Is there a Toyota oil equivalent that can be purchased at Autozone, Wal-Mart, Napa, etc.?
Your Owner’s Manual will list the specification that the motor oil has to meet. Just compare the listed specs with what you find in the auto parts store, and you should easily be able to find the appropriate oil for the car.
The Owner’s Manual also lists virtually everything else that you need to be familiar with regarding the operation of your car.
VDC answered your question, I will only add that it is very important to use the right oil in many Toyotas as they are subject to engine slugging with standard oils.
I have a 2007 Toyota and the oil called for is any normal API, ASTM, and SAE certified oil. Any oil with such certification is Ok for normal driving. In the past Toyotas sludged due to a design problem and too long a drain interval (now reduced to 5000 miles).
You may be confused with VW which also has a sludging problem due to poor design, and also calls for a special oil and a very long drain interval. The long drain interval is driven by the German government to cut dopwn on waste oil. Most smart VW owners in the US change oil twice as often.
Toyota does call for normal 5W30 oil in most cases but a high qualkity 5W20 is now also rcommended.
I would stronly recommend NOT putting any oil “heavier” than 5W30 (such as 10W30 or 15W40) in a Toyota.
Doc–What you neglected to include is the key specification, namely “SM”.
The oil that is called for is a “normal API, ASTM, SAE certified oil” that meets the newest “SM” standard. While this is the specification that would most likely be found in an auto parts store, if someone went to a “dollar store” or other discounter, it is possible that they might find an older specification oil being sold. Regarding viscosity, it is very likely that Toyota’s specified viscosity is 5W-20, but I would REALLY like the OP to confirm this for himself/herself via the Owner’s Manual.
If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man how to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
I would like to think that by getting someone to open up the glove compartment and read the Owner’s Manual, we are teaching that person how to fish–so to speak.
Thanks VC; always go with the most recent designation. In this case SM. My Walmart here carries a number of mainstream oils which are all OK for a Toyota.
When I bougth the Toyota in 2007, the only oil weight specified was 5W30 and the only drain interval 5000 miles; no time limit. Later on I got a bulletin and the dealer now carries 5W20, which I would only recommend in a synthetic. It seems Toyota was selling a lot of gas guzzlers as well and will have trouble meeting future CAFE standards. So the factory is pushing the dealers to use 5W20, but the newer manuals probably allow both now.
Agree OP should read the manual of his Toyota model and verify for himself what it calls for. All I can say that in tropical countries they are still putting 20W50 in those cars, even though in those areas with temperatures never going below 20C (68F) the manuals allow 10W30. They just don’t like thin oil in hot countries.
Toyota selling gas guzzlers? As a whole the company has one the best CAFE’s out there for many years.
Well, vehicles like the Land Bruiser and the Sequoia are not exactly economy champs. Luckily, Toyota’s CAFE average is positively impacted by the large number of fuel-efficient models like the Prius, Corolla, and Yaris (sorry, Otterhere!).
ALL car manufacturers selling cars and trucks in the US and Canadian markets will be under severe pressure to get that CAFE standard up. Mercedes in Canada sells the Smart car and their B series, one size below the C series. They will likely do that in the US as well in order to avoid future CAFE penalties.