Synthetic oil

The thing about motor oil is that it is all in the spec. Valvoline is just an oil BLENDER, they don't have ANY refining facilities. Rotella Synthetic isn't synthetic bases.

I stock three types of oil, Rotella 15w-40 for the three 60 vintage dodge truck, Castrol 20w-50 for the air cooled motorcycles, and Mobil 1 5w-30 for the modern daily drivers. These are all proven products and are in the midrange of the price spectrum.

Using ultra premium oil is great for an aircraft, a race car or an exotic toy, just not one of these pickups...

Howard

 

M 1,, Read oil drinking in 2nd gen. forum list. Wish I had not changed to syn. Jim

 

The problem was not you switching. You already had a problem, the switch just showed you the problem.

 

Professionals at WalMart??? Maybe, but for some reason Walmart closed all there oil change facilities in New England, some years ago. Perhaps it was just not profitable....At what WallyWorld pays there help I cannot see anyone really giving a hoot about how well the job was done.

Things may be different in your area.

Everyone has their own reasons for using various oil brands, it appears to me that Mobil 1 is good oil and frequent on time changes with in given parameters is the key to long engine life, whether its conventional or syn oil.

My two neighbors who have owned Toyota Trucks for 20yrs, use strictly conventional oil and do there oil changes and maint, earlier than recommended, all of there trucks have had over 250K before retirement. MJEFF
V6,06, SR5 Radiant Red, 6spd.

 

quick question, i'm buying a 4-banger next week. is there a certain break-in period or mileage you need before switching to synthetic from the dino oil? i'm coming from a v6 accord where i started using mobil 1 (my vote ) when i was at 15K miles and that's all i've ever used. with the accord most people waited for a certain number of miles before switching and there was a debate as to whether or not it was beneficial to switch if you were at 60K miles and above. bottom line, on a brand new 4-cyl truck can i switch to synthetic during my first oil change, or should i wait until i've logged a certain number of miles? thx!

 

On my V6 Tacoma, I switched right at the first oil change which was about 4500 miles.
I know many people have switched earlier. I certainly think changing over at the first scheduled maint is fine. Be sure to follow Toyota's recommendations as to what weight oil to us. 5w-30, or 10w-30 or whatever, always check your owners manual.
I do most of the oil changes my self and always buy Toyota filters and keep the receipts and the upc code off the box. Do you need to do this? Probably not but I like to anyways. I also note the month, mileage etc.....just the usual stuff.

 

Great commercial! I hope it is as dependable as they say. I traded in a 2005 F150 and I have to be honest, my new 2011 Taco feels like a toy quality wise compared to the 150. My 150 was way more solidly built.

 

amsoil what.

 

Is there any reason to use synthetic if your not going past 5k? I still think changing synthetic after 5k is still a waste of cash. Am I wrong? Is the synthetic coating the engine parts better for the long haul or does that matter?

 

Cool, many thanks for the tips!! I do my own oil changes too...i've read the Toyota filters are the best way to go...is there a good site to buy them from, or do you just go to your local stealership? Also saw a great DIY on here posted by Chris.

 

Do you know lots of people driving 2nd gen
tacomas ten years ago??

 

I am no motor oil expert, and NOBODY else is a motor oil expert!
But I get pissed off when someone tells me the brand of oil I use isn't any good and will ruin my engine!
I had it out with car and motorcycle dealers in the past blaming the problems I had and even threatining to void my warranty because I use a certain brand of oil.

Its a touchy subject to me and I get pissed and fly off the handle even talking about it, I have learned my lesson not to tell anybody what brand of oil I use, I will lie to the dealer and tell him I have been using another brand of oil in my engine just to have some sort of peace!.
I was turned on to this brand of oil 15 years ago when I owned a old 1978 Ford F150 with a low powered 300 ci engine, that had no power driving it in 4x4,, that I had to pull the front diff apart to replace the axle seals, so after I put it together I was talked into using this brand in gear oil, I was FLABBERGASTED, AMAZED the BIG power difference it made when driving it in 4x4.
Once I owned a motorcycle, it was a 2003 Suzuki DRZ400S, brand new, it was so hard to move the gear shift lever that the lever wore a hole thru my boot, so I switched to this brand of motorcycle oil, almost right-a-way it made it shift as smooth as butter, I was FLABBERGASTED< AMAZED how a oil could do that!
So ever since those 2 past experiences I have stuck with that brand, so PLEASE don't tell me that brand is no good!

 

I would hazard to suggest that the engineers that develop the motor oil , are in fact , motor oil experts .

 

Nobody in this forum can explain the difference between conventional motor oil and a full synthetic motor oil.
Nobody knows what a synthetic really is!
I know and I am getting sick and tired of explaining it!

I think its funny, ha ha ha ha! that most people are using synthetic and have no idea what it really is! ha ha ha ha !

 

Did you ever get the stacks for your truck ?

 

still edgy about cutting holes in the floor of my bed since the truck is still new, but if you want to be accepted around here as a real life redneck you have to have stacks on your truck!
I was going to do it for the wrong reasons, to impress my friends and pick up women, having second thoughts about it now.

 

I don't know , I haven't seen a Tacoma with the whole " BJ and the Bear " thing going on .

 

I usually just add this mixed with 5 quarts of water
to my engine. It runs just fine.
Buuuuut it is a first gen

 

You know what BartStar? you remind me of this guy.

with your fear of advertising and the white capitalists and all that other crap.

 

First of all I am not an Engineer.
ohh humm! here goes,,,
In order to legally call a motor oil a full synthetic every single molecule has to be exactly the same size and made of the same ingredents.
In convertional motor oil you have different size molecules, different ingredents, some molecules are even cracked molecules with sharp edges, some are unpure, crude by-products, (it has some garbage in it)

Lets think of those oil molecules as differnt size of sport balls, like basket balls, baseballs, ping-pong balls, got it?
In conventional motor oil it has all sizes of those balls mixed together,even some baseballs cut in half,,, in synthetic oil it in all made of ping-pong balls.
Suppose you had one room in your house filled to the ceiling with different size balls, then you cut a small hole in the middle of the floor and the balls flow out thru that hole, whats going to happen? The smaller ping-pong balls are going to flow out first leaving the basket balls and the baseballs cut in half behind, the flow is going to be slow and uneven, the same way oil flows thru your engine, the basket balls won't flow, they will be left behind called "spash-off", viscosity is effected.
But with synthetic oil, that same room is filled with all ping-pong balls, you cut the same size hole in the floor, whats going to happen is the flow thru the hole will be fast , smooth and even.

Next lesson on synthetic I will teach you how synthetic oil cleans the internal engine parts better and how the smaller molecule picks up smaller pieces of dirt that conventional oil misses and how that relates to using the proper oil filter.
Yes Virgina! Thats right! If you are using the wrong oil filter while using a full synthetic then you are defeating your purpose of using synthetic oil in the first place!
Brands? You want me to tell you what brands of oil filters to use? NO WAY!!! I don't need attacked and called names if I name the brand names, you guys can figure out what brand of oil filter is the best! I will give you a hint, there are only 3 brands that are acceptable!