Oil - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

BIGtubOluvin · 05-22-2006, 12:34 AM

Wassup my fellow Camry peeps? Finally, I just purchased a pretty bad ass 03 Camry couple months back. I've been reading the posts off and on and just decided to join in cause I know i'm gonna have a few questions. First off, i've been wanting to get a Camry ever since my uncle got one in 1994. He's not got 200,000 miles on it and I can't wait to pass that point in mine too. It's a 2003 Camry XLE with the 4 cylinder engine. It's got the stock rims (thank god it doesn't look crappy like the XLE's with covers), leather, trip info, 6 CD changer, roof, and a good amount of more things. Personally, my favorite is the black badging all around the car. Gives the whole car a totally different personality. I thought only SE's get to have the black badges but I was wrong. It's silver in color, and all i've done is gotten tints put on it. Only thing more I want is a spoiler which i'll get sometime when I get money. I bought it from fitzmall and i'm sure most of you who and where it is. I went there to buy a black Sentra SE-R SPEC-V but my Dad chose this car. I was happy with the decision, but my brother wasn't. He just wanted that sweet ass 6-speed so bad...but oh well he enjoys it. Okay now that some background is complete, I've got a few questions about this car:

1) Being a 2003 model year, what generation of Camry is that?

2) According to specification, it gets 22 city and 32 highway. Driving in the mixed conditions here in Montgomery County in MD, I get 400 miles, without A/C mostly, to the fill up. Is that mileage accurate guys?

3) I wanna squeeze as much mileage as possible out of this car, which is the reason that I bought it. I've got to do my first oil change soon, and I don't want to use toyota motor oil, I prefer using Castrol Syntec 5W-30, which i've been using myself on all cars. What is your opinion about Castrol Syntec and how does it perform with this engine? Are there any mileage changes with the added synthetic blend? Is there a difference in ride quality? Please do let me know.

4) What is the model name of the engine that i've got in my car? For instance, my brother's old Integra's engine was a B18, and his older 240SX was a VQ30DET. I'm curious to find out.

5) How can I decipher my VIN number and what do the letters mean?

I hope you guys can help me out. Thanks a lot and it's duely appreciated. At heart, i'm an I30/Maxima SE and a Bonneville GXP lover, and primarily purchased this car to save money at the pump. So far, so good. Please leave some feedback, thanks. Peace out

BIGtubOluvin · 05-22-2006, 12:38 AM

Forgot to add this one. If there is any specific type of motor oil I should use for my car, what kind is it? There's pretty much two choices that i've got easily available. Castrol Syntec and Mobil 1 full synthetic. The car's only got 35,520 on it so I don't really think it'd need Mobil 1. But i'll appreciate some advice. Thanks again.

Lord_Anarchy · 05-22-2006, 12:49 AM

1) 03 Camry - Gen5
2) Divide the miles by the total amonut your gas tank holds and you'll see your MPG
3) 5W-30 is a good blend. I prefer synthetic as it lasts longer and has a better viscosity.
Synthetic is good. No engine problems at all.
4) 03 Camry - I4 - 2AZ-FE
5) Search around, I think someone wrote the answer to this question.
6) What ever brand you'd like Castrol and Mobil1 are both quality oils

BIGtubOluvin · 05-22-2006, 12:56 AM

Thanks for the quick reply anarchy. for the second question, I was just wondering if anyone's out there getting like 400 or more miles on one tank. I don't know if 400 is right to spec or something is causing me getting lesser miles than I should or whatever. So I was just curious. Thanks for all the info.