Oil Change

[gary123]

I have a 2002 corolla vvti with 90000 miles which i will be doing a oil change on soon and would like to know what the best choice of oil is. I am currently running 5w 30 semi which it has run on for years but would like to change to something different as its hard to get hold of and seems to be burning alot. Would either 5w 30 Fully synthetic or 10w 40 Semi synthetic be suitable?

[oldcodger]

Burning a lot ?  how many miles to the litre of oil?

My 1.6 vvti is on 93k and still uses about 500ml per year /10k miles 

What size engine is yours ?

Going to the thinner fully synth, might mean it burns more if you have engine wear.

Have read others use 10w/40 without problems to help overcome such a problem.

 

[gary123]

Hi, thanks for replying, the engine is a 1.6 3zzfe.  im burning about 1L to every 1000 - 1500 miles, but i am aware these engines can use alot of oil. Seems 10w40 would be a good option. Would it slow consumption down by much?

[oldcodger]

1L per 1000 miles is, I believe, what Toyota quote as minimum acceptable usage, though in the real world  not really that good.

( do not know if that amount of burnt oil would affect the Mot omissions test ?)

In this forum there are several good posts detailing the manufacturing defect that caused a lot of the engine oil burning problems.

If you search the forum you should find them, however as you will see there is nothing Toyota will do to help these days.

While your problem may be down to the piston/bore problem, it might also be down to simpler things like worn valve guide seals, so its worth getting it checked out properly.

 

[roks]

You might want to check the spark plugs, read somewhere to reduce the gaps a tad if its burning oil.

I normally set it to the spec in my handbook, 0.043" or 1.1mm. I check it every oil change, this year the middle two had increased to 0.047", not sure why so I corrected them. I dont do enough mileage to notice the oil burn, average 4-5K miles per year, topped up about 0.5 litre.

I have now finished my stock piles of 5w30, might try 10w40 to see if it reduces the engine noise a little, but does that mean the mpg will take a hit?

[gary123]

thanks for all the info, im going to stay with 5w30 but maybe change to fully synthetic. Is fully synthetic 5w30 suitable for my viechle(02 corolla 3zzfe)?

[roks]

Yes, mines 3zzfe, I've been using  fully synthetic Castrol magnatec 5w30 A1, now replaced by A5.

[JRCorolla2]

mines recently been serviced and its using F/S 5w30

[PajeroWaala]

Switching to fully synthetic will probably increase oil burn.

When I first bought my Pajero 1993 back in 2002 it was running fine on the oil that it came with. I decided to splash out at my first oil change and switched to Mobil 1 fully synthetic. Within a couple of months the sump was nearly empty due to the sludge being broken down and de-sealing the engine. I quickly switched back to semi synthetic and it took a couple of years for it stop burning oil and re-seal. Its been on semi ever since.

[TomdeGuerre]

Fully synthetic oil does not increase oil burn, quite the opposite if anything due to the increased oil film strength.

I knew someone with a BMW that had done over 100,000 miles who was using cheap 10w40 semi-synthetic oil from H & B Home Bargains at £9.99 and his car used more than a gallon between oil changes. Halfords had a sale of Castrol Magnatec 5w30 fully synthetic so he bought a loadof that and found his oil consumption dropped significantly.

If your car has been using fully synthetic for a while it can cause problems with the oil seals if you switch to semi-synthetic or straight mineral oil (don't laugh, people have done it)so that's to be avoided.

[oldcodger]

Sounds like someone having a laugh, but saw this advert for a  "No Smoke Oil"

See this link http://www.nosmokeoil.com/

Do not know anything about it, but wonder if it would help with Garys oil burning problem ....?

[TomdeGuerre]

No Smoke Oil - aye right, blowing smoke up yer backside more like.

Remember that stuff Piston Seal? It was a black goo that came in a tube, you removed the spark plugs and squeezed equal amounts down each plug hole then taker the car for a gentle 20 mile run. It was supposed to spread out over the piston crown then harden and form a seal to restore compressions, stop gas blow-by and cut down oil consumption. Like all the rest of the snake oil wonders it was a complete waste of time.  

[gary123]

Seems the fully synthetic has reduced consumption slightly to 1l/1500miles!, will the fully synthetic help reverse the oil consumption as i read something about cleaning the oil holes which seems to be common with these engines?