257,000 mi of Valvoline conventional 5k OCI (pics)

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This is the valve train of a 2003 Toyota RAV4 1AZ-FE engine. We had the car since new and I used Valvoline conventional for every single oil change, with 5k OCI. Every valve clearance is still within specs (original shims). I was only able to measure two of the cam lobes with my micrometer, since there was not enough room to measure all the lobes with the cam still inside the engine. The two lobes I measured were still within specs. What do you think?

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It looks like the oil protected the engine well. That bit of varnish in there doesn't hurt anything. Just my 2 cents...
 
That looks fantastic! You are well on your way to 300K and this is proof that a quality conventional Is up to the job for the life of a vehicle.
 
My wife has the same year, glad to see its a chain verse a belt, I really thought it had a belt.

You know that motor is slated as having sludging issues, so yours looks very nice for 275,000 mile. My wifes only has 112,000 miles.(no oil burn). does yours use oil?
 
Originally Posted By: Mackelroy
)does yours use oil?


Less than 1/2 quart every 5k miles, with no noticeable change in the rate of consumption since new.
 
Doesn't look bad, but I wonder what it would have looked like if full synthetic was used the whole time.
 
Originally Posted By: actionstan
Looks awesome, what kind of driving does this RAV4 see? Highway/City?


I'd say about 64.3% highway. About.
 
Originally Posted By: Nayov
Quite a bit of varnish. I would not be happy.


Really? I think it looks really good for 257000 miles.
 
Looks great for a quarter million!

My dad used VWB on his 88 Volvo for a similar amount of miles while I was growing up. No problems there either.

Thanks for posting.
 
Looks pretty darn good for that many miles. Wonder what it would look like if you used PYB for that many miles?
 
I usually change my wife's oil twice per year, more in the early miles. Usually various 10w30's.

But I bought a gallon jug of Castrol GTX one time, and oil probably had 6,000 miles or so Id say when I changed the GTX, oil itself didn't look too bad, but It had hard plaque build up on the dip stick. Ran some regular mobil oil and it cleaned it up by the next change out. I don't know how GTX gets such a loyal following, it definitely needs short change intervals.
 
Looks nice.

Stay the course on what you're doing.

A little varnish at that mileage just adds a little character.
 
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