98 Camry oil choice.

[Brett98Camry]

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster here

I just purchased a 98 Camry 4cyl-auto with about 150,000kms.

I have about a 70km round trip to work everyday with 80% highway. Drive it pretty conservatively. No issues with the car so far. However sludging with this motor is known to happen. However it looks pretty clean from what I can tell. We can have some pretty cold winters with temps dipping to -30C some mornings.

What do you guys reccomend?

I currenty have an '05 Vibe with 75,000kms using a Toyota Matrix filter and M1 or Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 (whatever is on sale). I went with the full synthetic because of the winter starts. But how much of a difference it makes I have no clue.


I was thinking MMO and Pennzoil Conventional for the Camry just incase there was some sludge build up.

 

[Turk]

Same thing, same miles, only we have a '97.

I run 5-30 Maxlife as it "had" a small oil leak and it's gone for a year now. Spin on a PureOne filter and you're golden!

 

[Artem]

Welcome. Do a couple of short OCIs (3,000 miles) with whatever brand you want, with a dash of MMO to help clean up anything that might need to be cleaned. Then since you're going to be doing mostly highway driving, and with the engine relatively clean (from what you can see) it should be a good candidate for "normal" OCIs of 7,500 miles.


Use whatever is on sale.

 

[walk23]

Why not use the MMO for the last 500 miles before your oil change and then the Pennzoil conventional ?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Why Pennzoil conventional? - it does not clean any better than anything similar. MC5k SM was the cleaning dino.

 

[Oregoonian]

In your climate....my recommendation would be Mobil 1 0w30....for year round use.

Based on your driving habits....an OCI of 7,500 +/-....but I think a one-time short OCI of 3,000 with Mobil Super Syn 5w30 might be advisable...just to clean any dirt and sludge build-up.

If you can get Purolator filters....the PureOne would be just right for the 7,500 OCI.

 

[addyguy]

Whatever sale syn you pick up for the Vibe, just pick up more of it, and run in 7,500 miles (12k km) in the Camry.

 

[btanchors]

Brett98Camry -

I used to own a 98 Camry as well, except mine was a V6, and also (apparently) one of the sludge prone models. I drove mine starting when it was new to over 90K miles before I sold it, and never had even a hint of a sludge problem. I used Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w30 at 5K mile intervals. I performed several used oil analysis, and analysis was always excellent - strong TBN and low solids and wear metals at 5K miles.

I agree with Oregoonian above - I think I would go with Mobil 1 0W-30.

 

[Brett98Camry]

Thanks for the input everyone