2005 Toyota Corolla, oil questions

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Hello, new to the forum.

I'm currently using 5w-30 synthetic oil and I recently bought a bunch of cheap oil. I was able to buy Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE 5qt jugs for $10 each and Valvoline VR1 10w-30 for $3/qt at my local Autozone. I've been told different stories on when to use the oil. Been advised to use 10w-30 in the winter and 0w-30 in the summer and vice-verse, now I'm just confused.

What oil should I use and when? Thanks in advanced

1. 2005 Toyota Corolla 1.8L 1ZZ-FE
2. Manual reccomends 5w-30, API Cert: SL, ILSAC
3. New Mexico (the car has seen 8F - 103F temperatures, for temperature trends: http://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/albuquerque/new-mexico/united-states/usnm0370)
4. I drive hard and fast
5. City/highway, equally, ~20 miles a day
6. Short ram intake, running lean


EDIT: Car is not on warranty, 120k miles. My oil comes out dark when I change it no matter what oil. When I used conventional oil, I would change it every 3.5k miles; I change it every 5-7k miles on synthetic.
 
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Use the M1 AFE year round. Sell the VR1 to someone on Craigs List who has a 1970 or older muscle car. You could just use it as you would a regular conventional. The high zinc is hard on catalytic converters in cars that use oil.
 
Yea the VR1 is not great for newer cars. You could if you wanted use 1 Qt of the VR1 and 3qts of the mobil1 if you do not have to much and want to use it.
 
I have an 04 toyota celica with same engine. I used to use 5w30 synthetics and now I use 0w30 all the time. Doesn't use any oil
 
My 1.5 liter 1NZ-FE '05 xB sheared the AFE hard in 7K, well into 20 weight range-I'm going to be the contrarian & say use the AFE in winter, no more than 5K without oil analysis, & as long as you're not burning oil, use the VR1 in summer (although your engine calls for a 5W30).
 
Use the AFE in winter and VR1 in the summer until it's used up.

Then, use good 5w-30 conventional like Pennzoil Yellow Bottle (PYB) and change it every 5,000 miles.

Welcome to BITOG.
 
Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Use the AFE in winter and VR1 in the summer until it's used up.

Then, use good 5w-30 conventional like Pennzoil Yellow Bottle (PYB) and change it every 5,000 miles.

Welcome to BITOG.


This....all conventional oils are cheap...
There's cheap oil and then there's bad oil (wrong oil for your car).....
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Just run the Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE year round and be done with it.


+1
There is nothing wrong with the VR1, but there is no benefit in switching oils all the time. As the matter of fact, it could be harmful.
Also, synthetic oils are good for 10,000 miles, unless you drive short trips.
 
First off...
welcome2.gif


Our 03' Vibe has the same 1ZZFE engine your Corolla has.
It's getting close to 200k miles. It's run most of it's life on conventional oil (Valvoline and Castrol being the majority) 5w30 (4-5k oci) with only slight oil consumption being an issue. It consumes quite a bit more oil on synthetic , thus the reason I stick to conventional.
Toyota has back spec'd this engine to run on 5w20 as well.
It's had a hard life too.. started off as an Avis rental - we've had it since it's had 7k miles on it. And currently the past 5 yrs it's been mostly driven 70% city / 30% hwy.
From your selections I'd run the Mobil OW30.

Lean run condition ? P0171 ? I've recently had to replace the intake gasket with the updated Toyota orange gasket and replaced the MAF sensor , been over a month and no lean code.
I took off my short ram years ago. No real gains or benefits in using it over stock set up with a factory air filter.
 
Thank you guys for all of the advice. I might as well return the 11 qts of VR1 oil

EDIT: Yes it has a P0171 code. Something odd with the Corolla's not compensating for the extra air and needs to be tuned. Just love having the engine sound and it feels like it pulls harder at higher speeds.
 
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Looking more into the VR1 oil. I forgot to mention I bought the BLACK bottle of VR1, not the nonstreet version or silver bottle.

Should I just keep the VR1 oil, or is it enough to destroy my catalytic converter? I tend to use it the full 7k miles/4-5months. I probably lose about 1/4-1/2 a quart of oil per oil change, never a noticeable amount.

Some guy posted a lot of numbers for a bunch of oils: http://www.chevelles.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-398916.html
 
It did? I have only run about 4-5 UOAs on my oil, mostly to look for coolant or anything horrible, but I haven't seen it shear hardly at all. I use mostly 0W-20 AFE now but back a while ago it was 0W-30. And this was year-round.

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
My 1.5 liter 1NZ-FE '05 xB sheared the AFE hard in 7K, well into 20 weight range-I'm going to be the contrarian & say use the AFE in winter, no more than 5K without oil analysis, & as long as you're not burning oil, use the VR1 in summer (although your engine calls for a 5W30).
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Just run the Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE year round and be done with it.


I agree. And run it for 10K.
 
The VR1 has about twice the phosphorus of the AFE, and so will be fractionally harder on your catalytic converter. This damage will be pretty minimal unless the car is burning lots of oil.

The AFE will flow a bit better on those rare 10 degree mornings. VR1 at 10f is a bit thicker, but is still within it's operating range. Mow many total miles per year? If you wind up changing oil in the fall, go with the AFE.

In other words, either will work just fine...
wink.gif


If you have a ton of the VR1, you might want to trade or sell it before the minimal catalytic damage accumulates to cause actual problems.
 
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Originally Posted By: kschachn
It did? I have only run about 4-5 UOAs on my oil, mostly to look for coolant or anything horrible, but I haven't seen it shear hardly at all. I use mostly 0W-20 AFE now but back a while ago it was 0W-30. And this was year-round.

Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
My 1.5 liter 1NZ-FE '05 xB sheared the AFE hard in 7K, well into 20 weight range-I'm going to be the contrarian & say use the AFE in winter, no more than 5K without oil analysis, & as long as you're not burning oil, use the VR1 in summer (although your engine calls for a 5W30).


Considering the '05 Corolla has been back-spec'd for a 20 grade any amount of oil shear of M1 0W-30 should be considered beneficial.

As has been already mentioned use the 10W-30 in the summer months and the M1 AFE 0W-30 now. On your next oil purchase go with any 0W/5W-20. If you can get M1 AFE 0W-20 on sale that would be a good choice.
 
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