Educate me: Oil for 95 4Runner

[Hayduke]

I'm the guy that keeps his cars until the wheels fall off. When Syntec came out, I swapped it into my 89 Corolla instead of the GTX I had used faithfully before. That was at about 95,000 miles. Then Sam's started carrying Mobil 1 at about 240,000 miles so I switched to 15W50. Similar story on the 4Runner only it has 175,000. Based upon your knowledge what would you recommend....and why? I'm a Chem Teacher in El Paso, TX, with no experience in petroleum, so I'd like to hear your justifications. Thanks!

 

[dragboat]

Looks like no one wanted to touch this one with a ten foot pole. It sat here all day. Welcome to the forum and how are these engines doing with this oil? Consumpton OK ? Gas milaege OK compared to the dino? Same with wear rates through analysis? Have you thought about stepping down to the 0/40 to see if consumption was within what you would like to see and fuel milaege goes up or possibly the 10/30 ? Something just crossed my mind to ask,when you swithed did the motors stay sealed well? Any leaks I meant?

 

[MolaKule]

Geez Dragboat, at let me at least get back from class.! Hayduke, I like new technology fluids such as Full synthetics and blends. That would be Schaeffer's, Mobil 1, Amsoil, Redline, NEO, and Royal Purple. I haven't personally tested all of these fluids, but if time and money allow it, I will eventually do so. I currently use Schaeffer's blends and MObil 1 10W30 SuperSyn and have used Amsoil full synthetic in the past. Why? I believe, from researching various technical papers and other sources, that the above fluids, due to their thermal stability, reduced coefficient of friction, and inherent cleanliness, reduce wear, pollution, and fuel consumption. I work with all types of high-energy propulsion systems and I have experience with current and advanced technology lubricants. I also Minored in Physical Chemistry, so Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Combustion Theory, machines and lubrication chemistry is my main interest (sometimes grouped into what is called, "tribology"). I am glad to see more teachers taking a personal interest in lubrication and tribology sciences. Welcome to the Board.

 

[Hayduke]

Thanks for the welcome guys... Oil consumption in Corolla is minimal and nil in the 4Runner. Gas mileage in C is not an issue, 4R used to get 1-2 mpg better on the highway, although it still gets slightly better than 18.0. With syn, my oil changes are every 5K and about once a year I do a engine cleaning by swapping in a HMO dino and running it a week to a month, then changing back to the syn. I also tend to use a higher viscosity during the summer but never use 30W, which I notice seems to be recommended on this board. Am I satisfied?...yes, but I would like better gas mileage...back to the 19-20 I used to get. I also swapped in 75-90W Syntec gear oil into all the gears, but now wonder about the integrity of Syntec's product. I always wondered where I could find some better info on oil selection. Looks like I got luckey. Thanks!

 

[MolaKule]

I have two vehicles, one Burb has 283,000 miles on it, the other has 258,000, and like you, I seem to keep them for eternity. Recommendation: Go down in viscosity to the M1 10W30 and see if oil consumption goes up, statistically speaking. If it doesn't I would stick with the 10W30. If it does go up, you might try the Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 15W40 blend with a higher percentage of moly.

 

[Toy4x4]

Hayduke, Nice to see another Toyota owner. I have a '93 4x4 Xcab V6. I've been told by the board members to stick with 10w-30. As far as the gear oils, I'll be switching to Redline here in about a month. MT-90 in tranny(manual), 75w-90 in transfer, and Shockproof Heavyweight in the diffs. The SH says its a 75w-250 but it has the fluid friction of a 75w-90 so its ok to use. I got this info from this site I frequent: http://www.t4x4pickup.com/dgroup/index.html A Redline user called 4crawler posts there and lists a site to see what he's done to his 4Runner and everything he uses in it. A lot of other members here have posted great results w/ Redline, too, in their gears. Hope this helps.

 

[widman]

Hayduke.... if you are looking for better mileage, in addition to possibly an improvement from lower visc., try a bottle of Techron in the gas. It raised my mileage from 6km/lt to 10.5km/lt in my 89 corolla. The Diesel additive I put in my 95 4Runner and 99 4Runner turbo)and 97 Toyota pickup give me a 10 to 15% boost. Haven't put anything in my 2002 toyota pickup as it only has 1800 km, but at 5000 it will get Techron.

 

[Hayduke]

Thanks for the assistance guys! I'll try the lower vis Mobile 1. I've never seen the Schaffer's that has been referred to in previous posts. As for the Techron, tried that, didn't help. Thanks!

 

[Al]

quote:

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Originally posted by MolaKule: I have two vehicles, one Burb has 283,000 miles on it, the other has 258,000, and like you, I seem to keep them for eternity. Recommendation: Go down in viscosity to the M1 10W30 and see if oil consumption goes up, statistically speaking. If it doesn't I would stick with the 10W30. If it does go up, you might try the Schaeffer's Supreme 7000 15W40 blend with a higher percentage of moly.

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Welcome to the boards hayduke. I agree with molakule. I might suggest that depending on the 10W-30 results you could add a quart of the 15W-50 Mobil 1. You could use it as makeup-I think this would be your best choice. I would also suggest not running your flush oil for the whole month. I would only use it a day or so. As Molakule suggested-give the Shaeffers a try or possibly the Mobil 1 0W-30 or the Delvac 1 (5W-40). Hey administrators-thanks for letting us edit our messages. [ November 04, 2002, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: Al ]