1 MZ-FE V-6 owners: What oil do you use and why?

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synthetic_crazy

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To all the owners of Lexus/Toyota Models with the infamous 1 MZ-Fe V-6 engines: What brand/grade of oil do you prefer to use in this engine and what is your reason in using that particular oil?

We are using Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 in our 1MZ-FE for its cleansing abilities.
 
I have also been using PP 5W30 in my Sienna since discovering this website in 2008.

I want to keep the engine as clean as possible and avoid oil residue in the idle control valve.

PP 5W30 also has great cold weather properties.
 
Just changed Lexus oil today with yearly change of Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30. I replaced 1/2 quart with MMO for extra cleaning. Before I started doing oil changes it was PP yellow bottle/bulk from Lexus dealership. PCV was pretty dirty at 35,000 miles. Just trying to keep it clean. This is a 99 RX300 that is only driven 4,000 miles per year.
 
Same here, PP 5W30 interchangeably with PU 5W30.Reason?Readily available oil advertised for its cleaning ability.

I thought about using GC but so far I have not been brave enough to try it.

Average OCI is 5000 miles, but this time I might go 7500 miles with longer Japan-made Toyota filter.Driven mostly on highways.

What is your OCI?
 
Originally Posted By: kozanoglu

What is your OCI?


We err on the side of caution and change the oil every 3000 miles (with the PP). I know the oil could go longer but oil is cheap insurance relative to a new engine.
 
Three quarts total of synthetic:

1 quart Castrol Edge 10W-30
1 quart Mobil 1 0W-30
1 quart Mobil 1 10W-30

And three total of dino:
3 quarts Proline from Pep Boys 5W-30
1 Fram Tough Guard size TG3600, (slightly oversize).

The next witch's brew will be some Pennzoil, some NAPA Synthetic and some Valvoline, a little on the heavy side as it will be in the summer; about 15W-35ish in all as I have a lot of heavier stuff to use up.

I almost always use SM or SN oil these days, and often with a little MMO to fight sludge, but SL will work in this car. I do many short trips but at least a 30 mile freeway trip every week, and some really long hauls too (recently to Ely, Nevada and back).

I keep the PCV valve changed and my mechanic watches it for sludge; none has yet been found in the past six years.
 
1996 Lexus ES300
(built January 96)

Mobil-1 0W-30
Mobil-1 M1-102 filter

I change it once a year or whenever Mobil-1 is on sale with the 5-qt and filter bundle. (the M1 filter is also supposed to be very good). I usually rack up 8-10k in a year.

The extended oil-change premise is always good, and it's ACEA A5/B5.

It seems to be the best all-around oil available in stores at a decent price.

Pennzoil Ultra 5W-30 is now A5/B5 (I'm halfway into my OCI), so I might try it when I'm due if M1 isn't on sale in the first quarter of 2012.

Does anybody use Royal Purple in their 1MZ?
 
3000 miles on a syn oci? Do you really think that will help your engine run longer??? You are better going 6 months or 5000 miles
every time you change your oil and filter the engine runs dry until the oil filter fills up.
 
Originally Posted By: kozanoglu
Does anybody use Castrol Syntec 0W30 in these engines?

Isn't that the German Castrol? If so this is more of a 40w oil, comparable to M1 0w-40.

Originally Posted By: crazyoildude
3000 miles on a syn oci? Do you really think that will help your engine run longer??? You are better going 6 months or 5000 miles
every time you change your oil and filter the engine runs dry until the oil filter fills up.

I agree. PP/PU can easily go 7500-10000 miles with a good filter.
 
I have the 1MZFE in my 2003 Sienna.
In the Sienna, the 2003 is NOT in the Toyota "Gelling" issue.
They improved the drainage from above the baffels in the top of the valve covers (older version could build up sludge between the baffle and the top of the valve cover and restrict PCV flow).
They also went from the plastic PCV valve that pressed into a grommet in the rear valve cover to a metal PCV valve that screws into the rear valve cover (same location).
There may be other "improvements" as well.

It is SUPER CRITICAL to make SURE that the PCV valve is not clogged.

The Penzoil Platinum (PP) oil that you are using should be fine.

This motor is (my opinion) not a good canidate for an extended oil change interval.
If you are doing short trip driving in a cold climate winter....I would NOT go over 5K miles.

Highway driving is the easiest on oil, and one can usually extend the Oil Change Interval under those circumstances.
HOWEVER, Amsoil does not recommend their 25K mile interval for Toyota.....and this motor is a example of what they have in mind.
They say to go a maximum of 15K miles.
I'm not a extended OCI person myself, but that is just my opinion, not a proven fact.
I only go 5K on mine...but I have a lot of short trip driving, which, as I mentioned is very hard on the oil in cold weather.

Since the post asks, I use Redline oil, which is major overkill for this application.

Mobil 1 AFE (Advanced Fuel Economy) is another great choice (better in cold weather than the Redline that I'm using).
You can get this oil at many places, like Walmart, in the 5 quart jug.
But, I stress again, there is nothing wrong with the oil that you are using.

One point that was mentioned.....this motor will accept the slightly longer filter.
I do this.
I have a Bosch Distance Plus 3422 filter on mine.
This would be a 3600 in the FRAM numbers......though I prefer the Fram XG3600 which is their top of the line filter.
The WIX number for the longer filter is 51516 (I think Napa Gold drops the first 5 in their number, same filter).

The only difference between the longer filter and the one listed for this motor is that the longer one is slightly longer...but fits with room to spare.
The base, gasket and the bypass pressure values are exactly the same between the 2 sizes.
I use the longer filter in order to get a bit more media surface area (for the same price)......which hopefully results in less restriction in the filter when the oil is cold.

In the Sienna, I think that they started the VVT (Variable Valve Timing) on this motor in 2002.
This gives the motor more horsepower.
The VVT uses motor oil under pressure to adjust the phase of the intake valve cam.
Each bank of cylinders has a VVT filter in the head, which can be screwed out and inspected.
It is a metal screen filter, which is available through TOYOTA.
I have not gotten around to taking mine out, and have no reason to suspect that there is any issue with them.
There is a electrical solenoid in each head that controls the oil pressue applied to the VVT "phaser" on each intake cam.
The computer controls the phase of the intake cam by sending a signal to the VVT solenoids.

There was a supercharger available through Toyota Racing Development (TRD) for the NON-VVT version of this motor.

Also, in the LEXUS vehicles, this motor called for gasoline of octane rating of 91 or higher....and the horsepower rating was higher than in the TOYOTA vehicle version that calls for a gasoline of octane rating of 87 or higher.
The rules for horsepower rating are that it is to be listed for the minimum octane rating called for in the owner's manual.
My 2003 owner's manual states a minimum of 87 octane but for "improved performance" a octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended.
In my case, I get better performance with 93 octane vs 87, but I don't know that I get enough more fuel economy to compensate for the increased cost.
I have not done any playing around with comparing the 2 to know.
I have played around with speed on trips and know that I get at least 1.5mpg better at 65mph vs 70mph.
 
Originally Posted By: wiswind

Also, in the LEXUS vehicles, this motor called for gasoline of octane rating of 91 or higher....and the horsepower rating was higher than in the TOYOTA vehicle version that calls for a gasoline of octane rating of 87 or higher.
The rules for horsepower rating are that it is to be listed for the minimum octane rating called for in the owner's manual.
My 2003 owner's manual states a minimum of 87 octane but for "improved performance" a octane rating of 91 or higher is recommended.
In my case, I get better performance with 93 octane vs 87, but I don't know that I get enough more fuel economy to compensate for the increased cost.
I have not done any playing around with comparing the 2 to know.
I have played around with speed on trips and know that I get at least 1.5mpg better at 65mph vs 70mph.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of performance improvements did you see/feel with the 93 octane? Smoother acceleration? Less knocking?
 
1mz-fe, 2006 camry v6.

chevron supreme ( paid $2/qt ). chevron is excellent dino oil. Mostly highway, still do 5k OCI according to toyota.

chevron 87.. I used chevron 91 before ( it doesn't increase gas mileage ). trust me on that.
 
In my 2003 Sienna, it pretty much eliminated pinging under accelleration.
That is my reason for using it.
My gut feel.....if I get increased fuel economy with Premium, it is not enough savings to offset the 20 cents more per gallon over regular unleaded.
There was a TSB from TOYOTA for my vehicle that they would replace the computer for FREE if a customer came in complaining about the pinging under the circumstances I had it, but I got the vehicle used, after the mileage limit for that program.
A computer is over $1000 through Toyota, and the problem was not serious enough for me to do that.

MOST motors will NOT benefit from the use of Premium gasoline over regular unleaded.
My "butt dyno" and the near elimination of any pinging tell me that there is a gain with this motor in my particular situation.
But again, it is a very small improvement......the pinging was very slight, and the increased performance is not anything major.
 
'01 RX-300/77K miles.

I only use name brand oil(2qts syn/3qts dino) that are held in high regard here at Bob's. Since most of our driving is short trips(due mostly to having several vehicles), our OCI's are 2X/yr @ 3K ea. The oil hardly looks touched at 3K miles although both the syn & dino oils are know for their cleaning abilitys. So, I'd have to say our 1MZFE is clean inside
smile.gif


I use the same oils and mixtures in my '04 Altima 2.5 and the oil get darker much sooner and our daughters Mazda3 is somewhere in between.

As for the octane of fuel, our '01 owners manual(OM) states that 87 is fine and 91 or higher is for better performance. This OM statement was new for the '01 model year as Lexus had made some modifications to the engine and knock sensors along with increasing the size of the gas tank to 20 gals and several cosmetic tweeks.

I don't notice any differences in either/any octane(s) and I have tested my 0-60 with a stop watch on my favorite country road.

With the exception of a slight bit of extra MPG with the 93, only while keeping the mph no higher than 60mph @ 2500 rpm on the highway, or while driving around town slowly, I don't notice a thing. Not with the way the engine starts, idles, smoothness/quietness, accelerates or WOT...Nothing! Even if I hold the pedal to the metal til the tranny shifts, I don't ever feel any differences in shift points of if the engine spins up a bit higher.

What I do notice is that the car is quieter, always rides better and is smoother and faster when it's clean/waxed. And MPG is off the charts!
smile.gif
....JK!

I do notice in fact, that what ever MPG I have on the display screen(which I reset at each tankfull of gas), I alway get .5-1.0 mpg "LOWER" with a hand held calculator, which is telling me that the display screen is inacurate. It's always been this way!
 
I used Red Line 5W-30 in my '97 Camry V-6 for all the obvious reasons: the POE/PAO resistance to heat, low NOACK, high flash point, high HTHS, etc. I don't think you're crazy running PP 5W-30 at 3,000 miles intervals. In the UOAs I've seen, these engines destroyed conventional oil by 3,000 miles and Group IV-V synthetics by 5,000 miles. The one RL 5W-30 UOA I performed at 5k miles (not published) showed 7 ppm iron, but I don't recall the shear. I chose 91 octane gasoline over 87, since it ran cleaner in UOAs. I replaced the PCV valve every 30k miles. Additionally, used the RL D4 in the power steering, which made it noticeably quieter and smoother. My first PS unit with Toyota fluid burned out quickly.
 
03 Sienna-I have used both PP and M1 and believe it runs much peppier with M1. Currently I am using the M15W-30EP and change it every year.
Use 87 octane but go to 93 octane when gas prices are cheaper.
 
Okay, I wasnt going to.....but I`ll add my
49.gif
. I have owned a 2001 RX300, and now my RX330. Both of them ran/run much,much better on the premium fuel over the regular fuel. And no stinky rotten egg smell from the tail pipe on premium (unless I`m really flooring it) more power for the hills around here, less transmission downshifts as someone already mentioned. Definitely smoother performance during summertime, and at least a 1.5 mile to the gallon increase over 87. All in all, I`d say it pretty much a no Brainer. Can you use 87 in the 1/3MZ-FE? sure can, but then dont expect a whole lot from it either.
 
I buy toyota camry because it is reliable and less maintenance, and give good mpg.

There is no way I will pay over $5 a quart for motor oil.

In my opinion, You can run any cheap dino ( with API symbol), and 5000 OCI for the older camry model. It will last forever.
 
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