles how often should I change my oil if I go by hours? My dealer said because I have 22% of my total hours is idle, I should go by hours. I have 861 total hours and 240 hours are idle hours. I have 139,500 mile in my truck and have had 22 oil changes.

What's your opinion?

 

[HEMIMANN]

In field service at Mobil, we used an average conversion factor of 40 mph to estimate hours run time.
Higher for mostly highway run time, lower for mostly urban run time.

Example: a 5,000 mile oil change interval estimates 5,000 ÷ 40 = 125 hours run time.

 

[Burla]

Yeah it is tough, for one reason, when you are in mileage we dont know the mph, which is needed for the conversion. I would just use mileage, and change it early. Or even better yet, let the lab set the interval, tbn/tan still rules the interval discusion, plus they measure moisture and insolubles.

 

[chrisbh17]

Ive always been curious how idle time is calculated. Does it increase while in Drive? i.e. sitting in traffic, at redlights, etc or is it only when in Park?