Greetings everyone,
I've decided to stop wasting money of quick lube places and start doing my own oil changes. I do need some advise on the best oil and filters for my cars as I cannot seem to get a consensus from any of the other web sites.
Car #1: 2004 Toyota Camry, 2AZ-FE 2.4L I4. ~210,000 km /130,500 mi. My daily driver, approx 15 km / 9 miles round trip to work. I got the car last August from a guy who babied it because he was putting 5,000-6,000 kms/month on it. Oil changed every month with either high mileage or synthetic blend (he went to Jiffy Lube I think). I've only done two changes (on 6 month interval) I went to the local Dealership and they used conventional 5W-30 Toyota oil and Filter.
Based on current driving (which is close to 600-800 km/month) I will have to use either a 3month or 6 month changeout. Before the last change, the oil level was stable and it looked good with no significant darkening or change in consistency. I put a can of SeaFoam thru the brake booster (1/3rd) / crank case(1/3rd) / tank of gas (1/3rd) to clean things out before the oil change.
Right now my two biggest concerns is the short distance daily drive and its affects on the engine, and the compounding effects of cold weather in the winder time as I do not have a block heater and the engine never gets up to temp on the trips to and from work (7.5 km one way).
Car #2: 1999 Toyota Tercel, 1.5L I4. 272,000 km / 169,000 miles. Wife's daily driver. Approx 30 kms round trip. She's had it for about 4 years and I have to beg her to get the oil changes. Often times I take it for her and get it done. For most of the time we've had it changed every 3-6 months using Pennzoil 5W-30 and unknown ( it was bright yellow) oil filter. After 3 months the oil level is fine (I don't think I've ever had to top it off) but its very, very black.
I wanna seafoam her car too, though I may need a few cans to do the job right.
The guy that had my Camry is currently running 0W-30 on his ride to maximize fuel economy (H's getting 50+ mpg highway on this 08 Cobalt LE). I've been pondering the benefits of going all Synthetic for superior short-distance and cold temperature performance. At any rate I do apologize for the length but that's my situation and hope to get some good feedback.
May thanks in Advance.
Cheers,
I've decided to stop wasting money of quick lube places and start doing my own oil changes. I do need some advise on the best oil and filters for my cars as I cannot seem to get a consensus from any of the other web sites.
Car #1: 2004 Toyota Camry, 2AZ-FE 2.4L I4. ~210,000 km /130,500 mi. My daily driver, approx 15 km / 9 miles round trip to work. I got the car last August from a guy who babied it because he was putting 5,000-6,000 kms/month on it. Oil changed every month with either high mileage or synthetic blend (he went to Jiffy Lube I think). I've only done two changes (on 6 month interval) I went to the local Dealership and they used conventional 5W-30 Toyota oil and Filter.
Based on current driving (which is close to 600-800 km/month) I will have to use either a 3month or 6 month changeout. Before the last change, the oil level was stable and it looked good with no significant darkening or change in consistency. I put a can of SeaFoam thru the brake booster (1/3rd) / crank case(1/3rd) / tank of gas (1/3rd) to clean things out before the oil change.
Right now my two biggest concerns is the short distance daily drive and its affects on the engine, and the compounding effects of cold weather in the winder time as I do not have a block heater and the engine never gets up to temp on the trips to and from work (7.5 km one way).
Car #2: 1999 Toyota Tercel, 1.5L I4. 272,000 km / 169,000 miles. Wife's daily driver. Approx 30 kms round trip. She's had it for about 4 years and I have to beg her to get the oil changes. Often times I take it for her and get it done. For most of the time we've had it changed every 3-6 months using Pennzoil 5W-30 and unknown ( it was bright yellow) oil filter. After 3 months the oil level is fine (I don't think I've ever had to top it off) but its very, very black.
I wanna seafoam her car too, though I may need a few cans to do the job right.
The guy that had my Camry is currently running 0W-30 on his ride to maximize fuel economy (H's getting 50+ mpg highway on this 08 Cobalt LE). I've been pondering the benefits of going all Synthetic for superior short-distance and cold temperature performance. At any rate I do apologize for the length but that's my situation and hope to get some good feedback.
May thanks in Advance.
Cheers,