200k mi- switch to full synthetic? (No longer a commuter vehicle)

[CelticRunner]

Im at almost 195k mi and looking to keep the car running and healthy for at least a couple years longer.

I generally get the high mileage synthetic blend with the oil change but wondering if I should switch to full synthetic. I’m no longer commuting with this vehicle and mostly drive around town on the weekends. Overall it’s pretty easy driving. But my concern is the length of time between oil changes since I’m no longer hitting 5k every 2-3 months or so. It’s hard to say due to reduced driving with this whole virus mess but I’d probably hit 5k miles every 6-8 weeks (?) normally

Most of the threads on this indicate full synthetic is necessary for extreme conditions or higher mileage between oil changes (while another consensus is that a blend could be equal to a low quality synthetic and just being a synthetic doesn’t mean it’s necessarily superior. But I’m mostly looking at it due to length of time between oil changes.


Figured I’d ask the experts here.

 

[xtremewlr]

It'd be fine. I bought my 03 V8 4R with over 280k on it and no clue what oil was ever used in it. I always run Shell Rotella T6 full synthetic in my vehicles and switched to that right away. The 4R is over 288k now now and running better than it did when I got it. Same thing with the 1999 Tacoma I had. Bought that at 315k and ran Rotella in it the whole time with no problems, no leaks. Ran great and still does. I do oil and filter changes at 9k intervals and run Toyota YZZD3 oil filters. Just do it, stop being paranoid over nothing.

 

[doofenshmirtz]

I never gave a thought and switched to full synthetic mobil1 high mileage when I bought mine @140k. Mine is now @184k with zero issues. I’ve gone 5-7k for each oil change. Usually going 6-9 months OCI as well.

I’m trying out the Kirkland 5w30 full synthetic based on the project farm videos. Turns out that the Walmart brand that everyone seems to be just fine with is also the same as the Amazon and Costco stuff (more than likely). 10qts for $25 is really hard to beat. Gonna get an oil sample test when I’ve got 6k on it to see how it looks.

 

[ads2539]

Mobil 1 is all I’ve ever put in my V8, and I bought it used (65k, now 178k) like the previous poster. I currently use 5W30 high mileage and extended oil change interval. (I’ve only driven my 4R about 1,500 miles in the last 12 months.)

Any Mobil, Rotella, Castrol, etc. synthetic should be fine for your 4R. I’d stay away from conventional or synthetic blends just to be safe (peace of mind). I change my own oil, so the changes aren’t too expensive.

 

[Keros]

In North America, "Full Synthetic" is marketing BS. To determine what base stock the oil was made from, you have to know the "group number":

Base Oil Groups Explained

I'll skip re-hashing a lot of the baloney, Bobistheoilguy forum talks about it pretty well in this thread:

So group III oils aren't really synthetic? | Bob Is The Oil Guy

I've tried a couple of group 4 and group 5 oils in various Toyotas I've owned over the years with mixed success. My Supra's 7M-GTE burned redline's 5W30 at an alarming rate. But a group3 Mobil1 rarely burned at all except on track days.

Castrol GTX 5W30 from costco made the valve train of my 5VZ-FE loud enough you could hear it in the cab. There was a local place that manufactured engine oil in Calgary... I don't recall the name right now, but their oil was even cheaper than Costco's Castrol... and the valve train was very quiet running that oil and the ol' boat anchor never burned it either.

Unfortunately there's alot of snake oil and voodoo around engine oil marketing, everyone thinks they have the best stuff... Lucas used to tour the pits in Indy, back in the 60's/70's, and give racers $100 for a picture of them pouring their oil into the crank case. But no racers wanted to run that sludge in their motors so they'd keep a bottle in the fridge and someone would distract the Lucas reps while the mechanic swapped the bottle, then they'd leave it upside down over the oil fill... stuff was like molasses while cold and would never leave the bottle. Easy hundred bucks.

If the shop does my oil change, the truck gets Motul. If I do it, I generally put Mobil1 in (good price, easy to find, trusted). Right now I'm trying Royal Purple because apparently it has some crazy detergents that clean up an engine pretty good. Either it'll grenade the motor or it'll be spotless inside... one of the two. But the 2UZ appears to burn Royal Purple pretty readily. I'm not sure it's going to make the whole oil change interval.

To sum up... almost everything on the shelf that's reasonably priced is going to be a group 3: Pennzoil, Mobil1, Castrol, probably Rotella, etc. Group 4 & 5 oils (that are actually "Full Synthetic")like Royal Purple, Redline, etc are mega expensive. If a label says "Full Synthetic" and you don't swear looking at the price tag, it's more than likely a group 3 blend, and marketing bullshit. But that does not make it a bad product... just it's not what advertisements and keyboard warriors make it out to be. And that's really the point I'm trying to make: People talk about "full synthetic" like it means something, and then proceed to specify a semi-synthetic blend... clearly, advertising is much more important than science in this market...

My experience has been that all my Toyotas run best on a group 3 like Mobil1. Though Pennzoil Platinum gives similar results, I'm often able to find Mobil1 on sale at Crappy Tire.

To get the best out of the oil, consider a dual bypass filter like a trasco. I'm not such a fan of any remote mount oil system that adds lines, like an amsoil remote-mount dual bypass filter head... because obviously the lines are an additional point of failure.

 

[CelticRunner]

In North America, "Full Synthetic" is marketing BS. To determine what base stock the oil was made from, you have to know the "group number":

Base Oil Groups Explained

I'll skip re-hashing a lot of the baloney, Bobistheoilguy forum talks about it pretty well in this thread:

So group III oils aren't really synthetic? | Bob Is The Oil Guy

I've tried a couple of group 4 and group 5 oils in various Toyotas I've owned over the years with mixed success. My Supra's 7M-GTE burned redline's 5W30 at an alarming rate. But a group3 Mobil1 rarely burned at all except on track days.

...........

My experience has been that all my Toyotas run best on a group 3 like Mobil1. Though Pennzoil Platinum gives similar results, I'm often able to find Mobil1 on sale at Crappy Tire.

Wow, that’s a lot of info and thanks everyone for the responses. As the first guy suggested, I won’t stress about it too much, just want to make sure this old truck stays on the road and is reliable (though not sure about long road trips anymore... I can link the post if you’re interested haha).

Keros, love the detail but could you clarify one point? You seem to indicate group three oils aren’t fully (truthfully synthetic). But then you suggest your trucks run better on group threes. What I’m getting is that 1) Full synthetic is mostly marketing, but buy a reputable brand and you’ll be ok. And 2) “full” synthetic group threes may actually be preferred by some engines. However, is the high mileage synthetic blend (Mobil) just as good an option?

To your last point, I’m definitely not trying to over complicate the engine with lots of extra oil components. This is just an around town kind of car now with necessary 4wd when needed. My goal here is to keep it reliable for at least a few more years. Love this car but can’t afford a new one right now! (Plus I honestly love this model more than the newer ones)

 

[Keros]

Keros, love the detail but could you clarify one point? You seem to indicate group three oils aren’t fully (truthfully synthetic). But then you suggest your trucks run better on group threes. What I’m getting is that 1) Full synthetic is mostly marketing, but buy a reputable brand and you’ll be ok. And 2) “full” synthetic group threes may actually be preferred by some engines. However, is the high mileage synthetic blend (Mobil) just as good an option?

Yep, all the Toyotas I've owned seem to prefer Group 3 oils like Mobil 1, Pennziol Platinum, etc. I used the Mobil 1 high milage in my 3rd gen for a long time. I don't know if it made any difference, but it seemed to run great on it.

Castrol oils tended to make the top end of the 5VZ-FE tick, if I remember. And group 4 & 5 oils burned fast, eliminating any gains from being able to run them longer because I had to top up the oil constantly. I don't know why that happens, and I never followed up with research for a reason... I just went back to what works.

I think my point I was trying to drill at is "full synthetic" is just marketing BS.

 

[CelticRunner]

Yep, all the Toyotas I've owned seem to prefer Group 3 oils like Mobil 1, Pennziol Platinum, etc. I used the Mobil 1 high milage in my 3rd gen for a long time. I don't know if it made any difference, but it seemed to run great on it.

Castrol oils tended to make the top end of the 5VZ-FE tick, if I remember. And group 4 & 5 oils burned fast, eliminating any gains from being able to run them longer because I had to top up the oil constantly. I don't know why that happens, and I never followed up with research for a reason... I just went back to what works.

I think my point I was trying to drill at is "full synthetic" is just marketing BS.

Awesome, thanks for the expertise. I also found that people say full synthetics are smaller molecules (I personally can’t confirm this and would defer to others if they say I’m wrong). The point I read was that full synthetics can escape through smaller holes than other oils.

I only bring this up to ask whether you think they really were burning off faster or just escaping the system.

Thanks again

 

[G.I.G.]

I've been running Mobil1 5W-30 in my '07 V8 since my first oil change at 5k miles. I now have 172k miles and have no problems. My 4R doesn't burn or leak any oil, and runs great.

I wouldn't be concerned about switching to synthetic in a high mileage car. There was some misinformation floating around years ago about synthetic not being compatible with dyno oil, or that you could potentially cause problems by switching to synthetic in a higher mileage vehicles, but I think most of those rumors have been proven inaccurate.

Regardless, I would still stick with the 5k mile oil change interval.