what, if any, oil for 1yr OIC in Toyota 1mz-fe

[blue94]

Do you think there is an oil that could safely do a 1yr OIC in a Toyota 1mz-fe 3.0L V6? As you know, this engine can have sludge problems when poorly maintained. I'll spare you the specifics but assume:

100k mi currently on the engine and it's in good condition.
Driven between 8-12K mi/yr.
Mostly city/suburban driving with occasional high way trips. No UOAs will be done.
Price of oil/filter is no object.

I know this is not a great idea but for sake of discussion, could it be done and if so, with what? Or is it really such a bad idea that it shouldn't even be entertained.

 

[Bill in Utah]

You answered your question.

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I know this is not a great idea

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I'd maybe try 6 months but would like 4-5 months with any oil.

If you did 12k miles, that is about 30 miles EVERY day. You are not driving every day but the city kills oil life. Add in the engine is known for sludging if you extend OCIs I'd pass.

Again, with ANY type of oil. Your best friend is getting fresh oil in the crankcase often.

Others will disagree, but what is safe?

Take care, Bill

 

[teaelle]

why u don't want to change your oil?

this is a sludge prone engine and u would want to run synthetic and change every 6 months coz u do mostly city driving and that's under severe conditions, and i think it's pretty cold here in wisconsin

u can use Amsoil(which is from wisconsin) 5W-30 for your engine and regular oil filter every 6 months, that will be the best solution

 

[ThirdeYe]

Here's a better question, how much do you like your car? Change it every 6 months at the very least, with a top quality synthetic like Amsoil.

 

[blue94]

Thanks for the in-put. So here's the longer story... It's not that I don't want to change the oil or that I don't like my car. I happen to love my car. It's that in this case, they're not my cars. They're the folks' Camry and Sienna and the folks can get a bit forgetful. They're not car people.

Anyway, it would be much easier for me to change their oil for them once a year over either Thanksgiving or New Years with Amsoil than have to mark my calender, call ma and pa, nag them over a month or two to take the cars in to have the oil changed at some inflated price with unknown bulk 5w-30, and pray to the quick-lube gods that they actually get it done. Would it be better to have me change it properly once a year with high quality synthetic or have some random quick-lube dude do it twice a year with unknown bulk oil?

This is my dilemma.

 

[Dr_No]

Id go with quick lube that isn't random?!

 

[flatlandtacoma]

Quote:

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Would it be better to have me change it properly once a year with high quality synthetic or have some random quick-lube dude do it twice a year

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It would be best for you to change it twice a year. Go see your parents more often!! Change it once in Spring, once at Thanksgiving. Use any oil you want, API SM conventional oil is great.

 

[blue94]

That would be ideal (and it would make mom happy) but I can't guarantee it's going to happen. In a perfect world, I would do 6mo OCIs with one of the many moderately priced group III synthetics. But, if I could do that, I'd have nothing to talk about and life would be boring.

People talk about the 1mz-fe being sludge prone but I can't find an example of one on the internet that has sludged with expensive synthetic. It's always when unknown dino was used and the stories go something like "here's a picture of sludge in my girlfriend's car... she didn't know you were supposed to change the oil and she let it go three years..." or "my car has sludge and oh, by the way, I got it used and previous history is unknown...."

If I put in a top notch syn - like say either GC or one of Amsoil's 5w/0w-30s - I would think a problem would be very unlikely even if the OCI was 1yr. I'm almost more nervous about 6mo OCI with dino to be honest. That's why I can't decide what to do.

Has any one seen an example of sludge in these with top tier synthetics? For that matter, has anyone seen a sludge issue in any of the "sludgers" (Toyota 3.0L, VW 1.8LT, Chyrsler 2.7L) when good syns were used? In my internet surfing, it's always with dino and often, though not always, involves some level of neglect/carelessness.

 

[wgtoys]

One thing to consider is if the vehicle consumes oil in 12k miles. Many 100k mile vehicles will consume at least 1/2 quart per 3000 miles, so at the end of 12 miles it might be down 2 quarts. If nobody is checking oil levels then extended drains might be a bad idea.

 

[JustinH]

I'd do it twice a year with any off the shelf synthetic oil.

PP would be my choice, and change it at 6k.

Get one UOA done, and see if thats right for the motor, if it is, then just stick with that routine.

 

[blue94]

That's a good point but they don't seem to. They seem to be in quite good health and apart from a dent or two and upholstery wear, you wouldn't know they had 100k mi on their odos. If they needed a top off, I could probably get my dad to put in a bit if I left an extra quart in the garage.

After much fretting, I think what I'm going to do is put in Amsoil's ASL over the holidays. Then, if I visit in 6-9 months time, I'll change it. If not, there will hopefully be room for error. If it gets changed mid-year great, if not, I've done the best I can. Although not perfect world ideal, does that sound semi-reasonable at least? I have to work with what I got.

So the question is what is the best compromise? I think this plan is reasonable...

 

[ARB1977]

Its been mentioned before uoas are the only way to fly.

 

[ThirdeYe]

Quote:

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That's a good point but they don't seem to. They seem to be in quite good health and apart from a dent or two and upholstery wear, you wouldn't know they had 100k mi on their odos. If they needed a top off, I could probably get my dad to put in a bit if I left an extra quart in the garage.

After much fretting, I think what I'm going to do is put in Amsoil's ASL over the holidays. Then, if I visit in 6-9 months time, I'll change it. If not, there will hopefully be room for error. If it gets changed mid-year great, if not, I've done the best I can. Although not perfect world ideal, does that sound semi-reasonable at least? I have to work with what I got.

So the question is what is the best compromise? I think this plan is reasonable...

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I think that would be a reasonable idea for your situation. Also remember to keep an eye on the PCV system, as that's a weak spot in those engines.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Get them to take it to a Lube place every 5-6 months.

I'd worry with it running low on oil and getting fresh oil in there is very important.

I've got a co-worker who has on of the 4 cyl on the sludge list and its clean as it can be @ 150k. All he has ever done is change the oil every 5k with anything.

His commute is 5 miles one way. And he takes a trip every other week to his daughters home which is 40 miles one way. So about 400 miles a month (I do over that weekly

) and he changes it around 8-9 months which is longer than I'd like to see. ( no LONGER than 6 months IMO) But he has kept to the 5k and no worries.

What have they been doing so far for oil changes?

You have too many " ifs " in the plan for me... If I can change it, if it does not use oil, if I can get dad to remember to put in oil /check it, if it gets changed mid year.. (you get the idea)

Go to the lube place every 5-6 months and be safe would be my vote.

Take care, bill

 

[The Critic]

I know of many 1MZ-FE engines that have seen nothing but 5w-30 bulk oil from the dealer every 5-6k miles and are running GREAT at 100k+ miles.

The 1MZ-FE engine IS less tolerant of neglect compared to many engines, but as long as you keep the oil changed at least every 5-7k, chances are, you won't develop any serious problems.

I guess if you wanted to do it once a year, I would pour in Amsoil's new 0w-30.

 

[Pablo]

Quote:

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Do you think there is an oil that could safely do a 1yr OIC in a Toyota 1mz-fe 3.0L V6? As you know, this engine can have sludge problems when poorly maintained. I'll spare you the specifics but assume:

100k mi currently on the engine and it's in good condition.
Driven between 8-12K mi/yr.
Mostly city/suburban driving with occasional high way trips. No UOAs will be done.
Price of oil/filter is no object.

I know this is not a great idea but for sake of discussion, could it be done and if so, with what? Or is it really such a bad idea that it shouldn't even be entertained.

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I would drop in ASL 5W-30 or SSO 0W-30 and change it annually.

Amsoil ASL 5W-30

Amsoil SSO 0W-30

 

[OhioSienna]

1. There might be a big difference between how oil X would react to a 8k OCI vs. a 12k OCI.

2. Just from reading about different oils on this board, I think that GC might do what you want. I'd be interested in knowing if anyone has tried it on this particular engine.

3. My VW Passat 1.8T has never had a drop of anything but properly spec'd syn, has never gone over 6k OCI, and has visible sludge inside the oil filler cap.

 

[ericthepig]

I'm a 98 Sienna owner and have read a LOT about this engine and it's issues (doesn't necessarily mean a lot so read on at your own risk) - the fly in your methodology is that you're trying to insure the safe upkeep of this engine - and you can only eyeball the engine very infrequently. If an oil ring gets gummed a bit, and consumption increases, and the oil gets a bit low, causing quicker gumming, causing more consumption, etc till it's dooms day. A poster here on BITOG who is rather familiar with this engine in his line of work stated that these engines don't deal well with low oil levels.

Personally I would follow thru with your plan (I'm a long drain addict with my cars including the Sienna). But doing it from your remote location, I would buy the best long drain anti-oxidizing oil that money can buy (Amsoil SSO would be my #1 pick), and I would leave your parents a couple of quarts in the trunk, and every other month implore them by phone to chk the oil level and top off. BUT, I would only do this if I could do a UOA after the first years run (just once). And IF the car was showing reasonable consumption levels during the year.

BTW, I'm in your same situation (partially) - I chg my mother's oil once per year. But her's is a 98 Ford Taurus. Presently has M1 0w40 in it. Last year I ran M1 EP. Did a UOA (that I still need to post on BITOG) - mileage was close to 10k and the UOA was excellent. Blackstone was quite impressed.

 

[Steelhead]

before taking either engine beyond 5k mile OCIs, I would run a UOA on each looking for coolant>oil leaks, fuel dilution, oxidation and wear problems. get a TBN also

a Grp4/5 oil is not going to solve any of the above problems, all of which will cause or exacerbate sludge buildup.
follow with Auto-RX cleaning in both using a Grp1/II mineral oil for the rinse stage

I would look for a come to the site oil change service to change your parents' car oil in their city every 6 months, most will put in the brand you request.
good insurance to help your parents get long life from their cars.

 

[Gary Allan]

So the question is what is the best compromise? I think this plan is reasonable...



Given your challenging criteria ..I'd say that the high grade synth route is your best move.

Although I appreciate Bill's continued support of the 4-5k OCI given its great results in his experience, he's got his own set of "if's" that you've established. 6 month OCI's are good IF they'll manage to do them. IF you can call them to remind them ..and IF they'll do it when you do.

What IF they don't

Would Bill say that cheaper dino is the way to go if that was the (highly) likely outcome??

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They seem to be in quite good health and apart from a dent or two and upholstery wear, you wouldn't know they had 100k mi on their odos

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It's obvious that they've gotten this far with their bad habits. Some manage to slip through the boobytraps without mishap. You're attempting to fight these humans nature by buffering the environment in which they operate. We can all cite ideals and/or preferred ways to handle things. I'm sure that we all have limited red meat in our diets and reduced sodium and get plenty of green leafy veggies .don't drink too much nor have ever smoked..and have done so all our lives too. It's often just a case of managing the prevailing challenges in the best way you can to get the best potential outcome.