Best safe oil for mileage ?????

[JustinC25]

Hi I am new to this board, and I was wondering what oils would be good in my cars for the best mileage, but with minamal wear risk. I own a 1995 Toyota Camry with a 5S-FE 207,000 miles (Engine Rebuilt at 165,230), And a 2003 Ford Windstar with a 3.8 & 37k
I have run Castrol GTX 10W30 (Toyota filter) in the Camry since I rebuilt the engine with my dad 2 years ago. (he is a toyota master tech.) And I have run Motorcraft 5W20 semi-syn, & Motorcraft filter in the van since I bought it with 25k. I am religous about the 3k/3month OCI. (As I have seen some serious sludge monsters in working at a Toyota dealer. Mostly 1MZ-FE) What are the best choices, Conventional or synthetic. With gas at $3.00+/gal I need to save money anyway I can. I wanted to try Castrol 5W30 in the camry last week, but it was no where to be found. So I settled on Mobil Clean 7500 5W30. Is this good oil? It looked ok from previous posts.
Can I safely run a 0W20 in the van? What about GC?
Sorry for the long post, I am a noob with a lot of questions.

 

[bighead]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with your current choices. Both are getting a steady diet of excellent oil and quality filters. If you HAVE to stick to the 3K/3mo OCI (old habits die hard, we all understand

) then I see no reason to change your current choices. Except I'd go with a 5w30 in winter for the Camry, but otherwise, you have hit the nail on the head.

EDIT: Forgot about the Mobil 7500. Yes it's a good oil, but it's kinda pricey to be draining it every 3K. Since your Camry is LONG out of warranty, then you could easily run it out to 5K. But, again, if you have your heart set on 3K changes then just stick to a good 5w30 conventional such as the GTX (if you can find it) or Havoline, Pennzoil etc...

[ August 02, 2006, 12:43 AM: Message edited by: bighead ]

 

[JustinC25]

I guess I was wondering if I went to a different viscosity if I would get better mileage? The Camry gets 24 w/10W30 (I only have 20 miles on the 5W30),
And the Windstar gets 16 mpg. Is it safe to go to a 0W20 in the Windstar? Like M1 if I did switch to M1 in the van I would probably go to a 5k oci to
justify the cost. As for the Mobil 7500, Castrol was
$2.68/qt at Walmart but they were out. At Pep Boys it was $2.89/qt Mobil 7500 was $2.99/qt they too were out of GTX 5W30. I need to do something about that atrotious gas mileage in the van. Tire pressures are ok, A/F is clean, 30k already done.

thanks,
justin

 

[vronline]

I doubt it will make much difference in your mpg.

You can get Castrol at WalMart for less than $10 in the 5 qt jugs.

 

[milwaukee]

We have a 98 Windstar with the 3.8 engine. When I drive it it averages around 20 mpg. When my wife drives it gets about 16 mpg. We use Maxlife 5w30 in our van.

I am not even sure your 03 windstar is the same beast so this may be of no help to you.

If my cars called for 5w-20 I would use it. I would also use 5w30 over 10w30 in the Camry.

In 5w-20 I would use motorcraft and in 5w30 with less than 5K on an OCI I would buy whatever is on sale.

 

[LargeCarMan]

Justin, the Windstar only gets 16mpg? Wow, not good...my old V/8 Mopar can acheive that. I would go with changing out the oil and transmission/gearbox with a fully synthetic ATF.

Right before Winter, I would try a 5-20 fully synthetic in the engine with a midstream analysis.

10K OCI on the engine with an analysis of the oil @ 5K.

30K OCI of the trans.

Use RoyalPurple 5-20 and their ATF

OR

Redline 5-20 and their ATF.

A 0-20 will work also, but if you want to save money...it will take long OCI's and keeping the van for a long time.

 

[surfstar]

You won't be getting any meaningful savings by switching oil grades. If you really want to save some extra money for gas; try FREE Maxlife.

Also check out the Sales/Rebates Forum toward the bottom of the main page and stock up on oil when its near free after rebate, same with oil filters. That's the only way your oil choice will save more money for gas right now.

 

[Nebraskan]

Justin, I wouldn't put conventional oil in my Buicks or wifes Chevy Lumina if it were free.. or they paid me 2 bucks/quart to take it.

I run with Valvoline Synthetic 5-30 in my cars and since I found a nearby Amsoil dealer, I am going to go to that brand. I used them (Amsoil) in the past with excellent results.

In Pam's car I got 34.6 MPG on my trip to Nebraska. Running Valvoline 10-30 Full Synthetic oil. With synthetic we get about 3 MPG better mileage with the same conditions. I change in the fall to 5-30 and in the spring to 10-30. Lumina has 210,000 miles (same engine, not much power loss NO oil burn) and the Buick has abour 220,000 miles on it.

My 2 cents worth.... "Synthetic.. don't leave home without it"

 

[dave1251]

Nebraskan
Member
Member # 13137

posted 02 August, 2006 02:35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Justin, I wouldn't put conventional oil in my Buicks or wifes Chevy Lumina if it were free.. or they paid me 2 bucks/quart to take it.



Please say why not.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Please say why not.

I'm not Nebraskan... but here's my answer.

1)Benefits of using synthetic oils.
2)Re-read Nebraskan's last post ...ie.... increased mileage using Valvoline Synthetic.

 

[Clyde65]

In some rare cases, you can actually have an increase in fuel mileage by going up in viscosity; I found that out by switching to MaxLife 10W-40 in my Buick and GMC.