questions about changing engine oil...

[kpark8075]

hi everyone.. my camry is 94, I4 and
has about 126,000 miles on it.. it works great but i think i just need to repaint it..
anyways, i been changing my engine oils at wal-mart past 2 or 3 times.. and now it seems that my engine oil is leaking from the oil cap. damn it, those wal-mart guys forgot to put the washer..
so now i'm gonna change it at home myself, like the old times..
so the question is that, i been using just regular oils 10w 30 all this time and i read about synthetic oils..

so is it really bad idea to change to synthetic oil now?
what kind of oil feilter do you guys use? i been just using the third brand ones at the autozone..
is toyota fielter really that much better?
if i'm gonna buy a regular 10w 30 engine oil what brand engine oil would be the best for my car?

my cars putting up the high miles now and i feel i need take better care of it, sine it's the first car i've ever had as my own..
sorry for the long post and thanx in advance..

[Nick]

i use a quaker state filter that's about twice as long as stock, more filtration? i dunno, same price, i like big filters...

i hear mobil 1 filters are the best, something like 10 microns (or something, i dont' remmeber, but average i think was 30 microns for everyone else)

toyota dosen't put out their filtration specs, so i don't even bother with them

i switched to mobil 1 at 225 000kms and so far she's not leaking (about 3000kms ago)

but the safest thing is to just leave her on dino oil, and change it regularly, if you want to put in that "max life" or "higher mileage" stuff well i'm sure it can't hurt

[kocho]

Plus consider these Fram thingies that let you drain the oil easier (there is a recent post about them somewhere here). They come with a metal washer and promise to make life easier next time you change oil. I still need to see if they really work - just installed one last weekend when changing my oil and it looks and fits good.

As for changing your own oil - go for it. Shops not only forget things, but routinely break things too or overtorque them - on my previous car I eneded-up with stripped threads on the oil plug, plus my oil pan gasket started to leak around the area where the plug was located - I imagine from the repeated stress and overtorquing by the cheap oil change place 'technician'...

And here is a true story - a friend's friend works at Jiffy Lube. He is a recent immigrant who was a white collar worker before coming here (a historian or something) with no prior automotive repair/service experience whatsoever - and this guy feels his co-workers know even less about cars than he does. Just consider who works at places that do not tout themselves as "the pros"

Originally posted by Oldman
i use a quaker state filter that's about twice as long as stock, more filtration? i dunno, same price, i like big filters...

i hear mobil 1 filters are the best, something like 10 microns (or something, i dont' remmeber, but average i think was 30 microns for everyone else)

toyota dosen't put out their filtration specs, so i don't even bother with them

i switched to mobil 1 at 225 000kms and so far she's not leaking (about 3000kms ago)

but the safest thing is to just leave her on dino oil, and change it regularly, if you want to put in that "max life" or "higher mileage" stuff well i'm sure it can't hurt

[KamryStylez]

I use Motul 10w40 Motor Oil, people said its used in Japan race cars and its made in france, never heard of these just got it recently. I use Fram filter, its been out for a long time and its not some brand name you never heard of so i trust them.

[InTeReX]

Change your own oil...gen 3 camry's are so easy to change.
Fram or Mobil 1 i hear are the better filters.
Good Luck with her!