change to high milage syn oil at 117,000 on '96 I4

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: Kira

As you probably know it represents the pinnacle of Japanese build quality.



They really do. A friend's dad has a 1989 Honda Civic with 200k and a manual transmission. It has a bit of rust, but he let me drive it and what a car. The only options it had were power windows, I don't think it even had intermittent wipers. I couldn't believe how solid it felt. The car was still small, but it had hardly any road noise and felt well built. Still had the original clutch. Very contrary to my mom's 2011 Fit where the tires howl and you feel like you are in a tin can.

You are in a tin can.

 

[fred9xx]

From Kira - "As you probably know it represents the pinnacle of Japanese build quality."

Yes I do!! In fact, the next year (1997) I bought a 4th Gen sedan and immediately realized the quality of all but the engine was greatly? reduced. My simple example is the oil dip stick was puny compared to the '96 car.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: fred9xx
From Kira - "As you probably know it represents the pinnacle of Japanese build quality."

Yes I do!! In fact, the next year (1997) I bought a 4th Gen sedan and immediately realized the quality of all but the engine was greatly? reduced. My simple example is the oil dip stick was puny compared to the '96 car.

+1 One of the cars in my fleet is a 95 XLE V6. It's gone about 150 K and uses
no oil. The auto transmissions need regular fluid changes though. I like the wagon version though I don't have one. Apparently there was a towing option offered for them which included oversize rear calipers and rotors. Those parts are often mentioned as an upgrade for the rear drums on the later cars.

 

[fred9xx]

Update - I do have an oil leak. I now recall it's the same "oil" I saw last year when changing the oil. It was on/near the AT (I think that's the part) and I thought it was ATF. I had my daughter and her BF check the ATF level periodically. It was never low. In fact it now seems to be too high after driving for 30 minutes and checking while running.
SO I now think it's oil. Up top I don't see any oil. I had changed the valve cover gasket a few years ago. (I'm NOT a mechanic and that was big job for me. Yes, I read it's a piece of cake for most of you. . And I don't see any oil near the timing belt. Underneath the oil seems to be mainly in the center behind the engine with some on front top of oil pan. The good news is that there has been no oil dripping on the asphalt and in 12 months/6,000 miles the oil level did not get below the low notch.
I now plan to use HM oil - Valvoline Max Life or Castrol Edge HM which is now on sale at AdvanceAuto. While many here rec. MaxLife I had been leaning towards the Edge cuz it's full synthetic which I wanted cuz daughter has car most of year out of town but now I read MaxLife is full syn not blend. As previously d/, seems I should move to 5W30 from 10/W30. Still right?
Thanks

 

[Nick1994]

Your car has a distributor while mine does not. In the enter 5SFE they used a coil pack and in the hole for the distributor they put in a "cam plug" to cap off that hole. My Camry had an oil leak that dripped oil all over the top of the transmisison, I finally had it fixed last month. My mechanic replaced that cam plug with an OEM one for $100.

I suspect your distributor seal may be leaking.

 

[fred9xx]

Thanks Nick. I'll take a look. Sounds better than a rear main seal.

 

[fred9xx]

Yes, highest glistening new oil is at bottom of dizzy. So I just posted on Toyotanation asking if they thought I could fix leak myself. Thanks Nick!!

 

[Nick1994]

No problem. Autocorrect made the first line of my post say "In the enter 5SFE" and I meant to say "In the older 5SFE".