I've been reading/lurking on this forum for over a year now and have gotten some great advice. Since moving to England, I've had to up my maintenance game due to the price of oil and services over here. It costs close to $75 for an oil change. I own a 2000 Toyota Avensis 1.8L 7AFE lean burn engine with 133K miles on it. I bought it from a local rental company and there was no telling how much abuse this thing had before me. Over the past year I've had to replace the battery, water pump, timing belt, air filter box plus filter, spark plugs, spark plug wires, moon roof controls, and flushed the radiator/transmission. I did my due diligence and researched the only high milage and synthetic oils offered by the base exchange. I decided to clean out the engine with M1 10w30 and Castrol 5w30/10w30 HM. I shortened the OCI to 1,500 miles and started to alternate between the two oils to clean and swell the old gaskets. Now that I've been doing this for a year, should I change the OCI to 3K or 5K miles or keep them where they are? Also, if my engine is running smooth with the Castrol HM should I even bother with the M1? M1 is $2 more the the Castrol and it adds up to $8 more per oil change...not that I'm counting.
New OCI for a 15yr old car. (Little long)
- Thread starter Toyoguy
- Start date
- Status
I would probably go to Mobil 1. Neither are bad oils just .. I don't like Castrol oil.
Nothing against them just never liked them.
If I'm not mistaken castrol is made by B.P. and I think they also make Mobil 1 could be wrong.. Probably am.
5k OCI is perfectly fine. Iv done all my vehicles at 5-7.5k my whole life and have a Volvo with 289k and a Silverado with 340k.
Any oil will ultimately do, I have yet to see a single engine fail for going 5100 miles over even 8k.
Junk just starts adding up.
On a side note $75 that's insane!
Nothing against them just never liked them.
If I'm not mistaken castrol is made by B.P. and I think they also make Mobil 1 could be wrong.. Probably am.
5k OCI is perfectly fine. Iv done all my vehicles at 5-7.5k my whole life and have a Volvo with 289k and a Silverado with 340k.
Any oil will ultimately do, I have yet to see a single engine fail for going 5100 miles over even 8k.
Junk just starts adding up.
On a side note $75 that's insane!
Nick1994
$100 site donor 2024
I wouldn't do a mile under 5,000 miles. Go closer to 7,500.
Bud_One
Site Donor 2022
If you choose - M1 - 7.5k miles
If you choose - Castrol HM - 5k miles
If you choose - Castrol HM - 5k miles
$75?! Is that at a shop or DIY? And is that for synthetic or Dino?
Originally Posted By: 3800Series
I would probably go to Mobil 1. Neither are bad oils just .. I don't like Castrol oil.
Nothing against them just never liked them.
If I'm not mistaken castrol is made by B.P. and I think they also make Mobil 1 could be wrong.. Probably am.
5k OCI is perfectly fine. Iv done all my vehicles at 5-7.5k my whole life and have a Volvo with 289k and a Silverado with 340k.
Any oil will ultimately do, I have yet to see a single engine fail for going 5100 miles over even 8k.
Junk just starts adding up.
On a side note $75 that's insane!
I'm sure that helped PLENTY!
I would probably go to Mobil 1. Neither are bad oils just .. I don't like Castrol oil.
Nothing against them just never liked them.
If I'm not mistaken castrol is made by B.P. and I think they also make Mobil 1 could be wrong.. Probably am.
5k OCI is perfectly fine. Iv done all my vehicles at 5-7.5k my whole life and have a Volvo with 289k and a Silverado with 340k.
Any oil will ultimately do, I have yet to see a single engine fail for going 5100 miles over even 8k.
Junk just starts adding up.
On a side note $75 that's insane!
I'm sure that helped PLENTY!
$75 is for parts and labor at the shop. (Synthetic or Dino, it doesn't matter. Or they say you can bring your own in...but thats another topic on trust entirely.) The auto hobby shop takes the price from town and matches is. It's 75 pounds to get an oil change here, so they figure with the exchange rate (1.6 to convert to dollars, comes out to $120) you're getting a good deal. I can find a fram filter for $3-4 and Castrol 10w30 hm is $4.99 a qt. I don't get where the good deal comes into play but at least I've learned how to do an oil change/tune up on my cars. And, with about a thousand of my kind of car driving around and a few in the junk yard near by, I've learned not to freak out if I brake something. Now my American spec Camry is a different story all together. I'd be lost if it wasn't for this site and Amazon. The only 0w20 the auto hobby shop sells is RP at $8.90 a qt...no thanks!
OP, if you've been lurking here a year, you hopefully picked up a few things:
1) You can use any oil that meets the manufacturer recommended grade and approval. If they don't say you have to use synthetic, then you don't. So if you are looking to save money, here is one avenue.
2) How far you can go on oil depends on your driving style. You haven't mentioned this nor has anybody else asked. Compare your driving style to any instructions the manufacturer gives for recommended intervals.
3) You can be more certain about extending your oil change if you get a used oil analysis. If you change brands of oil it may be a less accurate indicator, and it may be less accurate if you do the analysis on the first use of an oil.
I would suspect that almost any modern oil is more than capable of meeting the requirements of a 2000 Toyota. An up to date brand name conventional oil that meets your grade and approval requirements should go the manufacturer interval with ease. The best synthetic that exceeds the approval levels and meets the toughest new approvals could most likely go double the oci.
1) You can use any oil that meets the manufacturer recommended grade and approval. If they don't say you have to use synthetic, then you don't. So if you are looking to save money, here is one avenue.
2) How far you can go on oil depends on your driving style. You haven't mentioned this nor has anybody else asked. Compare your driving style to any instructions the manufacturer gives for recommended intervals.
3) You can be more certain about extending your oil change if you get a used oil analysis. If you change brands of oil it may be a less accurate indicator, and it may be less accurate if you do the analysis on the first use of an oil.
I would suspect that almost any modern oil is more than capable of meeting the requirements of a 2000 Toyota. An up to date brand name conventional oil that meets your grade and approval requirements should go the manufacturer interval with ease. The best synthetic that exceeds the approval levels and meets the toughest new approvals could most likely go double the oci.
- Status
Similar threads
