oil change intervals on synthetic - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

v8eaterWRX · 03-30-2009, 02:24 AM

So I started thinking about the fact that I am running 4-5k miles on synthetic on my highly modded Subaru WRX, but using the same intervals for my girls 06 Corolla on synthetic oil. I beat the living piss out of my car running 25psi of boost while she putt putts around so I cannot see how this is necessary. The manual and light both show 5k intervals, but that is on conventional oil. What kind of intervals are you all taking your synthetics to? I have done some searching here and some say 10k intervals on synthetics while others argue not going past 5k.

JasonA · 03-30-2009, 08:17 AM

I would recommend a thorough search on BITOG (BobIsTheOilGuy.com), and look at Used Oil Analyses (UOAs) for Corollas. A few folks have run both synthetics and conventional in their 1ZZ-FE engines and have come to the determination that based on wear numbers, they couldn't go more than 6-7k miles on synthetic oil in their cars, but conventional oil at 5k mile change intervals were right on.

I would encourage you to look at posts from "Bill In Utah", "Triple_Seven", and some others. You can pretty easily narrow down the Corolla UOAs in the UOA section by using the Advanced Search function on that site. Tons of useful lubrication topics on there.

Frankly, I'd run any conventional you like in the Corolla, and change it 5,000 mile intervals, based on the driving environment it sounds like it has.

v8eaterWRX · 03-31-2009, 01:14 AM

Back to conventional we go then!

Thanks for the info!

caddymac · 03-31-2009, 07:31 AM

I've been running synthetic with changes between 7-10k (filter changes at 2k, though). From what I understand, synthetic is a bit better for those cold starts, which I have a lot of in the Midwest.

All that being said, I've run a small number of vehicles to 100k+ with conventional oil just fine, so I wouldn't sweat too much over what oil in a Corolla.

thebrokeenthusiast · 03-31-2009, 05:48 PM

We've used synthetic from day one. The dealer recommended once every 6 months or about 5000 km. That change scheme seems to work well for us.

mikered30 · 03-31-2009, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebrokeenthusiast

We've used synthetic from day one. The dealer recommended once every 6 months or about 5000 km. That change scheme seems to work well for us.

5000 km seems awfully short for synthetic

jkjk15 · 03-31-2009, 06:25 PM

I run about 8-9000km on synthetic.

thebrokeenthusiast · 04-01-2009, 01:33 PM

I find the car gets a little sloppy about 5000 km. The first couple months it has that "snap" when you give 'er, then it kind of feels slowed down. Since i like beating on my cars, I get the oil changed a little more often.

Raddman · 04-02-2009, 12:05 AM

Quote:

thebrokeenthusiast;2729014]I find the car gets a little sloppy about 5000 km. The first couple months it has that "snap" when you give 'er, then it kind of feels slowed down.

Lol funny, I drive up to 10K with mobil1 and two filter changes never having any problems at 105K now and never noticed anything like that ever, sure it's the oil causing your car to lose that "snap" and not something else like your imagination?