That’s exactly right. They recommend using two different oil schedules for the two different oils, regular and synthetic.
I am going to use synthetic too. Will go with the 7500 on the first change. Then decide if 10k is worth it. Being in a lower mileage retired situation, I may eventually just change it once a year if the mileage is below 10k. Not worried one bit. I worry much more about the so called life time tranny fluid and I have no dipstick for checking and topping off. That is a much bigger concern IMO. Start up and cold weather advantages aside, Synthetic with better shear and cling properties is just potentially a better motor oil lubricant overall.
That's exactly right. They recommend using two different oil schedules for the two different oils, regular and synthetic.
NO…NO…NO…Re-read what I posted. My owners manual make no mention of synthetic or regular dyno. All they are concerned about is if I’m using 0w-20. Even if I switch to 5w-20 SYNTHETIC they recommend I change it out after 5k miles.
@Mustangman
I use synthetic in my diesel tractor during winter when diesels are notoriously harder to turn over. Also a big advantage in the snow blower. Don’t care about the longevity here as the will out live me but they start very easy. I also use it in my Mercury and Yamaha outboards as they are a HUGE investment . The lawn mower ? Anything laying around.
@Mustangman, since your odometer only measures up to tenths of a mile, and your answer can’t be more precise than the data you used to calculate it, how do you measure an improvement of 1/2 mile per gallon?
If the fuel pump calculates your fuel purchase is to the third decimal place, and your distance measurement is to the first decimal place, your calculated answer must be less precise than the first decimal place, rounding to the nearest whole number.
How many decimal places is irrelevant. What’s important is the number of significant figures. For 0.5 gpm out of 30, as long as you’re going more than 200 miles per tank, you’re OK. Also, the variation in “click-off” point of the gas pump must be averaged over a number of fill-ups.
Talking about lawn mowers, Its getting hard to find plain 30 weight oil for summer lawn mower use. A week ago I got Valvoline at O’Reilley for about $5 a quart. I was a little miffed at the cost that should have been $3. So after visiting Briggs again, they recommend 5-30 synthetic for everything now year round. So I might just switch in a year. Only question is whether to use Briggs oil for $10+ a quart or Mobil 1 for $7 a quart. Lets see, 3 lawn mowers, 3 snow blowers, a generator, and might have forgotten something so it does get to be a hassle.
Ford recommends changing oil every 7500 mile or 6 months, whichever comes first. Since you drive highway miles most of the time, changing every 7500 miles should be fine. I have done that with several cars with no ill effect and over 150,000 miles.
@MikeInNH
Let’s see, 0-20 is always synthetic so 10k is ok.
Anything else, including non synthetic, change at 5k miles. Hmmm. Still looks to me like two different mileages for synthetic and non synthetic. Just because it also says 5k for any other doesn’t diminish the point that I corrected. That is, no one gives you two different oil change intervals for synthetic and non synthetic. When I questioned the service manager as to what this meant he said, use non synthetic if you Must, but use it for only 5k miles and then the next opportunity use synthetic 0-20 for ten k miles. Hmmmm, still sounds like two different intervals for the two different oils. BUT, It also says, to use the genuine Toyota Motor oil , or equivalent to satisfy grade and viscosity. Because in these grades and viscosity, Toyota is synthetic 0w-20 and non synthetic (other weights) for their cars. The equivalent would be other brands in synthetic and non synthetic. Btw, the 0-20 is a mileage consideration as much as anything. Yes you can use 5w-20 weight synthetic and should change in 5k miles… As well. Mobil super one now makes a 0-20 synthetic to comply. Just because Toyota doesn’t care whether any other viscosity is synthetic or not.
@Bing–I managed to get straight 30 weight oil for my lawnmower engine at our Rural King store for about $2 a quart under the house brand name. WalMart may also sell the oil under its own brand name as well. I did find some 40 weight oil that I am using in my lawnmower now because it uses quite a bit of oil. I may try synthetic oil to see what happens–I have a bet on with a friend that my mower won’t make it through the season. A six pack of beer is riding on me keeping the mower going through the season. It is a push type rotary mower that cost me $250 back in 1992. The problem is that it would probably be cheaper to throw in the towel and buy a six pack for my friend as opposed to buying the synthetic oil, but I am in it for the challenge.
@Triedaq
My money is on your motor running if it runs now. If the carb “gives out” all bets are off. If it’s not using too much oil, fine. If it is, just fill the oil and check the gas and don’t worry about bug spray or a whining neighbor and smoking. Besides , if you smoke a cigar, no one will notice.
Anything else, including non synthetic, change at 5k miles. Hmmm. Still looks to me like two different mileages for synthetic and non synthetic.
Dag…You know perfectly well I SAID…
" Even if I switch to 5w-20 SYNTHETIC they recommend I change it out after 5k miles. "
Again…Your WRONG…Let me write it slower so you can understand…
"Even switching to 5w-20 FULL SYNTHETIC…You got that…FULL SYNTHETIC…you must change it out at 5k miles. Where are you getting NON-SYNTHETIC from. I NEVER said NON-SYNTHETIC…The owners manual does not say NON-SYNTHETIC. The ONLY thing the owners manual mentions is the weight. And since 5w-20 comes as SYNTHETIC and NON-SYNTHETIC…for some reason you choose only to focus in on the NON-SYNTHETIC.
hey I just learned how to make boldface
@Whitey, I think @insightful explained it correctly. If my 15 mpg truck runs 350 miles between fill-ups, measures miles in 10ths and I buy gas in 10ths and I fill until the click, that gives me 3 significant digits on fuel (26.2 gals-I don’t trust a flowmeter beyond 1/10th) 4 on mileage, (350.0 miles) and fill until the first click. This is good to the smaller of significant digits, or 3, so 15.5 mpg versus 15.0 is realistic but for only that one measurement.
I keep many weeks worth of data I can average to prevent a single week’s under-fill, or happy tail-wind. This was also my 85 mile round trip commute 5 days a week costing me a ton until I bought a smaller car. Synthetic in the front and rear diffs helped a little more.
You need to read where it says to USE " Toyota motor oil or equivalent to satisfy grade and viscosity" In your manual ! Please read ! That is what the service manager used explained it to me by.
I never said Toyota called it non synthetic…I call it that. You call it dyno, they don’t use that term either. In their other literature, they call it mineral oil.
Toyota motor oil is synthetic in 0w-20 , for other grades it is mineral oil
So the equivalent of that would be any other brand 0-20 ( mobile one super makes it) in synthetic and the equal equivalent of Toyota mineral oil is any other brand in mineral oil. Now, if you want to use synthetic oil in 5-20, it makes no reference to that what so ever. But, by implication, you need to change that too in 5k miles.
You must then conclude that There for 10k changes for Toyota 0-20 (or equivalent) which is synthetic or 5k changes for Toyota 5-20 mineral or equivalent which is also. But, you can only conclude that if you read the original statement.
BTW…it’s ; " you’re wrong " not “your wrong.” I don’ own the word “wrong”. 
I’ve owned five cars in my life (previous one lasted me ten and a half years): 1984 Olds Cutlass Ciera (it was my father’s Oldsmobile…), 1992 Geo Storm, 2000 Mazda Protege, 2003 Mazda 6, and now a 2010 Ford Focus. The Protege was the only one with a 5k mile interval for oil stated in the manual. All others, state 3k miles or 3 months, whichever comes first.
So that’s going to mean an oil change very six weeks until either the job ends at contract expiration, or I move closer if they hire me when the contract ends.
I do know that part of the demise of the Mazda 6 was due to extending the oil change interval from the manual-stated 3k miles to 6~8k miles between the tail ends of 2009 and 2011. Six months of that time was with a commute almost identical to the one I have now. That wasn’t THE cause of the demise, but I have no doubt it’s what started the slide. The first many years of the Mazda 6 model used Ford Duratec engines as standard equipment.
Or not? I just located another version of the manual (possibly newer) for Ford vehicles (non-specific to model, just the year) and it lists a “maximum interval” of 7500 miles / six months whichever is first. So… that’s about 13 weeks of commuting. How the hell did I screw that one up?
I very much doubt 6000 mile changes caused engine problems. The schedule for the Mazda is every 7,500 miles. But do what you want.
@dagosa–my real reason for keeping this mower going is that Mrs. Triedaq likes to mow and I hate the task. However, she has had two rotator cuff surgeries and two foot surgeries and I don’t think she should be mowing. The old mower is temperamental enough that she can’t make it run. If it quits, I’ll buy a self propelled mower with an electric start to make it easier for her if she thinks she just has to mow yard. At any rate, I would rather mow the yard than have her go through another foot or rotator cuff surgery.
Toyota motor oil or equivalent and 5-20 refers to Toyota mineral oil in that viscosity (or equivalent) that's the way it was explained to me
Why do you say 5w-20 is mineral oil. It makes no mention of that in my owners manual.
According to my owners manual it states that the recommended oil for best mileage and cold temp starts to use 0w-20. I can use 5w-20 if 0w-20 isn’t available, but should change that after 5k miles instead of 10k miles. Since they did NOT mention Synthetic or mineral…you can’t assume Synthetic. Well I guess you can since that’s the ONLY way you can win the argument.
Then there’s Toyota’s official web site.
Which states…
Vehicles in which 0w-20 is an option to 5w-20 mineral oil, (or 5w-30), will continue to require 5,000-mile/6-month oil change intervals, even if 0w-20 oil is used.
So on Toyota’s website they state that if your vehicle uses 5w-20 MINERAL OILD AND you use the optional oil of 0w-20 (WHICH IS FULL SYNTHETIC) - the oil change interval of 5k miles still should be used.
@texases: If I was just going to do something, I would have just done it, not asked for advise first. The advise here seems to be I got the manual wrong, and double checking, I did get it wrong. And that the oil interval is 7.5k miles or 6 months, whichever is first, and the (newer?) manual I found does not appear to differentiate an interval for dino vs synth oil.
So I may as well stay with dino at 7.5k miles.
“How the hell did I screw that one up?”
Some strong memories are often just wrong. You are learning, Grasshopper.