Should I worry about synthetic oil being used in our FJ40?

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Joined
May 13, 2017
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Location
Wickenburg, Arizona
This may or may not be a stupid question, but I took Miss Scarlet to a local shop for her yearly oil change. I've always followed the Toyota recommendations from the booklet and used 10w-30w oil. I just noticed that today's receipt says 5w-30w full synthetic. Miss Scarlet is only driven about 1250 mile per year. She has 112,499 miles on the odometer and runs perfectly. Should I be concerned?
 
Many people here run thicker diesel oil with a higher zinc content. 15w-40 or 10w-30 diesel oil is widely available and inexpensive. You may have trouble getting an oil change joint to put that in, but a private shop might.
 
Add zinc additive if your synthetic system is low on zinc
 
Guess I won't get my panties in a wad since I don't drive it that many miles a year.
 
I wouldn't run an oil that light in anything from the F family but no idea what your climate is like. If it's cooler, likely fine.
 
I've always run Castrol GTX 10-30 in all my 2 and 3fs and 20r mini truck since the 80s and I swear buy it. Synthetic is way too expensive and does'nt add any additional benefit in an older vehicle and is not cost effective 🧐🤔😉
 
IMHO, in Arizona in that engine I'd run a 10W-40 or 15W-40, Full Synthetic oil.

The question about adding extra zinc is a big one, I'm not an expert, so maybe read the link below, however by going to a heavier weight synthetic oil
you'll get more protection from that and the newer chemistry of modern synthetics. If the FJ40 still has a cat that's something to consider also in relation
to extra ZDDP, ZDTP, etc


If you want to know how your engine is wearing with the current oil you could send in a used engine oil sample to Blackstone Laboratories.
Only thing is if you don't put many miles on the engine between oil changes you may not have enough time/miles on the oil to
see meaningful results ie: you'll want something like 3000-5000 miles on the used oil IME (unless something major is happening
to the engine then the problem may show up sooner in the oil).

I've used Mobil 1 Synthetic oils for decades in my LC's but recently switched to Chevron XSP 400 15W-40 Full Synthetic which is approved for both Diesel and Gasoline engines. No issues.

As important is which oil filter you use, never use the generic white box or other cheapo oil filter most Quick Lube shops install. Spend the money
on the more expensive filters designed for one year and 15,000-20,000 miles IMO.
 
QS Full Syn 5-40 in both the 40 and 80 for me. After reading nerdy oil ratings I’m not as concerned about zink as I used to be. I don’t see how a modern high performance oil can kill a 2F I haven’t managed to kill in 40 years of ownership. Here’s some light reading on oil and filter performance…

 

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