2002 Toyota Corolla

[Oldwolf]

My mother in-law has a minty 02 Toyota Corolla, 1.8L 1ZZ-FE engine, auto transmission, garage parked, looks really nice. Anyway, it is hard for her to get to the gas station these days, so lately she has been asking us to fill it up for her. My wife has been doing that for her. Last fill up was probably 2 months ago. This week I did the fill up for the first time and being the BITOGer that I am, I checked the oil first thing. Level is slightly low, looks a little dirty but not too bad. Some varnish on the dipstick though.

So I crawl in the car and look at the Jiffy-Lube oil change sticker. It says next change due Jan-2008 at 21788 miles! Three years later the odometer now shows 20536 miles. Yikes!

That’s something like 1748 miles in 3 years. It’s hard to believe but probably very true. She drives it to the grocery store and drug store mostly. That’s probably a 2 to 3 mile round trip.

I asked her about when it had its last oil change and she said, “Ummm, probably a long time ago”.

So the bottom line is that she would be very happy for me to do the oil changes for her.

Toyota specs a 5W30 for this engine and being a Mobil guy I’m currently thinking that an annual oil change with Mobil 1 5W30 EP and Mobil 1 filter would be adequate protection for this crème puff of a car. Mobil says I can use 0W30 in it, but here in NC it probably isn’t needed. Anyway, when it is gets really cold here she just doesn’t drive it.

What do you guys think about my choices?

 

[SuperDave456]

Your one year OCI sounds good.
Also, I would take it up on the highway and get it up to temp when you go fill it up with gas. Just to burn on condensation and make sure it actually gets up to temp once a month or so.

Also, if it is taking 2 months or more to go through a tank of gas you may want to look into a fuel stabiliser for her. I constantly worry about what ethenol does to fuel systems as it just breaks down into water.

 

[TomYoung]

Your choices are fine. One thing I would like to know is why the dipstick read a little low.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: TomYoung
Your choices are fine. One thing I would like to know is why the dipstick read a little low.


I thought that era of Corolla had oil consumption issues...

 

[addyguy]

With that car doing 600 miles PER YEAR, I would NOT do 1-year changes with M1!

We've seen 2-3 year UOA's that were just fine, so I'd use cheap dino, and change it once a year.

Like other have said, i'd worry WAY more about gas going bad in it.....

 

[webfors]

+1

That's real low mileage. I'd even say you should fill that car up with premium if it's going to have a gas tank sit for several months.

 

[webfors]

Originally Posted By: webfors
+1

That's real low mileage. I'd even say you should fill that car up with premium if it's going to have a gas tank site for almost 12 months.


Maybe add some "stabil" to it.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: addyguy
With that car doing 600 miles PER YEAR, I would NOT do 1-year changes with M1!

We've seen 2-3 year UOA's that were just fine, so I'd use cheap dino, and change it once a year.

Like other have said, i'd worry WAY more about gas going bad in it.....


Agree with this. That year 1ZZFE is known to use more oil than the normal engine.

Fuel is more of an concern!

 

[Drew99GT]

+2 1 year 600 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 is way overkill, but if you want to do it, go ahead. Might be worth it given the varnish.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
+2 1 year 600 mile oil changes with Mobil 1 is way overkill, but if you want to do it, go ahead. Might be worth it given the varnish.


If there is varnish all over the engine, its the 3 year OCI.

Changing it once a year with conventional will do the same as Mobil 1 with her use IMO.

Take care, Bill

 

[someguy]

Sounds like my Grandpas old car, yearly oil changes with anything should be fine. I second the fuel stabilizer also check the tires they are likely original and possibly starting to rot.

 

[Gene K]

2-3 mile trips cry out for a low viscosity oil. I would use Toyota 0W-20 (Mobil supplied but cheaper) and pull annual samples with a pump. Change when analysis says to.

If you cant bring yourself to deviate from the manual I would go with whichever SM/SN 5W30 you can get the cheapest every 12 months.

 

[Oldwolf]

Thanks for the good ideas.

I agree synthetic might be overkill. Maybe Mobil Clean 5000 5W30 while I can still get it? For $19 or so I can get 5 Qts of MC5000 and a Pure One filter. For $30 I can get 5 Qts Mobil 1 5W30 and a Mobil 1 filter. Is it worth it? Remember it gets rarely gets up to full operating temp, and if it does, not for very long. I think the oil's ability to keep the engine clean and also it's TBN retention are important factors in this case.

Also, she insists on using "High Test" gasoline as she puts it. So lately we have been using BP/Amoco premium in it. Prior to that it was Exxon Premium exclusively (her husband is an Exxon retiree).

Good idea on checking the tires. They may very well be original even though the tread looks acceptable. I'll check the manufactures date stamp on them.

 

[sangyup81]

I say M1 for a 3 year OCI!

 

[Oregoonian]

This situation screams for an all 'electric' vehicle.....

On the gas issue...I would suggest not doing a fill when needing gas. Just put in four or five gallons....this way you keep the gas fresh. Possible use of MMO (4 oz. per 10 gal. gas) should help keep the fuel system clean).

On the oil issue: Conventional would be the way to go (Mobi1 Clean 5000, PYB or Valvoline WB)...with 1 year OCI's. Synthetic is just overkill. A Motorcraft (WM) or Purolator Classic filter should do the job.

Would also suggest that you do a nice highway speed trip (40 to 60 miles) once every 3 months or so (more often if possible).
________________________________________________
03' Ford Focus (2.3L Duratec) / 94K
M1 5w20EP / M1 EP Filter / OCI: 1 yr. or 10K +/-

 

[moto94536]

I think mobil 1 ep will be waste of money.

Just run regular dino like chevron, mobil 1, shell, castrol gtx will be fine. they are about $2- $3 a quart.

So in my opinion, just use the cheap dino 5w30. change oil every 5000 miles, or once a year.

 

[electrolover]

i think if you want to use m1 go for it, but i agree with others, a conv will do and use stabil. might check those filters, i bet the air filter is rotted by now
your doing a good thing taking care of her car!!

 

[Oldwolf]

I'm going with an annual change and use Mobil Clean 5000 if I can find it and a PureOne filter. Thanks for the help guys!

We generally fill the tank at 1/4 and I may not go with an additive, although a bottle of Techron might not hurt anything.

Good idea with filter(s) check, they are all original most likely.

 

[moto94536]

yoou can find oem toyota oil filter from handa-accessories.com

I drive my 06 camry v6 42,000 miles a year.
2010 honda pilot . I drive 4,000 miles a year.

so if I do the math, putting synthetic on the pilot is not worth it. because I have to change oil once a year..

so I probably will use OEM Honda synthetic blend $2.39 a quart. or chevron supreme/shell $2 a quart. or mobil 1 5000

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

For what it's worth, my wife has the same car with 66k reliable miles on it so far.

It likes 5w-30 Castrol GTX but got very noisy after a 3k OCI with Pennzoil Platinum I used to try to clean up the apparent sludge a bit. It's now running PYB and it's just as noisy. It also uses a quart of oil between changes, and it never did that with the GTX.

It also likes 89 octane gas. It pings with 87.