Oil recommendation for my car (details in post)

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Hello BITOG community looking for an oil recommendation! Now, before I
get into the details I will say that I am currently heavily eyeballing
Amsoil 10W-30 at the moment. I do prefer synthetic, So without further ado:

I drive a 2009 Scion tC I drive civilized about 70% of the time and the
remaining 30% I would say is spirited driving (no racing or breaking speed
limits though... rarely anyway). I live in west Texas so it's hot and dry
99% of the time. My daily drive consists of 8 miles to school at 7 a.m. then
8 miles on the way home at noon mixed city/highway. Then in the afternoon I
go to work, which is delivering pizza. lots of short trips between 3-8 miles.
occasionally I'll leave my car on between deliveries if the business is booming.
the drive to work is mostly highway, about 15 miles to then 15 miles home.
That's pretty much about 3 days out of the week. Weekends don't see the school
trip and two weekdays don't see the work trips. It's currently at 99.5k miles.

The owners manual states to use any API certified oil of 0W-20 or 5W-20 weights
to be changed at 4500mi/3mo. whichever comes first. The engine is a 2AZ-FE which
has the controversial oil consumption issue, luckily for me, the only time my
engine likes to burn oil is when I'm in the high RPMs with VVTi going. So,
typically if I don't ever go past 4500 RPMs the engine typically doesn't burn
any oil. I do like driving it though so I would like to burn less oil when I do
drive enthusiastically. I'm currently adding anywhere between 1/2 qt to 1 qt at
around mile 2000 (halfway through the cycle basically) based on how spirited
I've been driving that cycle. I'm sure I wouldn't have to add anything if I
drove like a grandma but... That's just not me.

I checked out some of the Scion forums and what a good amount of experienced
people there said was to get pick a good synthetic with low volatility, I'm
currently running Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 10w-30 and I love it but I heard it's
got a relatively high volatility rating. I'd like to bring that down to see if
it helps my high revving consumption issues. Sorry for the dissertation guys if
you're still reading bless your heart for helping a guy out.
 
I would highly recommend Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5W-30. It meets and exceeds many tough specifications, and is readily available and always priced right. Since you do so much idling and short trips, I would do 5,000 miles OCI's. If consumption continues, and you want to stay synthetic, try Valvoline Maxlife synthetic or Mobil 1 High Mileage, also in 5W-30. Honestly, your consumption isn't all that bad, and if you can live with it, I'd stay with the QS. My two cents.
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Mobil 1 HM 10-30 on every other oil change to treat the o-rings and oil consumption.

Should also consider replace the valve cover gaskets, spark plugs, oil pan gasket TAKE PICTURES, PCV valve, oil pressure sensor-switch.

Drain and fill trans with Redline, change all other fluids.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, to answer about the high mileage, I've read that the additives in high mileage oils intentionally "gummy up" the seals and bearings etc. A prospect I'm not too comfortable with, hence the 10W-30 I'd prefer running a higher weight oil than to use a high mileage oil. As I said I live in the desert the coldest nights in winter here MIGHT hit freezing but rarely go below that. I'm pretty confident that I'd be ok running 10W-30 year round, if I have second thoughts I may run 5W-30 for the winter.
 
All other maintenance stuff I've already taken care of or will be taking care of at 100k. I'm not so sure that the oil pressure sensor needs replacing just yet. It's not really a typical wear part. I'm primarily concerned with the motor oil as I feel that the oil is what is really regularly changing with me driving so much.
 
Luis, the HM oil won't hurt anything, as it conditions seals, not gums them up. I don't believe 10W-30 would hurt one bit in your climate, but it isn't necessarily going to reduce consumption more than 5W-30. Like I said before, your consumption rate isn't out of the norm. I would just add when needed. One good thing about minor consumption is that you have an opportunity to refresh your oil's add pack.
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Good to know, then I have made my decision. Mobil1 High Mileage it is. My next (and hopefully last) question would be; should I start off with 5W-20 since that is recommended by Toyota, then move up to 5W-30 if consumption is still higher than I'd like it? My thing is, my tolerance for an engine using oil is zero. It shouldn't use any in my opinion. I used to drive an old 92 Honda Integra with 175,000 miles on that little B18 and it didn't burn a drop of the 5W-30 Royal Purple I would put in it. I don't mind adding 1/2 a qt within the 4500 miles OCI, but that is my upper limit.
 
Yeah I was running Pennzoil Ultra Platinum for the last three OCIs. The last two were 10w-30 and the one before that was 5w-20. the 5w-20 was sipped up happily down to below the fill mark by 2000 miles so I moved up to 10w-30 the consumption went down. My next change is due in approx. two weeks so I can't wait to see what the Mobil1 High Mileage brings. I'm probably going to purchase a UOA for this last bit of PUP that I'm running.
 
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Now my real final question haha... Should I perform an engine oil flush? and if so which would you recommend?
 
Yikes, no oil flush. All the name brand oils have enough detergents in them to clean the engine. Esp, M1 HM oils.

Try to fill up using a www.tiptiergas.com retailer.
 
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No oil flush got it. Yeah all I use is Shell V-Power 91 in my tank. I know so many people say I don't need it I'm wasting my money blah blah blah. I don't listen to em, I mean it is MY money that I'm "wasting" right?
 
Originally Posted By: Luisraul924
No oil flush got it. Yeah all I use is Shell V-Power 91 in my tank. I know so many people say I don't need it I'm wasting my money blah blah blah. I don't listen to em, I mean it is MY money that I'm "wasting" right?
You got the last part right, you're a pushover for the oil companies marketing games.
 
Well the Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 10w30 NOACK volatility is 5.7. That's not high by any measure. Period. Only one I know that is lower oddly enough is the Platinum version of 10w30 that is 4.6 or so. Now the TEOST results may be different but those results are very very hard to find for 10w30 viscosities. Amsoil has some of them listed but they are for the 5w30 viscosities. But if you are concerned with volatility then the 10w30 Pennzoil of either Ultra Platinum or Platinum are really very very good.
 
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Originally Posted By: Luisraul924
a good synthetic with low volatility, I'm
currently running Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 10w-30 and I love it but I heard it's
got a relatively high volatility rating. I'd like to bring that down to see if
it helps my high revving consumption issues.



The only ( reasobly priced) thing with better noack value is PP with a 4.7% vs PUP @ 5.7 that you run. A GOOD synthetic, such as M1 will likely have a noack of 10, almost double that of your oil.

I don't know who told you that PUP is highly volatile, but it sounds like the person is as informed as the guy that says the same pennzoil will sludge you car up.

Personally, I would run your set up as is, at 5-7K miles, and since being a delivery vehicle, the oil doesn't get a chance to cool (can't qualify for short trip) I would not even worry about it.
 
Would you mind providing a source to the testing done on PUP and PP? I would like to see those results myself, I was scouring the web for approx. 3 hours last night to no avail. Also, what exactly is the difference between PP and PUP other than the $2 price point?

Edit: scratch that I found the technical specs.
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my second question still stands though.......
 
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My thought is that the Pennzoil Ultra uses an even higher quality base stock than the Platinum. It is able to give longer intervals due to this, have less burn off, and less carbon deposits than the Platinum. Thus the claim of cleaner pistons and cleaner motor parts that equals closer to factory clean. Is it worth $2 extra dollars??
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maybe. I will say this that is not much more to pay for the "higher tier" performing oil.
 
Hmm... That certainly makes sense. I wonder why PP has a lower noack percentage than PUP though...
 
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