Switched To 5w30

So after pouring some cold 10W30 M1 into my engine to top up about 1/2 quart low...after noticing that 20-25F it pours like syrup..I switched to M1 5W-30. WOW! what a difference on cold starts. my engine sounds alot smoother, the rattly sound it used to make until it warmed up is totally gone. it sort of sounded piston slappy at low rpm (the only rpm it runs at when cold btw). it was never a loud sound, just a gentle dull rattle. that sound is GONE! it also seems to warm up quicker from a cold start AND if i goose the throttle in park/neutral it seems to respond markedly faster.

 

i suggest this to anyone running 10W-30 in a cold climate, switch to 5W-30 in the winter or even year round!

Cool! Even though it doesn't get cold here in Florida very often, it's good to know that.

Not long after my bought my 1997 CE (116,600+ miles), back in August, I immediately changed the oil and used 5W-30.

JT

I live in Maryland and I use M1 5W30 Synthetic all year round.

On both of my cars, Corolla/Prizm with the 1.8 liter engine, the oil caps both are marked "use 5W-30 oil" and that's all I've been using in them and yes, it does make a really big difference in the winter......

I think the 1.6 liter engine recommends 10W-30 and states you can also use 5W-30 and the 1.8 liter is just the opposite, recommending 5W-30 and 10W-30 as an option, providing the temperature is above 32 degrees.......

A series engines spec 10w30, ZZ series engines spec 5w30. theres a 1.8L ZZ and a 1.8L A. mines a 7A-FE and its cap says 10w30 so i've always just used that. but now that i did the switch it does run better.

that odd noise it turns out isn't totally gone, but it goes away MUCH faster now.

i have been running 5w30 in all my vehicles for a long time. i think they warm up faster and in Michigan it is needed. I run penzoil platinum synthetic in my sienna.

I have been using supertech in my corolla's and my ford pickup. never a problem. I do make sure i run lucas injector cleaner, b-g carbon clean,or sea foam every few thousand miles in the gas tanks. I have never had any injector or even a minor engine problem .ever.

I always wash and degrease my engine compartments once a year with either zep or awesome ,then spray them down with my pressure washer. I use a water spray bottle and spritz the whole engine compartment and let it soak for 5-10 minutes. Just cover the plug holes with a plastic bag or hand scrub the valve covers. I also avoid spraying the distributor and coils with any pressure. I think this really helps the motor dissipate heat like it should and cleans the radiator too.remember the spray the radiator from the inside out. I have been doing this 20 years and think that it has kept my engine problems to a minimum.

I only remember my wife's 1979 monza that at 120,000 miles lost a water pump and cooked a head on the highway near the house. luckily they were cast iron and $350 and back on the road. She did make it home and i bitched about her driving it all that way with no coolant. we just got lucky.

hey bitter. i just wanted to warn you about K&N air filters. Remember that they do let in more dirt than a regular filter. I am not saying not to use them, they are good for mileage and engine breathing ,but if you live or drive on dusty dirt roads you need to know how much more dirt they let in.

Just clean them often!

its not very dusty where i live, they actually filter better when slightly dirty i've heard. i havent cleaned mine in a few years, but i don't put on a hell of alot of miles either. it'll be time to clean and re-oil in the spring probably.

its probably been 25K miles since i bought the filter...maybe a little more. since i'm sucking air from inside my engine bay i don't think it gets as dirty.

I've read in several places that Mobil makes Toyota's oil so it would make sense that these cars run better on it. I just changed my fluid to Mobil clean 5000 a few days ago and I noticed a lot of the vibration I experienced with GC and Valvoline is gone. I tried running German Castrol, which is the holy grail over at bitog, a few oil changes back and I had all kinds of ticking and noises at startup and vibration problems. I also lost 3/4 quarters of a quart after 3,000 miles which it had never consumed that much before. I switched to Valvoline semi synthetic at the next oil change and the ticking at startup went away but the vibration got worse. Changed it to the Mobil after recently getting back from a long trip and the vibration seems to have been cut in half and there is no racket at startup. Japanese cars seem to be finicky about what you put in them. Honda transmissions only liking Honda fluid and Nissan trans only liking Nissan fluid come to mind.