10W40 For a Camry

[César Norberto Díaz]

During a unscheduled oil change ( not a my regular mechanic), the
folks at a nearby gas station tried to slip CAM2 10W40 oil in my 1999
V6 Camry. When I objected to that, they sort of got upset and told me
that instead of $16.99 I'd have to pay $26.

I said ok, no problem. They had to order 5 quarts of 5W30 Quaker State
from a nearby auto parts store and I was there when they put in the
car. The final bill was, after a few apologies by the proprietor, $20,
the usual normal fee elsewhere.

My question is, was I wrong on demanding the recommended oil?

Is there a danger in using 10W40, the manual prefers 5W30 or 10W30.

César.

[Mike]

There no danger in using 10W-40. Your gas mileage will not be quite as good
compared to 5W-30, but the difference is small, especially in the summer. I
would be more worried about the CAM2 brand if it costs that much less than
Quaker State. I don't know of anyone that charges more for 5W-30 than for
10W-40 of the same brand. I think you made the right choice by not putting
in the CAM2.

"César Norberto Díaz" <gbau...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:3b5847d7...@news-server.si.rr.com...

[César Norberto Díaz]

Previously on alt.autos.toyota.camry, "Mike" <mfel...@qwest.net>
wrote:

>There no danger in using 10W-40. Your gas mileage will not be quite as good
>compared to 5W-30, but the difference is small, especially in the summer. I
>would be more worried about the CAM2 brand if it costs that much less than
>Quaker State. I don't know of anyone that charges more for 5W-30 than for
>10W-40 of the same brand. I think you made the right choice by not putting
>in the CAM2.
>

Thanks Mike. My regular mechanic had the lifts tied up with work and I
don't like going past the 3000 miles oil change line.

César.

[H2Only]

That's the main reason I do my own oil changes; it's certainly not to
save money. I pick the oil manufacturer and weight, and the filter.
I also don't have to put up with some kid snooping around for
'problems' that should be fixed immediately. I once had a kid who
refused to put in the weight I requested (!) And I'm a mechanical
engineer . . .

On the matter of oil weight, 10W40 is not a particularly good grade
(at least in dino oils), because it requires a high percentage of
plasticizers added to the base stock to achieve the 40 part of the
rating. My internet research tells me that these break down over
time, and eventually you get 10W30 anyway. Go to the following
megasite for links to many generic automotive topics:

Jan's VW/Car/Racing Page http://www-pal.usc.edu/~jan/cars.html

You will also be interested to read up on snake oil (a.k.a. Slick 50)
and other additives. BTW, my cars are older, and I run 15W40 diesel
oil in summer. I never use oil additives. I would run synthetic, but
it doesn't make economic sense because they each consume some oil. I
use the best oil filters I can get my hands on and always change them
with the oil at 3 to 3.5k miles.

H2Only

[César Norberto Díaz]

Previously on alt.autos.toyota.camry, gsni...@canspec.com (H2Only)
wrote:

>That's the main reason I do my own oil changes; it's certainly not to
>save money. I pick the oil manufacturer and weight, and the filter.
>I also don't have to put up with some kid snooping around for
>'problems' that should be fixed immediately.

Thank you very much for your observation, I'll save the url for later
reading,

César.