I changed my oil yesterday and after the fact realized I put in 0w-20 Mobil 1 oil. I live in Phoenix (very, very hot) and my 2008 Prius has 145000 miles on it. I'm thinking it will be too thin and may cause problems in our heat. Should I change the oil again with 5w-30, or just run it with the thinner oil until the next oil change? We are coming into summer where the temps routinely get to 110F. What should I do?
0w20 is the new standard spec for many Toyota and other manufacturer vehicles. It works from -47C to +205C. That is -52.6F to 401F. Don't worry about it.
I agree that you may find the engine will consume oil at an accelerated rate. Should you find this to be the case, I suggest switching back to 5W-30.
It seems to be driving just fine. I can't tell any difference after 100 miles. I just don't want to cause any extra engine wear. It is just broken in at 145,000 miles...
ZOMBIE THREAD LIVES! For others that stumble across this thread as I have, 0W-20 will perform identically at operating temperature as 5W-20. The lower number is the flow characteristics when cold. 0W-20 performs like 0 weight oil at cold temps and 20 weight oil at 100°C. 5W-20 performs like 5 weight oil at cold temps and 20 weight oil at 100°C The higher the weight, the thicker. 0 and 5 weight oils are BOTH thicker at cold temps than 20W at 100°C. 20W oil is "thinner" at operating temp than 0 or 5W at cold temps. There should be absolutely no issues with the change and most manufacturers are retroactively specifying 0W-20 where 5W-20 was specified. The oil will always progress from "thick" to "thin" as the oil temp increases. Coincidentally, I have a friend's 2008, live in the Phoenix area and will be changing it for him while he's on vacation... Steve
