Any opinions on when it is best to switch to synthetic oil. My mechanic has suggested to do it at my first change (8,000 kms or 5,000 miles as recommended by Toyota)?
Does anyone using sythetic notice any significant improvements..performance, gas mileage, etc.
Cheers
Yes, it will mostly help in reducing friction and heat for such a high revving engine. It will definitely offer a nominal improvement in performance, but more importantly it will enhance your engine life and smoothness. Use very clean and high octane premium gas since that is the most important thing about high compression engines (minimum octane 91 and check all of the leading gas stations and see which one gives you the best performance. I saw a clear difference between shell and Petrocanada premium fuel where Petrocanada fuel gives better performance. It seems somewhat slower at low revs and the lift does not kick as hard with Shell premium. I have to conduct some tests to verify this). Just to give an idea, a higher octane fuel is used in Japan/Europe so they get 190 HP out of the Celica GT-S, which is 10 more HP than the NA GT-S. That 10 HP comes from the higher octane fuel.
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
I use only sunoco 94 in my MR2 Turbo. I went on a roadtrip to Kingston and could only find 91 from Esso and the car lost a significant amount of horsepower...it felt like something was wrong with the car with that junk in the gas tank.
Petrocan and Sunoco are your best bet, especially if you plan on keeping the car long. Mobile one synthetic oil is also a tried and true brand.
Ok..Thanks for the info! I also have a 99 Civic Si and with 163,000k on it and was thinking about switching it to synthetic as well (change the oil every 5k-6k). How often does synthetic need to be changed?
I have that shell easy pay tag , therefore I always fill up at shell. Maybe I should try a couple other brands just for a comparo. What level of octane gas are they using in Europe/Japan to get the extra 10HP?
Its rated at about 100 octane if im not mistaken, but their system is slightly different so its closer to 96 give or take which is still better then the best sunoco 94. In a high performance engine 4 octane ratings makes a noticable difference in hp
higher octane will not give you more HP, the high octane is just to prevent knocking with FI or high comp engines, its just a detonation preventer, Synthetic has a longer life than regular oil (i would still change it regularly), its really not that much better than regular oil except it has more detergents in it (get oil with the most estyer possible) and its particles are all the same size (therefore its not supposed to pass by rings or valve seals as easily)
In high compression engines (11:5:1), it does make a substantial difference. I have read they have exactly the same ECU and power in Europe/Japan in Celica GT-S, but get 10 more HP because of the higher octane rating. Strangely enough their BMW M3 has 343 HP as opposed to 333 HP in NA, which is another high revving and high compression engine car. A good experiment is to put Octane 87 in an XRS and you would feel it became sluggish and the performance has been affected greatly. I wish we had Octane 94 available in our city so that I could conduct a few experiments and tests to see the percentage difference in performance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ratboycom
higher octane will not give you more HP
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
Silver04rollas...are there no Sunoco's close by? They are every where in Toronto.
As far as European octane goes...I happen to catch a bit of a show called TOP GEAR last night. One of the hosts was driving a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti on a cross country trip and stopped for gas (petrol) in Switzerland. He said he was putting in 98 Octane.
In Calgary we have only octane 91 for premium. I have never seen Sunoco in Calgary, but I will start asking around. Sucks especially for a province that has a thriving oil and gas based economy. I am sure the stock stats are compiled using Octane 91 as the standard. With octane 94, definitely there will be a difference. I would like to use higher octane such as 93 or 94 and conduct some tests. As for Europe, they have a different octane research number so the Octane 98 in Europe might be Octane 96 in NA etc.
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
^^ Japan and European gas is off of the Research octane number. In the US and Canada we average research and motor octane together to the get the number we see. Research octane is higher because it is the anti-knock index of an idling engine. The motor index is lower because it is for a loaded engine.
__________________
2005 Corolla XRS Silver Streak Mica
2005 Kawasaki Z750S Candy Plasma Blue
1993 Kawasaki EX500a Luminous Polaris Blue
So does Octane 94 make the XRS performance better than that with octane 91???
As for Octane 94, my bad. Husky oil company sells Octane 94 here in Calgary so I am going to get it from there the next time and start running some tests to see some performance differences. Also, strangely Sunoco headquarters are in Calgary, but no gas station here...LOL.
Quote:
Originally Posted by virtualkuz
^^ Japan and European gas is off of the Research octane number. In the US and Canada we average research and motor octane together to the get the number we see. Research octane is higher because it is the anti-knock index of an idling engine. The motor index is lower because it is for a loaded engine.
__________________ SSM 05 Corolla XRS 6 Spd VVTL-i 2ZZ-GE /04 Corolla S 1ZZ-FE (sold)
yes true running high octane gas in a high comp car will give you more power (this is because if you use crap gas it will predetonate) i was just saying that using high oct gas in a regular motor say a 4afe or 1zzfe will not give you any power gain,
How did this change from Oil to Octane ratings? lol, f1xrs save your cash and just change your oil regularly you do not need to run synthetic oil. Toyota recommends regular oil and the engine is new so there will be no benefit to going to synthetic oil at this oint in time, it might be a good idea on your civic more so than the xrs, just because of the higher mileage and the fact that the engine will be starting to wear now.
At 61500 your car should run like it's new it is a Toyota, but it is your own personal opinion and that is fine if that is what you like, But if you are changing the oil regularly you don't need to run synthetic, especially when you change it at 5000, It won't hurt by any means but not a huge help. as mileage gets up yes thats fuine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rated_w
I honestly find synthetic oil a lot better.. I dunno might just be in my mind.. my car has 61500 km.. and runs like brand new..
I change oils regularly at 5000KM no matter if it's synthetic or not.
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Synthetic Oil for XRS
, therefore I always fill up at shell. Maybe I should try a couple other brands just for a comparo. What level of octane gas are they using in Europe/Japan to get the extra 10HP?
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