Engine and oil filters brands

[Mr.Nutcase]

What brand of oil would recommend for 1988 Corolla, 4A-F
I like Castrol oil, But I use anyting on sale.
Is 10w30 ok? or use 5w30?, has like 107,000 miles
What is the part # for Toyota Oil Filters?
I do not like Fram.....

[SuperRA]

I agree that Fram sucks. I have no qualms using a Walmart supertech brand filter. In fact I've opened one up and compared it to a Fram and the difference was very apparent. The supertech had metal endcaps and more filter area than the fram. The fram also only used glued cardboard ends. Too many horror stories about fram.

Rockauto used to sell Nippon (toyota OEM) and Mahle (Porsche OEM) filters for cheap and I ordered a bunch of those back then, but no longer.

On the oil, I'd go with 10w30 in the summer and 5w30 in the winter since you probably get much colder winters there. I use 10w30 year round in this part of the country.

[Createdtoburn]

Heh, I just replaced my oil pan gaskets recently, and put some nice Mobil 1 Synthetic 5-30 oil with a K&N oil filter. I think it was a great choice (but a bit expensive). Our engines call for 5-30. And if your engine doesn't leak, you could throw some synthetic oil in there, if you choose not to, at least use a Synthetic Blend/Higher Mileage oil. Most conventional oil is crap, especially Pennzoil and Quaker State. I worked at Jiffy Lube for a year and you rarely seen a car come in after 3000 miles with ok looking oil because of it.

I work at a Ford dealership now in their Quick Lane, and obviously we use Motorcraft Synthetic Blend oil in all the cars that come through (no conventional crap) and we tell everybody to go 5000 miles on their oil changes, and it seems like the only people that come back with excessively dirty oil are the people that abuse their oil changing responsibilities. So the brand of oil makes a big difference.

I always stay away from gas station oils too, like Chevron, and 76, and that crap. Just go to your nearest Auto Parts store and pickup some good stuff!

Hope that helped

[ericdude]

For filter, I can't understand why anyone would use anything other than the factory black filter.
It's like six bucks and the design has withstood the test of time. Sometimes it's too expense
to go factory, but ... six bucks? No brainer.

As for oil, 10w30 valvoline MaxLife. I could swear it leaks more slowly than before with that stuff.
Hard to tell until I replace the front seal (and/or camshaft seal) since I have no idea how bad it
would be on normal oil. (I believe it almost stopped for a long time after switching but it leaks
again now; I can't expect to hold back a failing seal forever.)

[Createdtoburn]

I used to use that Valvoline oil in my 88 Chevy Celebrity, it was good stuff. If you have oil leaks, I deff recommend any type of Higher Mileage oil. It burns at a higher temperature and it helps recondition your seals a bit to stop leaking or atleast slow it down a lot more.

[toyotaspeed90]

most oil has the same certifications, which all far exceed what these motors were built to work with....

Pennzoil is more "slippery" than other non synthetic oils -- have heard that it's actually close to most brands full synthetic.

I don't use Fram -- not because they don't filter well enough, but it actually filters too well and can cause problems. I generally just use what filter is cheapest

[Flashmn]

Fords use Ford oil because of the Zetec engine valvetrain, they need a specific blend or the valvetrain will go kaput. As for oil looking like crap at 3000miles, well looking at oil doesnt tell anything except that its black and its supposed to get black, it could still very well go few thousand. VW/BMW/MB, they all have longlife intervals that you drive about 10000miles per service interval and VW has an even longer longlife program too. Granted it divides people into two groups. I think changing oils at 3000 is a bit often, but I also dont like the longlife program either. Brand doesnt matter much, brandnames sell often because of their name and they're still inferior in quality. I use Euroil oils myself in our cars, its a smaller brand from Netherlands, but I like the quality for price ratio of it. Mobil 1 in general promises alot but doesnt deliver.

I'm using 20W50 mineral on the turbo corolla to keep pressures up and I change it often because it gets fuel into it. However I use 5W-40 on the benz, I personally think 30weight is a bit too light for warmer temps and harder driving.

MaxLife is _normal_ oil, its just has some add-ons that soften and swell seals. Most EHVI based oils do that, whilst PAO based oils contract seals. Thats why alot of people complain when they switch from another brand/mineral to synthetic with old seals.

Then about oil filters, cardboard end caps are the in thing now in oil filters that are cartridge type. Nothing wrong with that. The reason they do that is they crush and burn the used ones.

My 2 cents

[Createdtoburn]

When it comes to European cars, thats a whole nother world for oil changing. A lot of them use like 7-9 quarts in a engine close to the same size as ours. And most of them (atleast newer ones) require Synthetic oil. I used to laugh at the people that would come in with their new BMW or Mercedes and put conventional oil in their cars just because it's cheaper. People want to buy expensive cars but not pay for the maintenance to take care of them. Stupid.

And I will say, better oils, do last longer. I wasn't talking about the Synthetic Pennzoil, I never really had much of a problem with their Synthetic stuff. But the conventional base oil is just crap in my opinion. I know all oils get dark after 3000 miles, but there's a difference between dark oil, and black oil, and sludgy black oil. The main problem is that people would always go too long on their oil changes and the conventional Pennzoil just doesn't last as long, so what happens? People go over the limit, oil starts burning, causing sludge in the engine which will stay there and build up over time whether you change your oil or not. We sold a LOT of engine flushes for this reason.

It's a pretty bad cycle. Some people think 3000 miles is too short, I think a oil change every 3 months is just fine. Oil gets dark for a reason. But there's always going to be different opinions on this matter, and there's always going to be different cirumstances for different cars of course.

[SuperRA]

IMHO for the normal driver and normal car, any oil and any filter (as long as it is at or above OEM specs) will do just fine... when changed regularly.

[PhatRoyale]

Originally Posted by SuperRA

IMHO for the normal driver and normal car, any oil and any filter (as long as it is at or above OEM specs) will do just fine... when changed regularly.

+1

Just buy whatever's on sale.

[Flashmn]

Depends on the car really, alot of them can do with most mineral/semi synth/full synth oils just fine. Just that VW/Ford have their own problems and if you want to go with longlife servicing, it requires the longlife oil to boot. MB 229.5, BMW-something, VW 505.XX,etc. I'm not using the longlife oil in the benz, because quite frankly, like I said I'm not a fan of the longlife oils. And no, servicing newer cars wether, japanese, european or american is no different from one and other, I was teaching new autotechs last spring, so I would know and I'm actually in the autmotive field, not just a hobbyist

Sludge doesnt form as easy as alot of people claim, it actually takes alot of abuse, try 60000k oilchange intervals. I've in the past done 38000km on mineral oils just to see what would happen. Sure the oil stank like shit, but it came out just nicely and the engine was fine after putting new oils in.

IMHO an engine flush is just a way to rip off people, if the engine is badly coked, then its not wise to just put an engine flush in it (which is basically kerosene) and flip the key. What we do/did, was we'd tear the whole engine into parts, throw them into a washer to clean the parts, as just using an engine flush would cause said particles to go along with the oil, to one spot, then clog the channel up and cause havoc.

3000 miles is way short for oils and 3 months is crazy short interval. I change twice a year on the corolla (summer and winter oils are different on it) and every 10000km on the merc.

But yeah, like SuperRA and Phatroyal says, just get whats on sale, if the oil is within manufacteurer spec its fine, on most older corollas, thats been way surpassed.

[Createdtoburn]

Hah, well to each their own I suppose. It is kind of funny though what engines can do. My friend has a Plymouth Grand Voyager, and old one, and hes been driving this piece of crap for like 2 years and never changed his oil and it still runs good somehow. Oil is black as tar though haha.

[PhatRoyale]

Originally Posted by Createdtoburn

Hah, well to each their own I suppose. It is kind of funny though what engines can do. My friend has a Plymouth Grand Voyager, and old one, and hes been driving this piece of crap for like 2 years and never changed his oil and it still runs good somehow. Oil is black as tar though haha.

He's a lucky man.

Well, at least until his engine seizes up from the sludge buildup.

[Createdtoburn]

Yeah, I keep telling him he should change his oil, but he doesn't care lol. Who knows, all the sludge build up is probably holding his engine together. haha

[retiredat44]

My experinces:
53 years old, so I have been an owner of many cars, all ages of cars, and took automotive claases in college and worked as a mechanic when I was very young. I did engine rebuilding of cars and bikes. (I had to give background).

Ok, The filters, Most if not all will be ok, as long thyey are changed often. I alternate brands, it just depends on what is on sale. The oil I have used for 350,000 miles in my 1989 Toytoa Corolla SR5 has been 20-50 weight.

It can be just about any regular brand, Castrol, Quacker State, Pennzoil, etc.. even Pep Boys. Again, chage it often. I opted for 20-50 wt in a warm climate because it can hadle these temps well with high mileage, had I been in colder climate, I would have changed to a lower weight during the cold months. I tried high mielage oil and was happy with it, but see no need to pay the extra amount when I get the same long lasting performance from the regular oil.

So far, it really does not burn any oil, or not much at all, maybe 1/2 quart every 2 to 3 months and even then, I have never seen any smoke come out of the exhaust. In warm to hot climate, if there were any oil burning it would show up in higher temp climates. If I were in a very hot climate I would definately stay with 20-50 wt, in a cold climate 10-30 wt, during the colder onths, and the engine is not worn out. Go with higher weight when you get very high mileage evenin cold climate.

I read the info on high mileage oil, and it says soemthing like 75,000 miles and over. WTF?? High mileage in a a Toyota, Honda, etc, is maybe starting around 175,000 and more.

In a nutshell, most oil filter are fine, Most oils are fine, they key is to change often, don't abuse the engine, and find what works best for you and the climate you are in. Don't be afraid to use 20-50 wt. Even if the car maker says 10-30 wt.

Side note, not all engine oil filters are made the same, each brand has different quality of filter elements, paper... and they have a different vlave (if any valve) in the filter. Some many last longer, or may keep an engine cleaner longer, I can't tell you which is the best. All I can say is as long as you change them often (3,500 miles), you are good to go.

If you are running high performance engine and/or abusing the engine, then you should probably look into this issue deeper and get comments and opinions from people that race and build the engines. If ou run the engine often near or at redline, then you will need more profrofessional opinion, and should even consider an oil cooler, or high performance oil pump and maybe even an aftermarket oil gauge.

My opinion if for unmodified engines under regular city and freeway driving. Though at one time did race motorcycles and used expensive parts. I also lived in Germany a few years and drove there. I never had engine failure unless it was from extreme abuse like overheating, or low oil from a damaged gasket. but that was in motorcycle racing. Otherwise, not one problem from oil or filter problems ever.

Originally Posted by Crazy_Butcher

What brand of oil would recommend for 1988 Corolla, 4A-F
I like Castrol oil, But I use anyting on sale.
Is 10w30 ok? or use 5w30?, has like 107,000 miles
What is the part # for Toyota Oil Filters?
I do not like Fram.....