The manual for that truck shows 10W30 and 10W40 for temperatures above zero, I use 10W30 in my old cars.
Is this a 2007 model? I didn’t think so with 151,000 on it. I didn’t think it was only 11 years old, just hadn’t had the oil changed in 11 years.
Why would you mess with perfection?
I looked up the oil specs for a 2007 Toyota Tundra and Tacoma and they came up as 5W20 or 5W30, depending on how you feel.
You can buy 15W50 Mobil 1 at Wal-Mart but I don’t think you want this. I recently bought it for a hydraulic transaxle in a mower that calls for 15W50 or 20W50 motor oil and that is what I found.
Something seems to be up with this whole deal. Get the proper oil for this truck. A 2007 Toyota WILL NOT take oil this thick. I mean it would run but isn’t the ideal weight at all. I am OK with slight variances from the spec for oil but this is WAY out of spec. If it has only been driven 3000 miles in 11 years, that is strange. Sell the truck and rent one.
Yes, I talked to several people about the likely HIPAA violations. I suspect they are so out of code and violating so many laws that I don’t think they are even aware of or simply do not care because it costs money to comply. I feel this customer is more liability than anything these days after seeing how they operate.
This is a customer who always has band-aided problems in the past. They would be the customer to just keeping driving with their check engine light on and then be mad when whatever problem led to something worse.
I really think this is irresponsible and negligent on their part and wonder about reporting them as they show no signs of fixing the problems. I left them better off than they were before but the main goal at that time was to get them back up and running ASAP. I left them with a list of all sorts of things that needed to be done to make them more secure and they ignored it. There are two competent shops in town and they refuse to use either one. It is always a different fly by nighter from out of town.
You misunderstand. It’s not a 2007 Toyota. It’s some ancient carbureted Toyota pickup with a 22RE engine that hasn’t had an oil change in 11 years. 
OK, I see. I thought it was an 11 year old truck.
Then you could get a 10W40 as well if you just want a conventional oil.
These older engines are more forgiving to being a tad out of spec on the oil. I am not an expert on these but know they are popular. I would be worried about going too thin but maybe a synthetic Rotella T6 5W40 would be great in them. Remember that oils have come a LONG WAY since this truck was made.
Get on a forum dedicated to this truck/engine and ask them what the current oil is that they prefer for it.
Check out https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116/rotella-t6-222240/ It seems the Rotella T6 5W40 is liked there from what I can tell. REsearch will tell you if this is OK or not.
You might check with a Toyota dealer, or on an official Toyota website. The recommendations may have been changed, retroactively, since your engine was made. That is the case with my 1999 Civic’s engine. They now say 5W20, which was a very uncommon oil in 1999.
There’s a separate line for colder temperatures. It hasn’t dropped below 10°F in Albuquerque in the 15 years I’ve lived here and I’d be unlikely to drive in weather that cold.
'87
What I bought. I just thought it was interesting that 20w40 isn’t even made anymore. I also thought it odd that Walmart doesn’t sell Supertech (their house brand) synthetic oils thicker than 30.
Use the viscosity recommended by the manufacturer.
The reason is they designed the engine, determined the bearing clearances, and tested for the correct oil viscosity.
There is a thing called hydrodynamic oil pressure/lubrication. If the oil is too thin and the clearances loose, oil film under load is compromised and a bearing might seize. If the oil is too thick and if it is an engine with tight bearing clearances, the oil might not move through fast enough to maintain film and cooling and a bearing might seize.
Bottom line, you don’t want to fry/seize a bearing so follow the manufacturer’s recommendations.
Viscosity doubles with each 8deg temp change. How viscous is oil at 50f? Like cold motor? 0-30 is marginally better for cold flow at startup vs 5-30 and 10-30. All perform the same when hot. 0-40 performs the same as 20-40 when hot.
I think you will be fine with the 10W40. How did the old oil look when it was drained? Also you might try to change this at least every 2-3 years and that is only if your infrequent trips are long enough to get the engine up to temp and keep it there a while. If short, change it once a year or after it is used if you know it will be a year or more before it is used again.
Engines like this are going to be much more forgiving to varying oil viscosity than something made today. So many components these days (chain tensioners, valve timing, valve lash, etc.) rely on the oil as a hydraulic fluid as well as a lubricant. Engines are also made a lot tighter these days with a thinner oil spec in mind. This is a good thing for life of the engine and fuel economy but I sure wouldn’t put 20W50 in my car that calls for 0W20.
The manufacturer recommended ambiguously, the point of this thread. Additionally 1 of the 2 possible recommendations, 20w40, isn’t available anymore.
About the same as it did new. I have a strong magnet. I put it on the bottom of the draining tub. It didn’t attract anything. At 2,583 miles in a well-maintained engine I expected no different.
I won’t. This oil looked okay. My engine sounds the same as always. It has spec compression. It gets NHTSA gas mileage. I pass biennial emissions tests with numbers as low as those required of new cars.
I guess if going 11 years works, then why argue? The only real way would be to send a sample off to a lab like Blackstone. They may suggest something that equates to 10-11 years but you never know. Your use of this truck is such an outlier compared to most others so everything that we hear may break down and be meaningless.
I would be worried about moisture and acids building up in the oil.
I don’t mean to take a pot shot or anything, but changing oil every 11 years and 2500 miles is not exactly a well maintained engine-at least as far as oil changes. I used to change oil every 3000 miles or once a month when I was on the road, so I would have changed oil about 130 times in the same time span.
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