I have a 2005 Corolla that ran conventional 5W-30 in for roughly 200,000km. It was serviced at the dealer every 5000km for the first 140,000km or so (I know the recommendation was 8000km), and then went to a Meineke shop and was serviced every 8000km up to the 180,000km mark.
Then I started changing my own oil again (used to do it years ago on my first cars), and for the last two changes I put in Amsoil OE 5W-30. For the first change, I dropped it at a little less than 4000km. Amsoil recommends that for high mile engines (can't remember the number of miles) that have never had synthetic, it should be considered 'severe duty' for the first change. Before I dropped the oil, it was pretty dirty, and had dropped a little on the stick (maybe an eighth of an inch). It also smelt a bit burnt.
On the second filling of Amsoil, I have run the equivalent of maybe 4500km (figuring some extended idling time) and the oil is getting dark and smells burnt (same as the first time) and the level is down about an eighth again.
None of this concerns me so far. I figure that my engine was not as clean as I had thought. Maybe the oil at Meineke was not top notch, as it was only $20? For that matter, I don't really know what the dealer was using either.
It seems to me the Amsoil is cleaning the deposits out of the engine. I have some new oil ordered; hopefully it will be here Monday or Tuesday, and I can get some fresh stuff in there. My concern is the filter (as an aside, I am using Wix) at this point - they are not very big on the Corolla.
Has anyone here had a similar experience? Anyone want to venture a guess on how long it might take my engine to clean up a bit so my oil doesn't look quite so dirty this quickly?
Then I started changing my own oil again (used to do it years ago on my first cars), and for the last two changes I put in Amsoil OE 5W-30. For the first change, I dropped it at a little less than 4000km. Amsoil recommends that for high mile engines (can't remember the number of miles) that have never had synthetic, it should be considered 'severe duty' for the first change. Before I dropped the oil, it was pretty dirty, and had dropped a little on the stick (maybe an eighth of an inch). It also smelt a bit burnt.
On the second filling of Amsoil, I have run the equivalent of maybe 4500km (figuring some extended idling time) and the oil is getting dark and smells burnt (same as the first time) and the level is down about an eighth again.
None of this concerns me so far. I figure that my engine was not as clean as I had thought. Maybe the oil at Meineke was not top notch, as it was only $20? For that matter, I don't really know what the dealer was using either.
It seems to me the Amsoil is cleaning the deposits out of the engine. I have some new oil ordered; hopefully it will be here Monday or Tuesday, and I can get some fresh stuff in there. My concern is the filter (as an aside, I am using Wix) at this point - they are not very big on the Corolla.
Has anyone here had a similar experience? Anyone want to venture a guess on how long it might take my engine to clean up a bit so my oil doesn't look quite so dirty this quickly?
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