Oil Recommendation 97 Corolla

[Chewi]

Noob here..lots of good reading on this site. Realizing that spending a few extra dollars on oil/filter might help me keep this car running forever I ask for your suggestions. The sticky thread at the top of this forum says to give as much information as possible so here goes, and thank you in advance for your advice.

1. What kind of vehicle you have 1997 Corolla (1.8l)180,000 miles so far
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well 5W-30 5,000 miles, can't see the acronyms
3. Where you live West of Ft.Worth, TX where the temps are going to be three months of 90-100 degrees pretty soon.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)easy/fast
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)two trips 33 miles each highway 75-80mph 5 days a week. weekends quite a bit of cold starts short trips
6. Whether your car has any known problems none yet

If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.

no preference synthetic vs. conventional.......no preference on oil change frequency.
main goal is to keep this car running as close to forever as possible. to me, nothing beats not having a car payment.

 

[UberxG]

Try Castrol GTX 5w30 for your car , if not, really you can run any oil and that car wont notice a difference.

 

[TTK]

I have a 2001 Corolla, and have run QS 5w-30, Castrol GTX 5w-30, Mobil 5000 5w-30, and Havoline 5w-30. It only has 38k miles, and the one it seems to like best is the Havoline. Seems a little smoother and quieter with it.

 

[Radman]

I would use a 10W30 with a low NOACK like Valvoline. Of course any 10W30 would be good.

 

[Brons2]

Use the manufacturer specification. 5w30 at 5,000 miles for peace of mind. If you want to go farther, do a used oil analysis. As for what brand, pretty much any brand name dino 5w30 will work fine in your car.

 

[Bill in Utah]

Run what got you to 180,000 miles!

Most likely any 5w-30 conventional (you could go to 10w-30 since cold temps are not an issue) and change it every 5k miles or 6 months whichever comes first.

Get ready for another 180k!

Take care, Bill

PS:

 

[javacontour]

1997 will be the last year of the 4A-FE or 7A-FE powered Corollas.

You need oil. They will run on most anything that has a recent rating and run forever.

The rest of the car will wear out or annoy you with squeeks and rattles long before the engine wears out.

Any current 5W30 you can get on sale, change it every 5K miles, watch for leaking and keep it in the safe region of the dipstick since this thing hold 3L (a bit over 3 qts) of oil.

 

[Chewi]

thanks everyone for the advice. This car has liked pretty much everything from Quaker State to Mobil 1 so it seems that as long as I don't buy the bottom of the barrel oil it will be ok.

any other thoughts on 5W-30 or 10W-30 considering the extreme heat of the summer? I see a few for both so far.

Again, thanks for the suggestions. Thanks for the welcome Bill!