Questions regarding oil changes

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
Post Reply
bd4girl
Newbie
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Aug 23, 2013 1:36 pm
My tercel:: 1983 Toyota Tercel 4wd
Location: Dayton, Nevada

Questions regarding oil changes

Post by bd4girl »

How often do you change the oil? (Every 3000 miles?) I What brand of oil do you prefer? (I hear Shell is one of the best.) With 350,532 miles on my car, should oil made for high mileage be used? Most of the time, I've been going to Walmart for oil changes; they use Penzoil. I called Jiffy Lube and they use Penzoil also. I've inquired recently at a couple of the auto shops that change oil and they frown on Penzoil and recommend Shell...just wondering what you think.

Carol
User avatar
Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by Petros »

Good quetion. Consider that the people that sell you oil tell you 3000 miles. However, the people that sell you cars say 9000 to 10,000 miles between changes. consider that if you change your oil twice as often as necessary, how many more in sales the oil companies stand to make. But also, if you make your car last much longer, how much the car companies will stand to loose in sales. I usually go for about 5 to 6k miles, but sometimes let it go longer because I am going through a lot of oil between changes since my engine is pretty beat (needs new rings because of several severe overheating incidents).

If you change as often as 3000 miles, I doubt the quality or brand matters because it hardly has a chance to wear out. you have a lot of miles, if your oil pressure and compression is still good, than why change what you are doing? One thing you can consider is using the cheapest oil you can get, and than adding a $2 container of STP oil treatment to it. Becasue of new regulations they took out some of the protective adatives in motor oil, adatives that our older engines were designed to have in it. the STP puts it all back, and is way cheaper than buy 4 quarts of the "high milage car" motor oil.

If your seals are good and not leaking, I would not put the high mile oil in it since it has "seal conditioners", that soften the seals. As they age they can become brittle and less effective, the conditioner will soften them, and not a bad idea if you know they are more than 20 years old. If you know that your seals have been replaced (like with a clutch change, or timing belt change, a good idea), than I would not want to soften good seals.

you may get other opinions here, we have had some "oil snobs" on the forum, who spend $8 a quart on motor oil (not me!). But I am bit of a cheap skate and want to spend as little as possible on car maintenance (of course, I have 5 old cars to keep running too!), but still keep my cars in good condition.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
User avatar
dlb
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 7305
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
Location: bc, canada

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by dlb »

i usually change the oil and filter every 8000-10,000 km (5000-6000 miles) but if the oil is more black than golden and clear, i change it sooner. i find most older engines have not had their oil changed regularly and wind up with chronically black (dirty) oil. after several oil changes closer together, maybe 4000-5000 km, it usually clears up.

similar to petros, i use whatever oil is on sale when i go to canadian tire. i have not used synthetics though because on old engines, sometimes carbon sludge or buildup is the only thing preventing some worn out seals from leaking, and synthetics are better at breaking down such sludge and buildups, so they can inadvertently cause some oil leaks. i hate a leaky engine or trans so i have so far just stuck with traditional oils. if i rebuilt an engine or trans and replaced all the seals on it, i would definitely move to synthetics for it then since they yield slightly better fuel economy through being thinner and offering less resistance without sacrificing crucial lubrication.

for oil filters, i have started using toyota brand filters. they are actually about the same price as the mid-level filters and i have heard no complaints about them. i stay away from fram filters after seeing some tests on youtube that show their inferior design, and also because i had two bad experiences with them recently.

lots of people will say stuff like 'don't use (insert brand here), it's garbage' but remember that it's all just personal opinion. there are no hard and fast rules about brand x being better than brand y, and what some people like, others don't, so take all advice with a grain of salt and use your own experiences to choose whatever you feel is best.
User avatar
irowiki
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 3463
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:02 am
Location: Farmington, NM

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by irowiki »

My Regal has a nice sensor that monitors the oil and tells me when it is dirty and time to change it, I've gone almost 10,000 miles until the light turned on and the oil wasn't even that bad!

The Tercel however, I notice as the oil ages it starts leaking out faster, I changed the oil when I bought it (it was nasty) and now, 3,000 miles later, I changed it again (it was nasty, but not as bad as the first one) I figure after a few changes maybe it'll clear up and I can go to 5,000 miles instead.

I also switched to heavier oil in the Tercel, 20w-50 I think, and the engine runs much smoother now.
Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
94 Jamboree RV (Ford E-350), 90k
95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
TominMO
Top Notch Member
Posts: 136
Joined: Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:21 am
My tercel:: 1986 SR5
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by TominMO »

I change it every 3000 - 5000 miles, depending on color. Always change filter too. I tend towards Castrol High Mileage, but really I think that oil filter quality is more important. I never let a shop do my oil changes, because sooner or later some idiot will use his air wrench to put the drain plug back, and either strip the threads or tear up the hex head. Plus they use the cheapest filters they can get their hands on.
1986 4WD Tercel, formerly gold, now camo
1995 Ford Aspire SE, MPG development car, shooting for 65 MPG hwy
1990 Ford Festiva, mild motor swap, HP development car
The other Tom M. in STL w/a gold 1986 SR5--from the universe where Spock has a goatee
teranfirbt
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 519
Joined: Mon Mar 30, 2009 12:58 am
My tercel:: '86 SR5 4WD, 5AFE, lifted rear, 195/70/14 tires
Location: Seattle, WA

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by teranfirbt »

I was changing every 5k on mine, but I'm going to push this change since I've been running Chevron Delo400 (yep, the diesel stuff). It's dual rated and doesn't burn like gasoline rated stuff did. Plus, it has a TON more of the additives that older engines need. For a filter I run a Napa Gold 1515 (it's for a 5.0 Ford) since it's about 3 times the volume of the Tercel one.
MR2Di4
Advanced Member
Posts: 77
Joined: Fri May 05, 2006 1:06 am
My tercel:: 1985 SR5 4WD Wagon
Location: Ketchikan, Alaska

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by MR2Di4 »

I have found that any kind of mileage count seems meaningless. I check my oil every other time I fill up and evaluate it's condition. Most of my cars get oil changes two to three times a year. To me, dark-yet-translucent oil doesn't necessarily mean a change is imperative. I focus more on how the oil feels as I slide it between my fingers, if it still feels as slippery as new oil I'm not worried but if it feels like it's not, I make a reminder to get oil change stuff. Actually feeling the oil also helps identify whether there are more serious problems like metallic specks indicating very bad things...

Carbon-saturated coal black oil is another matter and usually found in the cars of people who very rarely even open the hood of their car, much less get an oil change. In those engines I immediately pour in some SeaFoam or Marvel Mystery to try and break up as much crap as possible, run the engine hard for maximum flow, then immediately do an oil change. I've even seen some friends use a "chaser" of diesel poured through the engine and coming out the pan drain to flush more crud out.

The "best" oil and filter is a topic of much discussion all over the Internet. For me I just use the cheapest NAPA brand oil and their Gold line of filters made by Wix. I've never had a problem...
'85 4WD SR5 S/W (Winter Daily Driver)
'88 Toy Truck (Summer Daily Driver)
'86 4WD AT S/W (First T4WD, long gone...)
'88 MR2 N/A (Namesake College Car, also long gone...)
'70 AMX (Family Heirloom, will never be gone...)
4wdchico
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 563
Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:51 pm
My tercel:: 1985 tercel 4wd
Location: Chico, Norcal

Re: Questions regarding oil changes

Post by 4wdchico »

irowiki wrote:My Regal has a nice sensor that monitors the oil and tells me when it is dirty and time to change it, I've gone almost 10,000 miles until the light turned on and the oil wasn't even that bad!
The PCM system computes how long until it lights up the change oil light based on your driving. Lots of long highway trips will make for a long interval until the light comes on. There is no oil condition sensor in your Buick.

I have had two GM cars with that system, one was an '02 Regal. I would only be comfortable following the oil change light program if I were using a synth oil and extended drain interval premium oil filter. The car manufacturers don't really want your car lasting super long. Or, with the synth oil and premium filter, just go 10k miles or one year.
Post Reply