5w-30 in a 2009 Vibe?

[justoffthecoast]

I recently purchased a Certified Used 2009 Vibe w/ 2.4L engine. I took it to the closest GM dealership yesterday for its first oil change, because I figured a GM dealership ought to do it right...On my way to work this morning, I noticed that the oil change sticker on my windshield says they used 5W-30 rather than the 5W-20 recommended in the manual.How big of a deal is this in terms of engine wear, and will I notice any performance and/or fuel economy changes as compared to the 5W-20? I've owned the car for less than a month, and this is the newest vehicle I've ever owned, so I want to keep it in the best condition possible. Is this something that's worth calling the dealership about, or will the difference be negligible over the ~3,000 miles that I plan to drive before my next oil change?Thanks!

[trask]

5w -30 should be ok, but the engine runs the most efficient with 5w -20. Personally I believe the dealer should always use the recommended fluids. You could take it back, or remind them next time that you want only 5w -20, but how do you know what type of oil they use anyway? You only know for sure when you are able do your own oil changes.What Kind of Engine Oilto UseLook for three things:• GM6094MUse only an oil that meetsGM Standard GM6094M.• SAE 5W-20SAE 5W-20 is best for thevehicle.

[ColonelPanic]

I don't have any experience with a Vibe and 5w20, but I do have a Hyundai that calls for it... I don't have a place to change my own oil, so I brought it into a few different dealers where at each one those morons would throw in 5w30 instead. If I wanted 5w20 I had to supply them with 5w20. Granted, unlike the Vibe's manual, my Hyundai's manual shows 5w20 preferred but you *can* use 5w30. I started taking it to a local tire shop that also does general maintenance type stuff and those guys have enough sense to use that proper weight of oil. I've logged quite a few miles on 5w30 and haven't noticed much of an adverse impact on the engine BUT there was a noticeable difference in fuel economy. And that's probably the main reason several manufacturers switched to 5w20 - to help boost their CAFE figures.I'd say 5w30 in it for now probably won't kill it... And like was said, remind them that it needs 5w20 next time. A dealer *should* know the proper fluids to use but sadly many won't make the effort to use the right stuff.

[jake75]

My 2003 Manual says 5W-30, with 10W-30 acceptable at temps above 0 degrees F if 5w30 not available. [1.8L engine]I would use synthetic but put very few miles on my cars - usually change dino oil at 3,000 miles but that might be 8 months so I aim for 6 months.Changing every 3 months which might be 1,000 miles makes no sense.I wonder if you could keep synthetic in for 18 months if you drive less than 7,500 miles in that time

[djb383]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »My 2003 ................I wonder if you could keep synthetic in for 18 months if you drive less than 7,500 miles in that timeIf you had a sample analyzed (UOA), they could tell you.

[Caretaker]

On the 1.8 liter Corolla Vibe, you can use 5w-20 or 0w-20. I'm not sure with the CamryVibe. I'd take it back and tell them to do it again. If you owner's manual says 5w-20, then make them put it in.

[jake75]

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »My 2003 Manual says 5W-30, with 10W-30 acceptable at temps above 0 degrees F if 5w30 not available. [1.8L engine]I would use synthetic but put very few miles on my cars - usually change dino oil at 3,000 miles but that might be 8 months so I aim for 6 months.Changing every 3 months which might be 1,000 miles makes no sense.I wonder if you could keep synthetic in for 18 months if you drive less than 7,500 miles in that time '09 now home. Manual says us GM6094M 5w-20 or 0w-20. Says 5w-20 is best for the vehicle. Also says do not use other viscosity oils such as 20w-50.A 5w-30 would also be an other viscosity oil.Oil change interval is 5,000 miles or 3 months whichever comes first. Following that I'd be changing oil at about every 1,000-1,500 miles. Bob & Ray says 6 months is o.k. In an area with extreme temps (-20 F) it says to use 0w20.Below zero let alone -20 is rare in Ohio.

[jimincalif]

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker »I'd take it back and tell them to do it again. If you owner's manual says 5w-20, then make them put it in.If you take it back, I'm willing to bet they will tell you they put in 5w-20 because they always put in the recommended oil, and the only mistake was they filled out the sticker wrong. They will tell you anything.

[justoffthecoast]

Quote, originally posted by jimincalif »If you take it back, I'm willing to bet they will tell you they put in 5w-20 because they always put in the recommended oil, and the only mistake was they filled out the sticker wrong. They will tell you anything.That's exactly what I was thinking. The only worthwhile recourse I can think of would be to demand a refund and threaten to file a chargeback (with full intentions of doing so if refund is not provided).However, since I have to fill my gas tank today anyway, I think I'll calculate my MPG on my next tank before taking any action. Considering I drive about 130 miles a day back and forth to work (moving closer shortly, can't wait), fuel economy is vitally important to me, and I've been very impressed at the 32MPG I've been averaging lately. If my fuel economy suffers, this will be the most expensive oil change I've ever gotten, and I feel I'll be forced to take action to recoup the cost of the oil change so I can change it myself CORRECTLY.

[Caretaker]

WOW, I could not disagree more. You now have at least a sticker that says they put the wrong oil in. Do you also have a piece of paper showing the same thing? The fact that there is any documentation showing they put the wrong oil in is a TREMENDOUS motivator for them to get that oil out of there at their expense. Why would they want to risk a $5000 lawsuit for a new engine when in 3 minutes, they can have the issue resolved. Take it back, especially if your paperwork shows the same 5w-30 notation.

[whytea]

I've been using 5w-30 in my 09 vibe for 6 months and haven't had any issues with mileage but that being said the dealer should be putting in the recommended oil. And I would fight for a few free oil changes. But in all honesty it won't hurt ur engine.

[justoffthecoast]

Just called the dealership and left a message with the technician that changed the oil...

[vibedrivermatt]

yeah when I brought my 09 to the dealership for its first change they said they use 5w 30 too. There's really nothing wrong with that if that's what the dealer puts it in there. 5w 30 is slightly thicker and provides a bit more protection than 5w 20. I read in a car mag that a lot of car manufactures are going 5w 20 in their compact cars to improve fuel mileage at a slight sacrifice of engine protection. The 5w 20 is thinner. This makes for less friction inside the engine which gives you that better fuel mileage but, protects the engine slightly less. There's more to that whole story but I forget....I say let em put the 5w 30 in there but, you may only want to only use that weight from that point after. I know you don't wanna change your oil type once you've established what your using. That means you'll have to tell other shops to put 5w 30 in your engine if you change somewhere else. They'll just put 5w 20 in there otherwise because that what is says on the cap. Really the choice is yours which oil you put in your engine. 5w 20 for better fuel mileage or 5w 30 little better protection. Hey congratulations on your new car!..

[Dog Hauler]

"5w 30 is slightly thicker and provides a bit more protection than 5w 20. "If that was the case then why don't you put SAE 40 in your car. The problem is when a engine is designed to run on 20 weight the bearing tolerances are tighter because the oil is thinner, so when a thicker oil is put in it does not get to all the needed surfaces quickly thus you have early engine wear.

[vibedrivermatt]

yeah you got me before I could edit that out and make it more scientific. I cant really say that the "thicker" 5w 30 is going to protect the engine better but, I think if you research this enough you'll find no problem with putting 5w 30 in there. Now the dealer could make this less confusing to people by giving them a reason why they put 5w 30 in there. We know the 2.4 2AZ-FE engine has been around in the Camry since 2002. There's gotta be some owners manuals around on the internet for those. If any of those manuals list 5w 30 as a recommended oil, I think that proves my point that its safe to use..

[jake75]

From my limited experience you don't see many 5w-20 or 5w-30 at retailers other than auto parts stores.

[vibedrivermatt]

yeah and walmart.....hey if you you guys are so concerned about what kind of oil is going in your vibes then just change it yourself...its ridiculously easy. All the info need is in your owners manual except the torque spec for the oil drain plug, which I just make freakin tight...

[j42.snyder]

I prefer to change my own oil - but my brother (who also owns a '09 2.4) does not - so I thought I'd ask at the dealer where I bought mine to find out what they'd use.They clearly told me that they would use 5W30, since that's what's in their bulk dispenser. I informed them that the manual states to use 5W20 or 0W20 - at which time they told me that they "could" use that - but at extra expense, and only if I specified it. I think that's outrageous - that they will purposely use the "wrong" oil unless the customer specifies?! I thought the dealer was the one you were supposed to trust to "know your car best".Although I'm sure that it "may" be difficult to measure much of a difference in fuel economy or engine wear - I'm sure there still IS a difference. 5W20 oils have several advantages over most conventional 5W30's that most people aren't aware of - but mainly its ability to flow much more quickly through the engine to lubricate faster, and the fact that it stays "in grade" better than 5W30's do - by not shearing down thinner than intended.Although I'm sure that CAFE may have some impact on this decision, with the number of fuel efficient vehicles Toyota manufactures, I doubt that they have any problems meeting their requirements. I'm sure that the engineers wouldn't agree to using such an oil if it presented potential durability issues - and if they didn't feel that it was important that the correct oil WAS used, then they wouldn't bother to print it directly onto the filler cap either.Because I had suspected GM dealers would do this, I had my brother take his car to a Toyota dealer for service thus far - even before inquiring about it directly myself. Interesting that Toyota has used 5W20 every time - and for less money than GM's 5W30 change!I still prefer to do it myself - so that I KNOW what's going in there - and it's cheaper;) I've had only 5 oil changes done by someone else over the past 19 years - so I'm not likely to change my mind anytime soon. I actually enjoy doing it - and I don't have to make an appointment!Just to summarize - I don't want to say that using 5W30 is absolutely "bad" - but I'm a firm believer that 5W20 is "better" for this application. Mostly I'm just miffed that GM still doesn't seem to treat these NUMMI products as their "own" - apparently even for servicing. You'd think that after 25 years they would have accepted them by now, and treat them accordingly.Okay - I'm done ranting now! Sorry - just had to get that out!John

[imspace2]

Okay so can someone tell me why my pontiac dealer says that my 2.4l vibe needs a special oil filter and charges me more than their $39 goodwrench special. Is this because they are probably charging me for a Toyota filter? I like to get my oil changed at a dealership, does anyone here service their vibe at a yota dealer? Would it probably be cheaper?

[Dog Hauler]

I have always changed my own oil and the dealer gave a free oil change when I bought the car, I will not use it because I am afraid they would put in 5W30.

[vibedrivermatt]

Quote, originally posted by j42.snyder »-5W20 oils have several advantages over most conventional 5W30's that most people aren't aware of - but mainly its ability to flow much more quickly through the engine to lubricate faster, and the fact that it stays "in grade" better than 5W30's do - by not shearing down thinner than intended.by conventional oils you mean non synthetic?.. I thought most of what you said was spot on except this bit where you start to talk about oil...sounds like you just read an AMSOIL ad or somethin..there are countless threads on the bobistheoilguy forums where people argue about which is oil better. Some people are very nerdy about it over there. I found my knowledge pretty limited about it ...but I got this. There's talk that the CAFE standards are only marginally affected by the different oils and the motorist cant detect any difference in fuel mileage when using either oil...and it seems these new cars do indeed run best with the 5w 20 maybe 5w 30 second best.. and finally it seems the best thing to do is to change the oil yourself with a 5w 20 synthetic because this is really the only cost effective to use synthetic. I agree with snyder if you don't change your own oil and want the 5w 20 then go to toyota if its cheaper but, just know its just conventional 5w 20 which is fine. If you wanna go to GM for the 5w 30..still fine..

[j42.snyder]

The base stocks used to produce a "conventional" 5W20 are referred to as "group 2+", where as far as I'm aware, a SM certified 5W30 only requires use of a "group 2".I mostly know some of this info from spending several hours sifting through info on http://www.bobistheoilguy.com as you (vibedrivermatt) mentioned. I'm not familiar enough with exactly how these basestocks differ - but from what I've deciphered, it would seem that the 5W20 base oil goes though more of a refining process to eliminate impurities prior to blending - and also requires less viscosity improver additives to allow it to stay "in grade" longer than a 5W30 equivalent does.Based on this info - I don't think that there's much benefit to running a "synthetic" product if you're sticking to the recommended change intervals. Many "synthetics" are just more purely refined mineral oils - "group 3" - which I personally doubt has enough of an advantage over the "group 2+" conventional to warrant the extra expense. There are some group 4 and 5 synthetics available out there which may allow for extended drain intervals - but it's not always easy to identify these. While under warranty, I still wouldn't bother with these personally.My point was just that even "conventional" 5W20s have some qualities to them that are typically considered to be superior to those specified for the current 5W30 oils - and if that's what the engineers expected to be used in the engine, then that's what SHOULD be used there.As I mentioned before - although using a 5W30 "probably" won't do any harm - why use an unspecified oil when 5W20s are so easily available now.I think (hope?) this topic has officially been beaten to death here for now... although many over at bobistheoilguy could spend hours arguing over that...JohnP.S. - (in reply to imspace2) I don't see what would be "special" about the 2.4 filter - it's just a canister. I believe it's even the same one used in the Chevy Trackers they used to sell that used Suzuki engines - so it's not "new" either. I could see the 1.8's cartridge maybe be referred to as "special" just as the Ecotec cartridges were about 7 years ago - but definitely not the 2.4's.

[imspace2]

So should I ask for more explanation? What I'm getting at is that my Pontiac dealer charges me more to change the oil in my vibe than in a G6 or Grand Prix

[j42.snyder]

When I inquired at the dealership, they didn't mention any special "extra" charges for the Vibe until I asked about the 5W20 oil. They then seemed to work out that it would be close to $10 more to use the "correct" oil - but they'd only use it if I specified.Maybe your dealer is just charging you a bit of a premium for the 5W20 - assuming they're using it.So far I've done my 1 oil change myself - but my brother has strictly used the Toyota dealer over the past year for his. They were cheaper, and used 5W20 without asking. The last time they were bothering him to change his cabin air filter for about $45 - which he declined. Other than that, they've been fine to deal with apparently.I'm curious to find out whether our dealer will be around much longer now. Both of the local Pontiac dealers around here aren't too far from the Chevy ones - so I'm going to guess at who's going to be closing their doors unfortunately...