Oil questions

[optiger]

Sorry, completely lost and uninformed new member here.

I have 2002 toyota corolla. It has 180,000 miles on it. The oil has been changed routinely on it, every 3 thousand miles. It uses a little bit of oil, but not enough to complain about. My questions are, what typ/brand/weight oil would you recommend to get my OCI out to 5k or more? Should i go with HM oil or full synthetic, or a blend. I have no clue when it comes to oil.

 

[Rolla07]

Find out if leaking or burning firs.

2002 model year was the last known year of the oil burning issue.

Are you using synthetic or conventional oil now? If you are using conventional I would just go to a high mileage blend and if using synthetic I would go with a syn HM oil like M1 HM. Change out PCV too.

 

[Nickdfresh]

I'd use a high mileage 5W-30. They're all pretty good at this point. I've used Mobil 1 High Mileage with good results and it might do some cleaning in your application. But being a synthetic that's of course more money than you necessarily need to spend. I'd definitely stretch out to 5,000 miles and maybe go 7,500 miles on a synthetic provided you keep an eye on it to make sure it isn't cleaning up sludge, then I'd reduce the OCI at the beginning as stated on the Mobil 1 bottle --then go to longer OCI's...

 

[Zaedock]

I would simply use a conventional 5W30 and change at 5,000 miles.

There is no need for a synthetic if you're changing at such low miles.

 

[05LGTLtd]

Valvoine MaxLife seems to be a popular choice around here for a high mileage oil. I'd take it to 5000 miles. If you can locate the PCV valve, check to make sure it's working properly if you have not already done so recently.

High mileage oil like ML won't hurt anything, and 5w-30 sounds like a good recommendation, since that was the original spec if I recall correctly. It might help keep some gaskets and seals working a bit longer for you.

Good luck, and enjoy the forum!

 

[05LGTLtd]

Btw, what have you been running up till now in your corolla?

 

[Donald]

MaxLife would be something to try.

Don't forget the transmission if auto. It needs regular maint. if you want to keep it to 250K.

 

[datech]

3000 is for severe duty. Will that change?
What is the application?

 

[NMBurb02]

How do you use the car? Only short trips or do you get in some good highway runs now and then? What is the oil consumption rate (1 qt per 1,000 miles? 3,000?)? Does that consumption rate bother you?

If it is only a short tripper, I would go with at least a blend to get to 5k miles. If it gets a decent amount of highway use, I'd stick with a conventional for 5k. The OLM on my Burb signals a change is needed anywhere from 4,500 to 5,000 miles, it usually gets 10 miles of highway per use, and it is calibrated for conventional.

If you do not like the oil consumption rate, then I'd go with Valvoline MaxLife, which is a high mileage syn blend that should help with consumption and should get you to 5k changes.

 

[tig1]

My grandson has a 2002 Camry and uses M1 5-30 with 10K OCIs. The car has 160K and runs very good with no signs of wear or ring coking.

 

[A_Harman]

Mobil Super 5000 conventional.
What the heck, Mobil says to change it every 5000 miles.

 

[optiger]

i run 5-30 PYB as of right now. The oil consumption is a little odd. Sometimes its low and sometimes i can go a full 3k without adding anything.

 

[optiger]

My drive to work is about 15 miles, almost all highway, but can be stop and go if i am unlucky enough to drive during rush hour, but most of the time i omw to work before rush hour and headed home before it to. I do have to drive to customer sites daily and that is usually city driving, but never more than 15 miles one way. Right now i am using PYB every 3k miles. The oil consumption last time was rather high, but the 3 previous oil changes it used none. The car is an auto, I have had the car since 150k it now has 180k miles. I havent had the transmission serviced yet, but i know the previous owner (my mother-in-law) did.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

QSGB

 

[NMBurb02]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Mobil Super 5000 conventional.
What the heck, Mobil says to change it every 5000 miles.

With your driving style, I agree with this, although PYB could probably run the full 5k as well. Maybe get a UOA with TBN, which will run you about $40 with shipping, but will pay for itself in less than one year if it gives you the peace of mind to extend your OCI by 67% (3k to 5k) on the same oil, which I am guessing runs you less than $20 per change, including filter.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: optiger
My drive to work is about 15 miles, almost all highway, but can be stop and go if i am unlucky enough to drive during rush hour, but most of the time i omw to work before rush hour and headed home before it to. I do have to drive to customer sites daily and that is usually city driving, but never more than 15 miles one way. Right now i am using PYB every 3k miles. The oil consumption last time was rather high, but the 3 previous oil changes it used none. The car is an auto, I have had the car since 150k it now has 180k miles. I havent had the transmission serviced yet, but i know the previous owner (my mother-in-law) did.

You should use high-mileage oil, Valvoline Maxlife is one of the best HM syn-blend oil available at WM for about $16-17 5-qt jug.

 

[05LGTLtd]

I'd run the PYB out to 5K in your situation. Or switch up to the PennzHighMileage for a little more loose change if your comfortable with SOPUS offerings. PP or QSUD would probably run out to 7500miles if your looking to save wrench time.

I'd try to figure out where your oil loss is coming from before changing a whole lot of variables.

 

[Doog]

WARNING: TAKING ANY TOYOTA ENGINE PAST THE RECOMMENDED OCI CAN CAUSE SERIOUS SLUDGE ISSUES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

 

[billpace1956]

Originally Posted By: Doog
WARNING: TAKING ANY TOYOTA ENGINE PAST THE RECOMMENDED OCI CAN CAUSE SERIOUS SLUDGE ISSUES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Really?? How come I go 12,500 miles on Mobil1 ep instead of the 5,000 mile Toyota OCI? I had uoa done on the oil and it said I could go up to 14,000 miles. When the SA at the Toyota dealer said 5,000 miles no matter what oil was in the 2008 sienna I never went back to the dealer. I just changed the oil myself. I also use the mobil1 oil filter, but I'm going to change to the fram ultra oil filter on the next change.

 

[datech]

Doog is probably referring to the infamous sludge problems created by the small drain holes in the heads of certain era Toyota engines.

I would hope a low viscosity synthetic oil would help quite a bit as they shouldn't sludge up as much and thinner oils should drain back easier.