Best oil for 4 cylinder???

[FIRST_TIME_TOY]

I do not intend to trade $$$$ service for cheap" TIRES for life"

Is any one brand of oil better for a 4 banger? I have always used pennzoil. I have heard a lot of hype about CASTROL. Any suggestions?

[Those People]

I have wondered about this as well. I bet it's one of those...you get what you pay for..things. I used some cheap oil this weekend because I needed to drain it back out after a few miles. I then added some Castrol. I sure could tell the difference just looking at it. The Castrol is almost clear where as the cheap stuff was all cloudy. ???? Must mean something.

[Bakemono]

Im not a big fan of Pennzoil. A number of years ago Pennzoil had a lot of problems with their oil leaving the valvetrain dirty.
I always used Castrol GTX in all my Toyotas and never had any problems with it. Ive been using Mobil (Drive Clean and now I use Clean 5000) oil in my Fords and havent had any problems.
I would avoid Havoline as well. My father used that in one of his trucks and about 6 months after he switched to it his truck started to burn oil. He switched back to Mobil and the oil burning lessened, but it still used a little oil
Cap'n

[humanoid]

If you don't mind paying for it, go synth all the way. Mobil 1, Royal Purple and Amsoil are the better ones that come to mind. I'd suggest you head on over to www.bobistheoilguy.com for a more comprehensive forum on the topic of oil.

[80toy]

i have a 1980 toyota pickup. the 20r has had chervron 10-30w in it for ever, and it has never had a problem related to this, even when the oil level has gotten low or it has been a while since my last change.

[smasheromalley]

My truck will be getting Mobil 1 for its next change.

[redgtxdi]

You can take this noob's word for whatever you want, but aside from going synthetic.......(I recommend synthetic if you got the $$$, but if not, don't worry)...........

more important than anything else is..............

CHANGE YOUR OIL!!!

You could run tests 'til your purple in the face, but the percentage of difference you'll make by simply CHANGING the oil, will far outweight the latest additives put in brand x, y or z and letting your oil be dirty!!!!!!

FWIW, in my drag racing days, the oil that always left my parts looking best and the oil that always seemed to stay highest (IOW, everything was still coated with oil) in the motor until teardown was.......KENDALL. But that was a loooong time ago in a land far, far away!!!!!!!!

[desertguy61]

Hi all,

I'n new to the forum but not new to wrenching on vehicles. Brand names of oils don't really tell us much. One isn't going to do anything that the other isn't doing. It's mostly marketing hype. Vehicles from the 60's and 70's used oil produced from that era and some of those are still on the road. Why? because owners took care of them, not because of a certain brand of oil.

As far as using synthetics is concerned. If you've been running a traditional oil...stick to it. Don't change mid stream to a synthetic oil. 98% of the time you will develop major oil leaks from the synthetic oil. Corvette owners discovered this when they started running Mobil1 in the newer Vettes. Older Vette owners figured if it was good for a new Vette it must be good for my old Vette. WRONG assumption. My recomendation is if you want to spend extra money on oil the best thing to do is change it every 2000 miles instead of 3000.

Whatever you do, DONT use Slick 50. That stuff is death in a bottle.

Jim

[rpmspeedyBlue]

I like Mobil 1. I've been using it for 10 yrs on all my cars. What changed me over from valvaline was the sulge that I had from not changing oil for a while.

[uradyke15]

I use Valvoline Dura-blend (half synthetic half regular) with a viscosity of 5w-30. I used to use pennzoil 10 w-40, and when i drained it, it would always look like shit. All black and stuff. I have a 1984 pickup with a 22R, and this change to synthetic blend makes the thing run extremely smooth. Probably due to the fact that its synthetic, and a much lower viscosity. Mobil 1 is great as well but expensive.

[triniphen]

synthetic has no meaning today except to corporate marketing. there are no real regulations regarding the type or quantity of "synthesized" components of a manufacturers oil. there were some general agreements amongst manufacturers but nothing binding. some producers even argue that the additives in a dino oil allow them to call it synthetic. its all left to the producer. even if one composed a site with analysis of the latest oils and their content/origin the products change so rapidly it would'nt be of much use for long. so why pay $3 a quart.

just use the proper viscosity range and change it when your supposed to. and dont let it get low.

oh and i use castrol, which went from a ~80% PAO blend to a GIII blend (it may have changed by now).

[ffpmlex]

I have a 96 Tacoma, 4-cyl, 3RZFE engine w/ 150k miles on it. I swear by Mobil One Super-Syn. I live in S. California and use the 10w-30. I can get six quarts for $24 which may seem a lot pricier than regular oil, but it lasts longer and protects better...EZ-Lube charges about $45 to put that stuff in!