Its important to realize what these thin oils are for, they're for fuel economy. The thinner the oil you run, in theory the freer your engine components can move, but the tradeoff may be less protection from wear. I say "may be" because technology improves and allows oil manufacturers to deliver better performing oils in thinner viscosities.

When you have an older car and you all of a sudden introduce a thinner oil, you can have leakage through the worn tolerances, be those gaskets or piston rings, etc. Especially in a motor where there is a known tendency to burn oil at higher mileages already I would not run a thinner oil.

 

You can mix the 0W16 with a thicker oil to yield 5W20. For instance, use one 5Q jug of Mobil 1 5W30 and one jug of 0W16. Put the 5W30 in first, and top up with 0W16 (mine usually uses 2 5Q jugs with only 1/2 qt left in the last one). For fun, you could send a sample to Blackstone to see what they say the viscosity is. Oils are a mixture of different base stocks and additives anyway, so there is no harm in doing this.

 

I don't think Blackstone would be annoyed by people paying them to analyze anything lol

 

I was looking at the new 2021 Sienna hybrid for my family and found it's running 0W-16. I didn't even know it existed. Haha

 

Yeah a lot of the new ones do, I think all the hybrids.

What did you think of the Sienna?

 

I haven't driven it yet. I like the newer design, hybrid, and 35 MPG. Not a fan of I4 though. I will trade the LS in for the XSE or Platinum AWD model probably around Feb-March since we have a third kid on the way.

 

I would not use it. It was made for fuel economy, not engine longevity and I assume mainly for hybrid engines not making much power or driven aggressively. Too thin of oil can cause problems in a engine not engineered to use it just like too thick of oil can.

 

Yeah I haven’t driven it either, power was my concern. We do a lot of family travel in our van and drive in the mountains down in southern WV and I was afraid the new hybrid Sienna wouldn’t have the power we need when it’s loaded down.

Bummer about trading the LS, but it’s hard to beat a minivan with kids, especially 3...congrats on the new baby!

 

I totally agree

 

but then we come back to the discussion of why people use 5W30 in other regions and sometimes I think about trying 0W30 but then there are talks about tolerances etc so it’s hard to decide.

 

Thats going to higher viscosity though, and the engine was rated by Lexus to use those viscosities in different regions like you said, and even here in the US before they went to 0W20. They have never suggested the use of 0W16 though.

I wouldnt worry about 0W30 at all

 

Tolerance of a 5w-50 and 5w-20 engine are the same in most cases believe it or not, you would be amazed to see how tight cars that take 50w are in terms of bearings ETC

 

I believe, any engine designed for 5w20 will fail from oil starvation if 5w50 is used.

 

Nope, it will be totally fine if you simply swap the oil pump from the otherwise identically clearanced engine or avoid starting it at temps below 40.

Look up the factory specs for cars using 50 weight oils and what there bearing specs in particular are vs a normal version. BMW is best for this since they have high performance versions of their normal engines that have no clearance changes but spec far heavier oil for the sake of shear down protection on track.

 

That is not what I said. I said engines designed for 5w20 and not 5w50. Why don't you put 5w50 in your LS460 and tell us later, how much it costs to replace the engine.