Dealer oil change at 129611 miles- glancing at invoice before throwing it away I notice "installed 00279BLK1601 : oil : 0W16." What? 0W20 has always been used. I called Toyota customer service and after a long complicated confusing conversation filled with circular logic, doubletalk, legalese and evasive bafflegab I was finally told that "Toyota Motor Company's official position is that 0W20 motor oil should be used in this car" Customer service must have barked at the dealership because a half- hour later I found a panicky voicemail from the service manager telling me that they had put the wrong oil in my car and that I should come back "at my earliest convenience" so they could change the oil. I had never heard of 0W16 before this but a quick swipe at the internet found a few million people who think the stuff is great and that we should all dump it into every internal combustion engine we own. I plan to keep this car until I die so I want to do my best to make it last. What oil do you all think I should use?
North American Owner's Manual says 0W20. I doubt there's anything inherently different about the engines where Toyota's spec'ing 0W16, suspect it became available, and they wanted to scavenge a few extra tenths of a mpg.
I guess the 0w-20 printed on the oil screw cap was a suggestion to oil change places. You should look into 0w-8, it’s out in the wild also! At least keep track of your mpg with the 0-16 oil so well know if there’s a fuel efficiency improvement
Toyota recommends many different viscosity ranges for this engine and the 0-20W recommendation is only for the purpose of maximizing fuel economy.