Oil advice- 99' Camry 4cyl

[LarryR]

Hey folks, I would like your opinions on oil and oci's for my 99' Camry. It is a 4cyl with 143k on the clock. It has had a 3k oci on Castrol GTX 5/10W-30 with OE filters, and in more recent years P1 PL14476--all since day one. Recently I switched over to GTX High mileage which has cured my cold startup oil burn off issue(valve stem guides i'm sure).

The car is driven a mix of highway and around town, for a camry I would say I drive it fairly hard. I would like to keep it until 200k at least.

I have never done an engine flush, and this is a motor/year known for sludging. I haven't pulled the valve cover to check, I should check on that soon.

That said, would you recommend sticking with the 5W-30 High Mileage or should I switch off to something else?

On a related note, is there another P1 filter that I can switch to that would offer better filtration and higher capacity?

Thanks!

edit- It wont'be an issue now(ooo warm weather!!) but when it is cold out(~32 and under) my first startup greets me with an odd sound. It generally comes near the end of my cranking. It is hard to describe, the best thing I can relate it to is a wood chair being scooted across the floor with some friction. It lasts for 1/4 second and then its gone and won't be heard from again until the motor is back to ambient. The colder it is the louder/more prominent it is. Ideas?

 

[dishdude]

Stick with the GTX HM and P1, sounds like you have a winning combo there.

 

[Ike_Clanton]

I had a '95 Camry 2.2 automatic go 248k on Super Tech filters and whatever oil was on sale, including 5w-30 Super Tech, with an interval of 3k or whenever I felt like it. There for a while I was running VW's TDI-specific synthetic Castrol 5w-40, for maybe 35k miles as I rounded 200k miles on the car. This was just because I had plenty.

Since you mentioned the valve cover maybe being pulled, I'll mention I had mine off at maybe 180k to do the gasket. It looked fine. I don't believe your 2.x is a sludger; that was primarily the 3.0 V6s.

They really aren't that picky. Mine died because some drunk rear-ended the car.

 

[5sfe91]

we basically have the same engine,

if the 5w-30 HM is helping with the oil burning i would stick with it. and 5000 mile OCI just check the oil level

The purolator 14476 has worked perfectly fine on my Celica for years there might be a taller filter but since the filter is right by the exhaust manifold i think its best to stick with whats recommended

 

[Oregoonian]

Stick with PureOne filter...its a good choice.

Suggest switching to Valvoline MaxLife 5w30 Syn or Blend. Its a good HM oil to clean out sludge... I would do an OCI at 2500 (to remove the sludge), and then again at 5000 (to remove som more sludge).

If you go with the blend...do continued OCIs at 5000...if you go with the Syn, 7000 +/- would be a reasonable OCI.
_______________________________________________
2003 Ford Focus SE (2.3L) / 83K
Valvoline MaxLife SYN 5w30 / OCI 7,000 +/-
Purolator PureOne PA 10241

 

[LarryR]

Here is a bit of info on the sludge issue. Its fairly rare, and w/ my OCI being pretty OCD since its first change I doubt i'm at any real risk for it.

http://www.yotarepair.com/Sludge_Zone.html

I do need to pull my cover though, gasket is leaking in the back a bit.

 

[Oregoonian]

Originally Posted By: LarryR
Here is a bit of info on the sludge issue. Its fairly rare, and w/ my OCI being pretty OCD since its first change I doubt i'm at any real risk for it.

http://www.yotarepair.com/Sludge_Zone.html

I do need to pull my cover though, gasket is leaking in the back a bit.

If you used conventional (dino) oils all this time, I would guess you have a fair amount of sludge. I know my vehicle did.

Synthetics do an excellent job of removing sludge and then keeping the engin clean. After doing your first synthetic oil change, and checking your oil level after a 1000 miles or so, the oil will come up black. The SYN is doing its job of cleaning out the sludge.

 

[Ike_Clanton]

They tend to leak more out the distributor shaft seal than they do the VC gasket, but I found my tower nuts to be finger tight when I went to do mine.

I hope you've been keeping your transmission serviced...there seem to be lots that fail abruptly ast 220k is. I ran M1 ATF in mine and it was fine. Don't forget the differential has a separate reservior.

 

[LarryR]

So far you seem to think i'll be ok seal wise switching to a syn or syn blend on this thing?

Anybody recommend doing a flush with B-12, MMO, or seafoam to take care of the potential gunk?

Ike- My car is electronic coil pack based so no dist. to leak from.

Actually on the trans I ran into a bit of a "repair mistakes and blunders" situation as RockAuto's newsletter would term it. I got bad info about the trans vs diff fill and my diff ended up running basically dry ::. Family friend mechanic, lower mileage junkyard trans, and a mere $500(total w/ parts and labor) later I learned you can't be too careful on your repair info. I do need to change my atf soon though- that just happened recently and since I don't really know the history of the trans I ought to be done.

 

[JimPghPA]

I have Castrol GTX 10W-30 HM in our 1985 Olds 88 2 DR with 161K miles on it. I was recently looking at the Castrol web page and noticed that the pour temperature for the GTX 10W-40 HM is the same as that of the GTX 10W-30 HM. I think with 161K miles, the engine in that car is loose enough on all of the clearances to benifit from GTX 10W-40 HM, and am planning on using GTX 10W-40 HM starting with the next OC.

I know in general 4 bangers have tighter tolerances than the old low compression GM V8's but since the pour temp. is the same for both oils, if you think your HM engine could benefit from a 40 wt. for the upper number I would not be concerned about cold cranking ability of the GTX 10W-40 HM if I were you.

PS: ? How well have you maintained the cooling system? That is something I would be concerned about with any older vehicle.

 

[Ike_Clanton]

Well, as for switching to syn at that mileage, mine had had dino up to the upper 100's, and so I wondered what would happen when I started running the VW synthetic. You hear lots of scare stories about worlds colliding and lord knows what else, but mine was fine. I switched back to dino after my syn supply ended with my technician career. My front main seal went out a long time after I used that oil, and I nursed it along for a while, but it got so bad I had to pull the timing belt off and replace it. Its about as easy as you can expect for a car, but I was just annoyed I had to do it. 2 weeks later, the car was totaled.

I think you should wait to do anything about a flush till you have the VC off.

 

[Ike_Clanton]

Yeah, the radiators are weak.

I pre-emptively replaced a perfectly fine original water pump with a new aftermarket one during one of my timing belt changes, and the new one failed in 25k. Shoulda just left the stock one in there till it puked.

 

[sangyup81]

I have that engine as well. The sludge issue happens more with the V6 and usually happens when the oil gets hot. Previous Camrys with that engine used oil coolers but the ones we have do not.

 

[LarryR]

I had a leaky top on my rad, replaced it with one from rock auto for 100 bucks. other than that, haven't had any cooling issues. It has always warmed up and stayed right in the middle of the gauge with 0 fluctuation.

I might bite the bullet and try the maxlife blend or M1 HM next time around.

 

[sangyup81]

Both are excellent oils! I think M1 HM can resist heating better though.

BTW, that gauge is for radiator fluid, not oil. The reason why the fluid doesn't go get any hotter is because it's being air cooled. However, the radiator fluid can't transfer away all the heat so the rest goes to the oil. If there is too much heat on the oil, the oil can potentially break down over time.

 

[chet2]

my bil changes his oil religiously every 25 k or so on his 99 camry with cheapest oil he can find...the 3 times i have checked DS there was no oil on it so we added a good 2.5 qts, if it hadnt been for me i think engine wouldve seized...anyways it is a oil burner now but still running for some reason at 280k

 

[M1Accord]

If you worry about cold start, switch to 5W20 in winter or just keep 5W20 synthetic and change it once year in the summer. If you don't change your own oil, then you can go with dino juice and change it twice a year.

Call me crazy but I use 5W20 in my 1992 Corolla. There is no such thing as oil too thin for small passenger car driving. I wouldn't do it with truck or SUV of older make.

 

[Geonerd]

The noise is a chattery sort of sound? Maybe alternator bearings? The last one I replaced behaved similarly, making noise for a second or so on cold start up. Might also be PS pump, AC clutch, or other 'spinny' thing...

Before deciding on an oil, I'd suggest you pull that valve cover and see how things are going. Running 3K OCI, I don't expect you'll find much. Post pics, particularly if there is even a hint of sludge!

Barring an appearance by the sludge monster, you could almost certainly extend the oil change intervals to 5K or more. Running a P1 on short OC intervals, you could change the filter every other OC without worry.

There was a thread around here a while back suggesting that MMO actually interfered with the ZDDP anti-wear action. FWIW, I'm not a fan of snake oil, and would suggest something like M1 or Valv HM Syn if you discover goo under the cover.

 

[Durango]

Larry,

I'd consult your owners manual and look at the table in the back. It should give you a range of oil weights to use depending on your weather/region conditions as it had in mine on my 89' Camry. If you want to use 5W-30 then it should be fine as I used it for my California weather.

Durango