Hi everyone. I recently did an oil change and put in some synthetic valvoline engine oil. I had previously used their dyno oil. Is it just me, or do you find it to be a bit more "stickier" in texture than other oils? It's getting cold here now (can go below 0 celsius here). I find there is a bit more valve lift chatter at cold startup...not sure if i should try another oil?
fabs

 

2gr or 3mz, what motor do you have? The 2gr is hydraulic lifters vs the 3mz's solid lifters. I'd use a 0w-30.....I use M1's 0w-40.

 

2grfe. Is what i have. I use 5w-30 oil
what'sbest for my engine, especially in cold climate

 

You seem to be seeking advice from internet people, whom you have no idea their credibility, expertise, experience, etc over the highly paid experts at Lexus who study metalergy, engineering, design, and function for a living given all the records and many decades of experience they accummulate. Are you looking for affirmation or information? Even the lacky mechaics at dealerships do not have the knowledge you're looking for despite their being free with advice.

There has never been an oil thread, be it on a model airplane engine forum, chainsaw, car, motorcycle, private airplane, etc that was anything other than a hot mess with people chiming in with anecdotal stories of incredible performance or disaster but all void of facts but full of emotion. You can always count on oil threads to be particularly hilarious when read through the eyes of knowledge... this one already is off the tracks.

Soon the Amsoil fanboys will pop up only to get hammered by the Royal Purple or some other snake-oil believers all professing how their decision is the right one. They always turn into the same mess as religion, radar detectors, Ford vs Chevy, etc. heavy on opinion, low on imperical and/or useful information.

 

What oil do you use and why?

BTW what you're saying is true oil discussions almost always become maniacal in nature.

 

"What oil do I use and why?" - again that is anecdoctal and irrelevent as mentioned. I don't profess to be any sort of expert on oil so I don't offer advice on it my point is that looking to seek the opinions of those you have zero credibility in an area over those who have vast knowledge seems rather counter-intuitive unless your goal is FOMO over substance... which always seems to happen in oil threads on every single site I've been on (private pilot forums, motorcycle forums, even bicycle forums oiling their chains). they always become a long-standing joke just use the "Search" feature try and find real honest imperical information on the many pages just on this forum alone... good luck.

 

If you think personal experience and this discussion in general is irrelevant then why are you here? Not trying to be mean, it's just odd to me.

 

Some of the brands of oil do not perform the same for cold climate as others, in the same weight.

I always run Mobil 1 synthetic but walmart was out of stock one time so I substituted for another brand.

On my yearly trip up north for holiday I can hear a lower knock on my engine as the car was started cold and lasted about 5 mins until it started warming up.

I said, oh dam my lower end is going bad...

Next year I had Mobil 1 synthetic back in the engine and NO lower engine knock.

I can't remember the brand of oil, thinking it was Penzoil but I've been sticking with Mobil 1 Synthetic 5-30 and changing oil every 3k.

 

Ok, so what oil do you use and why, if I can please ask.

 

See Project Farm on YT he tested most popular oils for wear resistance and cold pour performance. Not definitive but better than only seat of the pants subjectivity.

 

Semi-good/semi-rhetorical question abou why I think an oil thread is irrelevent - because it is very highly unlikely that anyone here has any expertise or professionaly knowledge on the subject ratherjust pure specualtion based upon personal anecdotal experience where they did not and cannot show any imperical differences between oils (purely subjective without any merit). They say "go with Mobil 1" but what is their opinion based upon? Conjecture, rumor, hearsay, heavy advertising/marketing NOT fact, truth, science. Regarding oils the common reason for buying is marketing NOT performance. Almost no one here is routinely sending their oils to Blackstone or any other testing company for real analysis they go on baseless trust, hope, and nothing of substance. Many buy oil because a majority goes with XX brand or some guy who seems "cool" told them use ZZZ brand so FOMO. Who here or on any other car, motorcyle forum takes various oils and runs them side-by side comparisons to see which breaks down faster, give better gas mileage, disapates heat better, etc? Right not one. People here or on any other site cannot agree on how often to change oil - some say "it's cheap insurance so why not change it every 3K" (imperical studies at Blackstone and other knowledgable companies show that to be ridiculous but it doesn't stop the perpetual rumor from spreading), some say it can go far further than 15K miles and are fine with that so who is right? That is my point. You asked so I answered. Almost everyone here can say "I've used XYZ and had good results" but how is that helpful? Why would anyone go against what the factory, with hundreds of millions of real-time miles experience, go with something that "some guy on the interweb" told him to use this that is a better alternative? What do you think yo'll gain? Who is likely wiser there? Roll your own dice, take your own chances in life. This very same conversation happens on every single ICE website bar none every few months

 

There are quite a number of people on this forum with decades of experience wrenching I find their opinions valuable.

 

I need to walk away and cool off.

 

"Leeper" why not answer or try to answer the OP's question? Reads like he has the 2gr vvt rattle on start up & is dealing w/ cold weather. So w/ the oiling system of a 2gr & the mileage/yr & who knows the condition of the engine, What would say? Whats the Toyota manual say for oil changes? Let alone 'bout the trans service. I've had my FBO run a few oil analysis on my IO-520 which I use 9 qtrs of castrol....Want your head to spin, a walk down the chemical aisle will do you......

 

I’m going to skip the back/forth give a quick opinion.

I’ve used Valvoline’s Full synthetic 5w-30 and it’s a fine oil. Have used it on and off for years. I point out full syn, not the semi-syn MaxLife. It is not overly robust but it is good. I’ve also looked at virgin oil analysis and used analysis on it on BITOG and there’s nothing wrong with it. I have not sent my own in for analysis, but never fel the need as public info is available and these are not inherently abusive engines on oil. I have the 10w-30 Valvoline Full Syn in a GS350awd and a turbo Volvo right now, also a 1mz-fe (got a bunch on a huge sale). 7.5k OCIs on all of them.

Something that is counter-intuitive, is that when changing oils, there is in fact an intitial period where you have LESS protection with the new oil than you had with the old. Completely counter-intuitive, but true. Basically the new oil can strip off the old oil’s surface layer of protection and leave things worse a little while until it lays down a new surface layer. Sounds weird, but true.

I normally use Mobil 1 as my base oil, but also boost it with some added Moly and ester oil component (both of which boost surface layer anti-wear coating). I do this with LubeGard blue (“Biotech”) at about 2oz/qt of initial fill, 1oz/qt afterwards.

If you want, get a 15oz bottle of this and toss in 10ozs, then the other 5 at your next oil change. I bet your problem will go away.

This is the qt bottle at $23, which is a better value than the 15oz at $18 and will last years and years.


If you boost your Valvoline with 10oz of this you will have no issues; I’m not going to go into the ester chemistry and issues but you can google that if you want.

The other point to dispense with here is the filter. On an mz engine, the filter location makes start up pressure highly reliant on the anti-drainback valve of the filter. That does not apply to the bottom-mount filter location on your engine. The filter location makes it relatively filter-agnostic when start up issues show up. Never discount filter issues when there is a sudden change in behavior, but in this case I don’t think that applies.