2006 Tacoma and 2002 Civic

[TheTacoman]

Ok so I like I am sure a lot of people on here am curious on what the best oil for me are. I have read a lot of different stuff on different sites, but just ended up not being sure. I have a 2006 Toyota Tacoma TRD offroad 4x4 4.0l V6. 44,000 miles. I just got it and put valvoline syn power 5w30 in it. Owners manual recomends 5w30 ILSAC engine oil. I usually change it every 5000 miles, but am going to start getting a few analysis' done and maybe stretching that out a little bit. Our other vehicle is a 2002 honda civic with 150,000. I usually just run whatever the cheapest dino high mileage oil i can find in 5w20. Recomends API 5w20 It is usually quaker state, or Castrol GTX. We both drive about 25 miles each way to work and i would say that is about the distance of most of our trips. I was thinking about switching to synthetic in the honda so i can change it a little less frequently because it isn't as easy as my tacoma, but have seen mixed opinions about switching this late on a vehicle. I never have to top either vehicle off between fillups.

 

[Gary Allan]

You're doing 12k-15k/year for each vehicle. Leave whatever you're using in the sump for 6 months. Test then. It will upset your normal routine, but not too much.

The Honda should have a 10k OEM OCI, iirc. Switch to a synthetic if you want to. I should allow you the confidence to go one year (assuming the 12-15k annual mileage).

 

[sangyup81]

The opinions may vary but if you went through all these used oil analysis, you'll see that you're totally safe to switch to a syn. Syns and Dinos were very, very different back in the day. Due to the popularity of hydrocracking, this is no longer the case

 

[TheTacoman]

So if i do switch to a synthetic and they tend to clean a little better, would it be better to just run the first change of synthetic for a few thousand miles at first and then get fresh oil in, or is that not going to matter?

 

[sangyup81]

You could play it safe if you like but it's probably not necessary.

Now if you are like me and actually enjoy doing the oil changes, go for it!