02 Camry Best Oil for Catalyst Converter

[Scilane02]

I have 2002 Camry 2.4L with 190k miles. The engine burns oil like 1 QT per 1000 miles. The Check Engine Light has been on with P0420 since 130k miles. Swicthed to 10w40 oil couple years ago. CEL was off for 4000 mile and back on again for a while. Put GTX 20w50 last change and gas treatment that made it through smog test recently. I don't think the thicker oil works better here because it is till burning a lot oil. It may be due to 20w50 has less additives compare to 10w40. I heard 10w30 has much less additives than 5w30 or 10w40. I will try 10w30 next change. GTX is just average oil. Mobil one and AMSOIL make 10w30 with no additives to get 10w30 viscosity. They are expensive for me. Does anybody know any other 10w30 or 15w40 with very light additive package that I believe can reduce load of converter? Thanks.

[JohnGD]

You should probably locate the source of the oil leak (rings or valve stem seals) first.

Any oil leaking into the converter is going to be a load. So the less of it the better. Have you tried a high mileage oil? Also, any API SM oil will have less phosphors and will lengthen the life of the converter. However, that's probably the least of your problems now.

Originally Posted by Scilane02

I have 2002 Camry 2.4L with 190k miles. The engine burns oil like 1 QT per 1000 miles. The Check Engine Light has been on with P0420 since 130k miles. Swicthed to 10w40 oil couple years ago. CEL was off for 4000 mile and back on again for a while. Put GTX 20w50 last change and gas treatment that made it through smog test recently. I don't think the thicker oil works better here because it is till burning a lot oil. It may be due to 20w50 has less additives compare to 10w40. I heard 10w30 has much less additives than 5w30 or 10w40. I will try 10w30 next change. GTX is just average oil. Mobil one and AMSOIL make 10w30 with no additives to get 10w30 viscosity. They are expensive for me. Does anybody know any other 10w30 or 15w40 with very light additive package that I believe can reduce load of converter? Thanks.

[Scilane02]

Thanks JohnGD.

There is no leak at all. It is mostly piston ring. I tried High Mileage oil like GTX and Valvoline MaxLife. They are even worse. It actually burns less than 1 QT per 1000 miles that is considered normal. Just want to find an oil that can burn clean in cylinder.

[JohnGD]

Yeah, I heard today's Toyota stated that 1.1qt/600 miles is considered "normal". That's just too bad and what a joke. They just don't build them like they used to.

In that case you might want to consider Mobil-1 Emission System Protection (ESP) oils. These are really designed for diesel engines with exhaust side particulate filters. The engine oils will stay clean longer and dump less junk down the pipe so as to extend the life of the particulate filters. Better yet, these new oils are also approved for gasoline applications (not all diesel oils are).

Mobil 1 has two viscosities in the US, 5W-30 and 5W-40. The -30 meets BMW LL-04 specification. These are very clean oils. If you can't find Mobil-1 ESP, then try BMW and ask for LL-04. (Always verify the viscosity range you need!)

If you need a thicker grade, the -40 meets Mercedes specifications.


Mobil-1 ESP 5W-30:
http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Lub...mula_5W-30.asp

Mobil-1 ESP 5W-40:
http://www.mobiloil.com/USA-English/...la_m_5w-40.pdf

Originally Posted by Scilane02

Thanks JohnGD.

There is no leak at all. It is mostly piston ring. I tried High Mileage oil like GTX and Valvoline MaxLife. They are even worse. It actually burns less than 1 QT per 1000 miles that is considered normal. Just want to find an oil that can burn clean in cylinder.