what oil?

The 30K oil change interval isn't hype, wether people are comfortable going that distance is a different story. People who purchase Amsoil do it not only for the protection but for the convinence of not having to change their oil 4 to 5 times a year, assuming 15-20K miles driven. If it were all hype then all the user testimonials must be wrong and the people using the oil to 25K or 30K clearly destroyed their engines, lied about it and then promoted the product that ruined their drivetrains. Seems a little far fetched.

Like I stated Red Line, Royal Purple, and Mobile are close equivlents(sp) and most likely are adequate if following their recommended guidance. Prices vary accordingly, looking at the Amsoil website lists the 7.5K drain oil retail at $7.45 to $11.10 for the 0W-30 which will go to 30K.

The only way to really "test" your oil is through oil analysis. We routinely did this with aviation piston engines. The results of the analysis showed
Amsoil routinely outperformed the standard Aeroshell products (dino oil). I can't think of a more demanding operating environment. Air cooled horizontally opposed engines, ranging from 235ci to 550ci, operating at maximum rpm setting for hours at a time. Imagine taking your Taco engine and leaving it at redline for 3 hours.

Folks will have their biases, that's why there are forums.

 

So how much difference is there between the mobile 1 and amsoil, I am feeling pretty confident for the amsoil, after reading this article I will post the website. I go about 8-9k miles on my Taco with no problem and change the oil before the light even comes on. Will this benefit me, since I have had my truck since 06 and only have 20k on it? Or should I stick to the dealer 5w oil?

 

http://www.synthetic-motor-oil-chan...-new-york-taxi-cabs-with-amsoil-10w40-oil.php

Here is that article about amsoil.

 

Post up your spreadsheets with your oil info then. For aircraft I would suspect you have to keep good records of that. Lets see test dates and results. Oil change intervals. I'm curious now to know some more.

 

I'd love to put up the spreadsheets of the oil analysis results. Here's the the problem though my dad may have saved the data with the aircraft logs, but he's in OH I'm in ND. I'll e-mail him to see if kept the data. Oil analysis isn't required in general aviation aircraft, only the folks who are obsessed with their investments purchase an oil analysis at $30 per kit plus 8-12 quarts of oil (at $4-$6 a qt) and filter every 50 hours.

This isn't a cop out, I had to drain the oil and send sample to the lab and wait for results. I was really concerned because I had rebuilt the $16000 engine and wanted to know the health of the engine just after rebuild. I have seen the results and several the metals measured in parts per million dropped when we went from Aeroshell to Amsoil. For a cost comparsion sake a cheap aviation spark plug is $15 and go to $60.

I'll try to dig for the oil analysis data as it relates to aero engines. If you really wanted to know what your oil is made of you can purchase one of the kits and send in a fresh sample of your perferred oil to use as a reference. Then compare a used sample. I pretty sure we stopped doing analysis after about 500 or 600 hours, it may have been earlier, we had gotten our trends and were satisfied. One of the things we did notice during the analysis was how often we would fly, the types of flying (cruise vs training) would effect the oil numbers, regardless of brand. The salt air on the MS gulf coast didn't help corrosion concerns. The measurements in parts per million would show changes, not huge but noticeable with how we operated the machine.

Like I said I'll try a retrieve the numbers but it might take a couple of days or more depending on my ole man's mood, if he was smart enough to keep them.

 

BreezyTaco I think you answered your question by going to the website, a 20K engine isn't a worn and leaking (provided it's been maintained), you should be fine with the change over.

 

I only drive my truck rarely, but love to when I get the chance, its just I have toyota matrix and it gets twice better gas mileage, but has three times the miles, should I consider synthetic for it?

 

I would still consider changing, sounds like you're driving the Matrix alot. So long as the vehicle is mechanically sound. However, if there are any leaks at all, the synthetic will make the problem worse. Synthetics will clean whatever varnish in covering the inside the engine, the cleaning will make the leaks worse.

I also own a '97 F150 and '98 Escort both had oil weeping from their oil pans, just enough to make a mess around the oil pan flange. The F150 had 61000 miles on it when purchased, I switched and the oil pan flange got dirtier but hasn't started dripping on the floor of the garage. I let it go it's to much of a hassle to change the oil pan gasket and it's not effecting the mechanicals of the engine, I haven't had to add any significant quantities(sp) of oil. The truck is now 12 years old, it's an old truck, it's for sale, so now I don't care. Replaced it with the Taco.

I will have a copy of the engine logs for the aero engine sometime within the next week. My dad transcribed the data into the engine log.

 

right now i run 10w-30 castrol high mileage in the taco (80k miles) and 10w-30 syntec in the 4runner (80k miles). im going with syntec in the taco next oil change

 

whats wrong with the fram filters? i just changed my oil 2 days ago and replaced the delco with the fram..... that oil was as black as the night. i like the fram sure grip... its nice to work with when your hands are covered in oil

 

No worries, was just curious bout it. About the FRAM filters, just say no. They use cardboard endcaps that can fail. Walmart Supertechs are better in my opinion. Wix, Napa Gold, Mobil, Denso to name a few are good filters.

Here's a link to more than you ever wanted to know about filters:
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/index.html

Bottom line on oil is running what you can find. Around here it's all normal stuff and the basic synthetics. Castrol, Mobil 1, Penzoil. Only synthetic I can find that I'd run is the Mobil 1 and it doesn't have a mileage rating.. Been using normal old Castrol GTX.

 

Since we are talking bout oil here does anyone upsize their filter? I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere there is a model that is bigger that fits on the 2.7 engine.

 

Synthetic vs Petroleum oils
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/technical-chat/19597-synthetic-vs-petroleum-oil.html



Oil Filters for Toyota Engines
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/toyota.html

Oil Filters Revealed - Different brands
http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilters/index.html

 

Found out some more info from following the links from knizefamily.net guy. Most synthetics are a class III. Not real synthetics. There are a handfull such as Amsoil that are real synthetics and they are better than the class III's. The Class III's are very good though from what I understand. If you look at oils used for diesel trucks you start to see the good stuff. Amsoil ranks lower for a diesel application. Whether you can use these diesel engine oils in normal engine I have no idea. I haven't seen a 5w20 or 0w20 from Rotella or others yet.

 

If you look at aftermarket filters, The 2.7 and 4.0 use the same one. However Toyota's filter for the 4.0 is larger. For me, filter quality is more important than size, but if you have 2 filters of equal quality, you might as well use the larger one. JMO.