Need Guidance re (hopefully) Non-Synthetic Motor Oil for a '99 Camry L4 (5SFE) Sludge-Prone Engine

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

Per title, '99 Camry 5SFE which for inexcusable reasons I've neglected. 150,000 miles on her; short-duration/miles in-city usage. I'm setting myself up for some major hurt, here, and I wanna pull back from the precipice. I want to ease-off the sludge by slowly dissolving it.

Car has a 5MT, it's been run on cheap Castrol conventional 5W-30 or 10W-30 forever, and I don't want to have any of the old oil seals which contain "crud" (to aid in sealing) have a synthetic with its new oil chemistry flushing-out the crud, causing a seal leak (especially my rear main seal).

Further, I'm really worried that the engine is sludged... and running it any more on its oil (it's been 17 mos. and 3,000 miles) will cause a disaster.

I will do an oil and filter change presently... and I bought 3 oils, per the three photos...

Which to use?

Castrol says SN Plus/ SP... and no mention of semi-synthetic... and claims wonders for sludge... $42 Cdn

Pennzoil is SP, and mentions synthetic blend...$40 Cdn

Cdn Tire oil is SP... and no mention of synthetic blend. $26 Cdn

Care to opine which to use? Are they all, in fact, synthetic blends?

Thx to All who respond!

 

[dnewton3]

How much sludge are we talking about? Do you have any photos under the valve cover? Is there excessive engine oil consumption or blowby? What was your general maintenance OCIs up to this point? It sounds to me like you're guessing; I'm hearing a lot of fear in your post. Where's the proof? I'm not saying you're wrong, but it would be helpful to know how much, or little, sludge is present. That affects the action plan(s) here.

Further, you already "bought" the oils you query about? All three of them? And now you're asking which one to use? What are you going to do here; take a poll and then return the other two???

So it's your idea that using "cheap Castrol conventional" for years got you into this position; just how is it that you think more of the same ("Non-synthetic Motor Oil") will get you out of that problem??? If you seriously believe that your engine is heavily sludged, then none of those three are going to make much if any difference. At least not by themselves.

You can look into using a good engine cleaner like HPLs EC, or ARX, and do several repeated short (3k mile) OCIs to slowly dissolve any sludge; follow the product instructions. Further, I don't agree with your aversion to a synthetic here; you're fixating on some false assumptions. You can also look into HPL's lubes with the ester/AN mix, or another brand such as an Amsoil product with a strong cleaning add pack.

 

[eljefino]

You're probably due for a valve cover gasket, why not do that and evaluate what you see under there when it's apart? The spark plug tubes can also fail and fill with oil; the fix is to spin the affected ones out, clean real good, and reassemble with black RTV as sealant.

As for the cause, the car may need a "lifestyle change" with more time at operating temp on the highway.

 

[burbguy82]

One of the best truck I ever had was a 1987 GMC Sierra, 5.0 TBI. Bought it from a guy I knew, who had taken very good care of it. All he ran was Castrol 10w30......years later, I had the deaded intake gasket leak. In doing that, I figured do the valve cover gaskets also. The thing was spotless, I mean spotless.

Castrol is good oil........I would not assume that the engine is sludged, just because......you need to look.

 

[TiGeo]

It's a '99 Camry. Pick one. A syn oil isn't going to hurt it either.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Back when I had my 5S-FE over a decade ago, I ran M1 0W-40. When the time came to do valve cover gaskets, the cylinder head was absolutely spotless. Personally, I'd change the PCV valve, skip the conventional and use either M1 FS 0W-40 or Amsoil SS 0W-40, which appears to have a good bit of ester in it, and run 8,000-10,000 km/1 year drain intervals.

 

[MParr]

Replace the valve cover gaskets and PCV valve. Of those that you listed, the Castrol would be my pick. Valvoline Daily Protection is another good choice. There is no need to overthink things. Your Toyota has already carried you for a long way.

 

[Rinspeed]

It's a '99 Camry. Pick one. A syn oil isn't going to hurt it either.

 

[Patman]

You paid way too much for those oils. If you wait for the sales, Canadian Tire has many full synthetic oils for under $40 CDN, and the everyday pricing on Costco's Kirkland brand synthetic is $50 for two 5 qt jugs, and a few times a year that goes on sale for $40 for two jugs. Given the sludge prone nature of this engine I wouldn't even consider running anything but a full synthetic, but that's just me.

So if you can return these oils for a refund still, I would.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Per title, '99 Camry 5SFE which for inexcusable reasons I've neglected. 150,000 miles on her; short-duration/miles in-city usage. I'm setting myself up for some major hurt, here, and I wanna pull back from the precipice. I want to ease-off the sludge by slowly dissolving it.

Car has a 5MT, it's been run on cheap Castrol conventional 5W-30 or 10W-30 forever, and I don't want to have any of the old oil seals which contain "crud" (to aid in sealing) have a synthetic with its new oil chemistry flushing-out the crud, causing a seal leak (especially my rear main seal).

Further, I'm really worried that the engine is sludged... and running it any more on its oil (it's been 17 mos. and 3,000 miles) will cause a disaster.

I will do an oil and filter change presently... and I bought 3 oils, per the three photos...

Which to use?

Castrol says SN Plus/ SP... and no mention of semi-synthetic... and claims wonders for sludge... $42 Cdn

Pennzoil is SP, and mentions synthetic blend...$40 Cdn

Cdn Tire oil is SP... and no mention of synthetic blend. $26 Cdn

Care to opine which to use? Are they all, in fact, synthetic blends?

Thx to All who respond!

My two cents.

No 1: Take a peek inside your oil fill hole to see if this is even an issue. You didn't say you were burning oil. You're wasting time and energy worrying about an unknown. That's not the way to live ones life.

No 2: Unlikely that any those oils will remove sludge but they're fine to use.

No 3: Continue to do what you're already doing.

No 4: Consider a high-mileage oil. These oils allegedly contain extra seal conditioners and those conditioners may slowly clean up the engine.

No 5: Use a can of LiquiMoly Engine Flush between oil changes. It'll emulsify soft sludge and not touch harder varnish.

Personally on a 25 yr old car (lets be real,..it is 25 yrs old) I would change to a high mileage (HM) oil and run a can of LiquiMoly Engine Flush before you drop the old oil. (Follow directions).

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

Thank you All for your well-considered answers. Agreed, I paid too much. I want to do an oil change soonest. I have three cars to do oil changes on, so I'm only trying to decide on which one to use for my Camry.

Re the aversion to synthetics... I thought that their chemistries tend to wash-out "crud", which as I understand it aids the performance of oil seals. So if you introduce an old engine to a synthetic, well, the old, worn, hardened oil seals that partways rely on the crud to work - tend to leak. ?? Also, I have a 1985 Moto Guzzi, that when brand new in the box (but 8 years old) - when introduced to M1 at the time (1993) - leaked like a sieve, and stopped leaking when conventional Castrol 10W-40 was used. Original factory fill was Agip Sint 2000 if memory serves (semi synthetic).

Re the peak at the valve gear... Removal of the oil fill cap gives very limited viewing capability. I need to lift the valve cover.
I'm starting to think a HM oil will have merit.

Again, thx to All!

 

[Cdn17Sport6MT]

Oh, and I bought the car with 183,000 km on it, oh, 15 years ago. Now has 240,000 km. I usually do yearly OC's. Usually just use Castrol oil, plain garden variety, 5W-30 or 10W-30. Does use some oil, but i attributed that to worn valve stem seals. 'Gotta do a leakdown test... plus a compr test.

 

[GSCJR]

You're overthinking this @Cdn17Sport6MT. Change the oil with the cheapest of the 3 and do it again in 5k Kms.; repeat.