Oil Choice for ’95 Celica 2.2 with 95k miles

[kang]

Hi Everybody,

I’m a long time lurker on BITOG. Nice site you’ve got here! I thought I’d introduce myself with a “what’s the best oil for my (wife’s) car” question.

Here’s the history. For the first 30,000 or so miles, her car was dealer maintained. Disclaimer: this was before she met me! From then on, I’ve been doing oil changes every 3,750 miles with Valvoline Durablend.

I’ve had no problems with Valvoline, but I’m thinking of switching to a high mileage oil, you know, one of those oils that claims to condition seals. I think they also have more detergents in them. Also, Valvoline seems frowned upon by this board.

I was thinking about Mobil Drive Clean High Mileage synthetic blend. I like blends, as I think the little bit of synthetic in them helps, and with 3,750 OCI’s, a full synthetic is a waste. A long, long time ago, on a different car, I switched from conventional to a blend and got a significant mileage increase. I’ve been sold on blends ever since. I like 3,750 OCI’s just to get whatever crud that has accumulated out of there.

But they changed the Mobil oil line-up. The high mileage oil is no longer a blend. The new line-up is shown here: http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Oils/Oils.aspx

So now I’m thinking a 50/50 mix of Mobil 1 10W-30 and Mobil High Mileage 10W-30. They are both GF-4 oils. Toyota recommends 10W-30. That fits our climate and driving style, so I see no reason to change weights.

Thoughts? I suspect many of you might recommend staying with conventional, rather than the mix. I might be able to be talked into this. But I doubt I can be talked out of 3,750 OCI’s. Like I said, I like to get any accumulated junk out of there.

If the filter matters, I typically use the OEM filters. I get those dealer flyers in the mail, you know the ones, where they sell the 15,000 mile checkup for only $99.99 and all they do is change the oil and check about 30 things. They typically have coupons for OEM filters for $3.99. Can’t beat that!

Thanks for your time.

 

[JHZR2]

Id just go with M1 10w-30, and up your OCI to ~5000 miles or more. Itll work fine.

$3.99 OE filters are a good deal, otherwise go to an online parts house and get the denso filter. They are a nice design.

JMH

 

[kang]

Thanks JMH,

Straight M1 is a good option, but it doesn’t have those alleged “seal conditioners.” I’m thinking with 95,000 miles, they can’t hurt….

 

[JHZR2]

Thing is, you dont mention any leaks. I would be greatly opposed to 'conditioning' which is really just swelling up the seals without need.

If they are leaking, conditioning/swelling them might buy a little more time, but its just covering up an underlying issue. If there is no leaking, I dont think swelling them does anything good.

I have an 83 Mercedes that did not leak any oil except for a turbo oil drain. Never had any conditioners, just good seals. My father's 94 toyota Previa doesnt leak at all and does great on M1 10w-30.

If you dont have a leak, I wouldnt stress the seals. But if youre sold on using an HM, the mix would surely be good. As I understand it, GF-4 mobil 'dino' oils use stocks that other companies call 'synthetic'.

You could add some seal conditioning additive to straight M1 also, they sell the stuff in a bottle.

Just some options

JMH

 

[haley10]

I'd stay with what you are doing now. Durablend is a good synthetic blend and is already giving any seal conditioning required.

Mixing M1 with the HM wouldn't gain you anything imho @ 3,750.

No need to succumb to the marketing hype.

We don't really have enough data to evaluate Durablend in GF-4 form. Don't take all the negative comments literally.

If you have consumption issues then maybe you want a HM oil.

[ February 01, 2005, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: haley10 ]

 

[haley10]

quote:

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Originally posted by kang:
Thanks JMH,

Straight M1 is a good option, but it doesn’t have those alleged “seal conditioners.” I’m thinking with 95,000 miles, they can’t hurt….

---

All good synthetics have superior additive packages. Mobil 1 is not lacking in anything with the seals over a HM lower cost oil.

 

[Jelly]

quote:

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Originally posted by haley10:
Mobil 1 is not lacking in anything with the seals over a HM lower cost oil.

---

Really? The valve stem seals in my 4.3L would beg to differ...

 

[kang]

Thanks for the advice. Nope, no leaks and no consumption. I was thinking a seal conditioner might be good on a high mileage car, but I didn’t think about swelling seals that are otherwise normal.

Perhaps I’ll switch from Durablend to the new “Mobil Clean 7500.” It’s Mobil’s new blend. From www.valvoline.com, Durablend is still GF-3, while the new Mobil Clean 7500 is a GF-4. The old Mobil Drive Clean was cheaper than Durablend. We’ll see about Mobil Clean 7500. Maybe I can get a GF-4 blend for cheaper than a GF-3 blend!