Best oil for '03 Corolla S & '99 Camaro V6?

[quadrun1]

Well, two of my friends are off to Iraq soon

and they left me in charge of maintaining their cars.

Both are using dino oil, changed every 3K at quickie lubes, but I will change the oil in both these cars myself soon.

The '03 Corolla S (stick) doesn't seem to consume any oil on what I presume to be bulk 5W-30. It was pinging a bit, but after a treatment with Redline SI-1 injector cleaner, and a little bit of Auto-Rx, it sounds better.

Anyone know if the Lexus V8 oil filter will fit on the Corolla? Same thread diameter and pitch (3/4-16). I have one of these sitting around and might as well use it...

As for the '99 Camaro (also a stick), I believe it has the 3.8L V6--are these prone to developing intake gasket leaks?

Does this V6 like any particular oil?

Any tips for maintaining these two cars?

I'll probably do UOAs for fun.

thanks,
Jason

 

[haley10]

It is highly unlikely with the 3.8L V-6 that you would have any anti-freeze contaminating the oil. This is an issue with the 3.1 and 3.4L engines.

With the 3.8L you might see coolant disappear with an external upper leak. Not too many worries with the 3.8L V-6.

You probably don't want to spring for a synthetic for this car.

Mobil Synthetic Blend might be a good cost effective choice or M1 10-30 or 0-40 if you are flush with cash.

For some reason the 3.8 doesn't seem as smooth with GTX or Havoline like I was used to. I think it likes a thicker conventional or if thin, a synthetic like M1 or Syntec. Starburst conventional 30 wts. might be a bit thin to it's liking.

 

[Thomas Pyrek]

I maintain a 99 Bonneville with ~75k on it. I started taking care of it at around 45k and the oil always came out very dirty. My dad maintained it before, so that probably was the cause. I religiously did 3k changes with cheaper dino oil and eventually got the motor cleaner. The last two changes I have used Valvo MaxLife 10w30 and I noticed some oil consumption (1 quart in 4k miles). I never noticed any with Shell or Mobil 10w-30 (although I never really checked). Recently I have just switched to Delvac 1300 and the car seems to be quieter.

As long as you do 3k changes, the cheap dino oil is fine for the GM V6.

 

[outrun]

I disagree on dino use...more ideological than scientific though

The 3800 definately "likes" Amsoil ASL over M1 any day of the week.

Amsoil is much smoother.

GC may produce a similar effect.

Royal Purple API although "thin" happy is great too.

M1 seems to disappear quiet fast consumption wise and mechanical lifter noise is more pronounced on this otherwise silent engine.

Watch out for upper manifold coolant leak.

Get rid of dexcool and switch to G-o5

monitor changes through UOA

 

[Audi Junkie]

Corolla? (scratches head) Mobil 1 5w-30!

 

[quadrun1]

Thanks for the info, guys!

For the Camaro I was thinking GC (can take advantage of the $22.99 for 5 quarts plus filter deal at AutoZone) but the owner of the Corolla is against synthetics.

He told me, "dad flies airplanes, and synthetics are banned on airplanes because they cause leaks, and if oil leaks out of your airplane engine, you DIE"

 

[haley10]

quote:

---

Originally posted by outrun:
I disagree on dino use...more ideological than scientific though

The 3800 definately "likes" Amsoil ASL over M1 any day of the week.

Amsoil is much smoother.

GC may produce a similar effect.

Royal Purple API although "thin" happy is great too.

M1 seems to disappear quiet fast consumption wise and mechanical lifter noise is more pronounced on this otherwise silent engine.

Watch out for upper manifold coolant leak.

Get rid of dexcool and switch to G-o5

monitor changes through UOA

---

Outrun, I've not seen this with M1 10W-30 and my engine is quiet. Perhaps since you live in Texas, maybe this disappearing is because of trips in Summer heat??

I'm just wanting to know, not being critical. I just had a good uoa and no real consumption, but I have been in very moderate temps.

What was your experience and do you think GC would be better?

 

[buster]

Consumption is great with Mobil 1 and if you read the oil consumption thread, you'll find Mobil 1 is as good as any. I once thought M1 was consumed more but it doesn't. There is a recent UOA with the 3800 II engine on M1 10w-30 and its excellent. I'd use M1 in both engines.

 

[Drew99GT]

Just to let you all know, the 3800 CAN develop the same internal lower/upper intake manifold gasket leak that allows coolent into the oil, but the main leak comes from the EGR tube melting the plastic upper manifold and allowing a coolent leak that way. I guess GM knew the EGR tube would melt the plastic, so they tried cooling it with engine coolent. Whelp, didn't exactly work! My moms Olds 88 recently had ALL the intake manifold gaskets replaced (upper/lower) and a new plastic upper manifold, as every single possible leak had developed on that engine, even a small amount of coolent leaked into the oil.

 

[outrun]

My parents also have a 3800 and it is driven in northern climates.

Interesting point of the engineering consistency of both engines was oil consumption.

Religiously it was 1qt M1/3-4k and this was the 10 weight.

Amsoil ASL gretaly reduced this.

And "engine" noise? Perhaps i knew what i was listening for.

Both Amsoil ASL and RP negated that.

Agreed based on UOA, M1 is great...between our past and present vehicles it comes out to more than 150,000 of M1 usage

So in now way am I "biased: against it *lol*

And SYNTHETICS DO NOT CAUSE LEAKS.

Unfortunately your source is unaware of this and many other SYNTHETIC falsehoods.

He is grossly misinformed.

I prescribe for him a 2x-3x daily doses of BITOG.com until the symptoms clear up

Also Jet Aircraft use SYNTHETICS *lol*

Please switch to G-05 coolant again

 

[haley10]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Drew99GT:
Just to let you all know, the 3800 CAN develop the same internal lower/upper intake manifold gasket leak that allows coolent into the oil, but the main leak comes from the EGR tube melting the plastic upper manifold and allowing a coolent leak that way. I guess GM knew the EGR tube would melt the plastic, so they tried cooling it with engine coolent. Whelp, didn't exactly work! My moms Olds 88 recently had ALL the intake manifold gaskets replaced (upper/lower) and a new plastic upper manifold, as every single possible leak had developed on that engine, even a small amount of coolent leaked into the oil.

---

Yeah, the GM service mgr. was just telling me he had a couple of upper meltdowns like this, but it doesn't seem as common as the consistent 3.1 and 3.4 lower leak problems.