My Quest for Good Cheap Oil

[Carlostrece]

Ya don’t say. No oil will forever stop external leaks FYI.

But some oils leak less.

 

[53' Stude]

I

But some oils leak less.

nsee. I’d stick with Maxlife blend then.

 

[tired]

Costs?

If you run a Toyota and want to use 5w30, Toyota Genuine Motor Oil purchased online from local Toyota dealer for in store pickup is ~$24 for a 6 quart case (Southeast usa region). And you can stock up on it for less than $20/case during a 25% off sale which this dealer group region runs multiple times per year. So a little over $3 per quart. I don't think I've found a consistently better deal / bang for buck.

That's conventional oil. If you want to run that, I guess that is up to you. But I am going for an apples to apples comparison.

 

[Carlostrece]

I would venture a guess that a large majority on here already have a membership

I don't. There nearest Costco is a 1 hour drive away. Walmart (10 blocks away) is my Costco. I think there's fewer Costco in small towns and more Walmarts.

 

[trd1zz]

That's conventional oil. If you want to run that, I guess that is up to you. But I am going for an apples to apples comparison.

I run it with zero hesitation in both of my Toyota motors that are ~20 years old. Both have seen various conventional's throughout their entire service life. No issues.

 

[tired]

I run it with zero hesitation in both of my Toyota motors that are ~20 years old. Both have seen various conventional's throughout their entire service life. No issues.

If you haven't had issues, I can see why you're still running it. Personally I'm convinced of the benefits of synthetic oil. In my experience, you don't have a problem...until you do. Then you can't go back in time and run something else. My PO ran conventional for >200k miles, so I'm dealing with a ton of varnish cleanup.

 

[trd1zz]

If you haven't had issues, I can see why you're still running it. Personally I'm convinced of the benefits of synthetic oil. In my experience, you don't have a problem...until you do. Then you can't go back in time and run something else. My PO ran conventional for >200k miles, so I'm dealing with a ton of varnish cleanup.

I'm convinced as well, particularly with VRP. I'll eventually try it out. I had the valve cover off my 1ZZ last year - didn't see anything at all concerning, so at least the top end is clean.

What oil change interval did the PO of your vehicle run?

Over a 10-20+ year period, and who knows how many owners, being consistent with changing oil every 6 months or every 5k miles (whichever comes first) can be a challenge.

 

[tired]

I'm convinced as well, particularly with VRP. I'll eventually try it out. I had the valve cover off my 1ZZ last year - didn't see anything at all concerning, so at least the top end is clean.

What oil change interval did the PO of your vehicle run?

Over a 10-20+ year period, and who knows how many owners, being consistent with changing oil every 6 months or every 5k miles (whichever comes first) can be a challenge.

Unfortunately my PO didn't give me any records. The engine is varnished as I can see through the fill hole. I will know more whenever my valve cover gasket leak gets bad enough that I have to replace that. I'll get some good pics. I want to do a few rounds of VRP first though so I can see what it looks like after some cleanup.

I called the quick lube place that he used (from the sticker on the windshield), and they were kind enough to let me know he'd done annual oil changes with dino as far back as they could see. It's only averaged 10k a year over its life, but I don't really know how those were distributed other than a single data point from a recall done 8 years ago. Since then it was averaged 4k a year. Other than that, I don't have much to go on. Not a ton in Carfax.