i just use amsoil and forget about it and be good till next year.

In another forum, someone had a problem going over 20,000 miles with Amsoil oil, they had a problem and guess what, Amsoil did not step up to the plate and help him.

To me it is amazing that we still argue over changing oil on a regular basis. I have met people that do not change oil on a regular basis and they get sludge in their engine.

I started this thread and yes, I think going over 10,000 miles is crazy, but there are companies like Amsoil and BMW, which pays for oil changes, which like to go longer.

Changing oil on a regular basis is a sound practice. Here is a new thread in the 3rd generation forum. Someone bought a 97 and ..... well, take a look for yourself.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showth...threadid=33135

OUCH! on the '97.

"Rode hard and put away wet"

There's no magic formula to supercede regular maintenance.

7500 it too long even for synthetic, 3000 is a waste of money, synthetic oil is better and cleaner.
5000 is perfect for a synthetic oil change.

I recently had my oil change couple days ago and the oil that was drained out was black. is it always black? could it be the oil filter is bad and need to get a better brand? the time interval was little over 3 months and 3k miles. the oil didn't look clean when it was drained out. do you recommend changing to synethetic oil and what are the benefits if there are any? thank you!

doesnt sound like anything was bad, thats just the color regular oil turns after its dirty and its been lubin up your engine after 3000 miles. oil is like a clear brown when its straight out of the bottle/jug.. if it was not see through and it was black, thats normal.

If your oil comes out Darker or even Black that just means it is doing its job. No oil filter will make your drained oil look like it just went in.

Use the search function. You will find 100s of threads discussing Synthetic vs Dyno Oil.

Do you have facts to back up these statements? I disagree that 7,500 miles is too long for synthetic. Also, please elaborate on how synthetic oil is better and cleaner.

So I take it that since you are challenging her to justify herself that you do not use synthetic oil. I personally change out my oil every 5,000 miles and I use synthetic, I also have 170,XXX miles on my motor too. Here is a quote from Mobil.

You do realize that the majority of synthetic motor oils on the market use a group III base oil, which is highly refined mineral oil. Mobil 1 is even rumored to use a large amount of group III base oil in many of their formulations. Regardless, mobil 1 is not 100% pao, or anywhere even close to that. It's most likely a mix of pao, poe, alkylated naphthalenes, and group III, also with the chance of a small dose of group II or I being present as an additive package carrier.

When it comes to motor oil, what really matters is the total package, the base oil(s) and additive package combined.

In regards to the oil change interval, a lot of people make suggestions on how often to change oil, but offer little proof. There are many used oil analyses which offer proof that 7,500mi is not too long for synthetic motor oil.

I'm not trying to start any trouble, I just like to see facts being used to form an opinion rather than marketing hype or gut feelings

I wasn't trying to start anything with you either, and I also don't want to make it seem like I am all about Mobil. I do know that that is what the Toyota dealorship puts in my truck. In your opinion, what is the best oil and why?

Evan

Honestly, for most people the best choice is whatever brand name conventional motor oil you can find on sale. Unless your 4runner sees extreme conditions, theres really no need for synthetic. Even if it does see extreme conditions, just shorten your oil change interval. The API testing sequences have gotten so stringent that any SL or SM service class oil will be more than good enough.

I don't have a favorite oil, or one that i think is best.

Because a synthetic oil is chemically produced, there are no contaminants in the oil. By contrast, conventional oils contain small amounts of sulfur, wax, and asphaltic material that can promote detonation as well as varnish and sludge buildup. With no wax, synthetics will flow at much lower temperatures than conventional oils. In fact, synthetic oils are now available with viscosity ratings as low as 0W-30, as in Mobil 1's new Tri-Synthetic blend or Castrol Formula SLX. These oils flow more than seven times faster than a conventional 5W-30 motor oil during initial start-up, yet at normal operating temperatures act like a regular Grade 30 oil.

this link again is promting mobil but they are some of the founders of the synthetic oil so they are talked about ofter, just like when people talk about the first cars.. you think of Ford. Mobil might not have kept up with the game but they started a great concept. and I do like synthetic because I dont want crap in my engine. I dont care if you change your oil everyday or every 7,500 miles.. thats up to you but growing up I have always heard from my father who is a mechanic, from my mother who ran my dads first shop, from my friends who i work on cars with, from my auto shop teacher, everyone prefers synthetic.. they dont push it on people but as for the facts.. everything you read is going to tell you about how much better synthetic oil is for your vehicle and that if you want to mistreat your vehicle you will go longer then 5000 miles to change your oil. no ones vehicle runs clean enough not to change the oil semi often(around5,000 miles). I truely believe that if you hit 6,000 miles you are stressing your engine! even teh cleanest oil is going to pick up grime. there are holes! there are vents! there are places for dirt to get in your engine!
also... I was talking to a friend and he brought up a very good point, said that if you know your engine eats oil, you shouldnt use synthetic because it will probably disappear even faster if you have been running conventional oil. if you have a newer/well manintained runner (I'm not talking about sports cars or semi trucks btw) that has been running an unknown kind of oil, you have the option of changing or confirming that synthetic oil is being used as it will keep all of the tight pistons tight, the engine smooth and the wear and tear will be less on your engine. conventional oil is going to create build up and therefore wear on your engine after a while. synthetic is just going to keep that from happening as soon.

Thats my opinion, fact, and "back up ...results... information"
so take it or leave it.
I REALLY prefer synthetic!
thanks for reading my rant. I just wanted to get it all out of my system.

-Cait

How's this for an oil change interval - two years now, and counting on Amsoil........I just changed my full flow and bypass filter. This is on my truck, not the 4-runner, by the way. My last oil analysis says it's still good, will probably need to be changed the the 2 1/2 year mark, but I will do it this spring when I service the wife's ride. I pulled the dipstick the other day while filling up and the oil is still a dark honey color.

I was also wondering about the owners who had claims of sludge running Amsoil at extended drain intervals. I've never seen or heard of sludge running full synthetic. In fact, not getting sludge is one of the main benefits of running synthetic oil. My truck has almost 100,000 miles racked up, with only 3 oil changes in it's life, and when I had the pan and heads off (for mods mind you, not repairs), I couldn't find even a trace of sludge. And this is on a BOMBed diesel. If you know anything about diesel, There is an inheirent amount of soot that comes with the combustion process, and the oil is subjected heavily to the effects of the combustion byproducts. Good quality synthetic oil is built with addative packages designed to handle this contamination until it can rid itself of it during filtration. Same goes for what are normally sludge causing contaminants found in both diesel and gas engines. Amsoil's drain interval of 1yr./25,000 miles is based on normal service, ie., mainly highway miles. For severe service, such as stop and go city driving, they recommend a 15, 000 mile drain interval. I'm guessing if sludge was formed in an engine full of synthetic Amsoil, that it was driven past it's ability to handle contaminants any longer, and at that point, Amsoil is within it's right to deny any such warranty coverage. In my opinion, if you are going to push past the severe service interval, you should have an oil analysis done at that point to make sure you can do so without harm.

If you are getting a lot of metal in your oil you've got more problems than your oil. THe main problem with oil contamination is CHEMICAL changes that occur in the oil due to the high heat of the combustion process. Supposedly, synthetic is MUCH less prone to that happening and that is why it can stay in the crankcase for so long. We have one of the oil testing labs you can send your sample to have checked in my town and in talking to them they say almost ALL the time synthetic is still fine at 10,000 miles but most folks can't get their mind around that so most change it there.