Recommended oil for the 3.4L V6

[jettag60]

yes this is my first post, hello, and yes i tried searching (i'm on quite a few other car sites) but the only threads that came up had nothing to do with what oil you guys use or recommend


the 4runners is my sisters and i will be doing some of the basic work to help her out


today she's picked up an oem filter (i like to use oem filters unless you guys can recommend something better...i don't use fram)


but i can find what oils you guys use

she was told 5w-30....you guys use castrol? mobil 1 $$$?

synthetic, non synthetic


the car is very low kms...only about 121,000kms


thanks, looking forward to learning more about these truck (or cars, which ever you guys call them)

 

[004Gunner]

On this site what you're asking is a loaded question. My recommendation is what the manual says for viscosity which is 5W-30. Conventional or synthetic is up to you. Personally, I use Castrol GTX 5W-30 with Fram filters

 

[DewRunner]

I use Valvoline, or valv high miles if im feeling nice,

5w-30 is right on the oil cap so thats what i use unless she leaks then like 10w-30 or if its a bad leak 10w-40 and get that fixed haha

welcome to the board you should buy her 4runner and put it to good use

 

[jettag60]

haha ya she seems afraid to even use it in the snow...lol


i'll be putting in 5w-30 for sure....i'll see what the local costco has for castrol, mostlikely synthec

that's what i ran in my vw's

thanks guys, i'm sure there will be many more questions to come

 

[DewRunner]

Keep em' comin i love a little Runner trivia

 

[DewRunner]

Wow im impressed! good story, but a very bad one at that you need a caution on storys like that like do not attempt unless you own a toyota

i could see some jeep owners tryin that and it blowing up

yeah i wouldnt do anything tooooo fancy, unless your rollin in the dough... these arent high performance engines and if it required synthetic it would say it.

 

[p nut]

I have always just put in regular dino oil (in my trucks). But last year, I decided to give synthetics a try. There have been speculations of Mobil1 being a group III, so I did not go with that. I have heard nothing but good things of Amsoil, so I gave that a try, along with their Ea oil filter. The difference was immediately noticed. The engine ran very very smooth compared to dino. I was surprised, as I was skeptical of the product. I ran it for 9,000 miles and did a UOA (Used Oil Analysis). It came back favorable and next time, I will run it for 10,000 miles. I am sold on synthetics now. The cost is about the same, since you don't have to change out the oil as often.

This go around, I am trying Royal Purple with Puralator PureOne filter. I've heard PureOne's are good filters (got mine at Pepboys for ~$6), and less than half the cost of Ea. After the next 9,000 miles, I will do a UOA and see how they compare to Amsoil.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

I just got my oil changed and put synthetic in it. I think that's all my 4runner has seen.

It's expensive though. $50 compared to about $25.

 

[jettag60]

ok so i checked out the toyota filter my sister got at the dealership, made is taiwan, denso

the other thing i noticed is holy crap they are small filters....the filter on my VW is almost twice the size lol




i picked up some oil yesterday for her as well....just went with the Castrol GTX....dino oil

4.4L + 1L = came to $26 or something, couldn't believe how cheap it was


i used to put Castol Synt-something or other (lol) in our cars (older VW's) and a 4.4L jug was $39

let me know if you guys know of any problems with the Castol GTX


also, any special tricks or tools for changing the oil??? just pull the drain plug and filter, replace filter/plug and refill??

thanks

 

[RonMAIDEN]

I use Mobile 1 syn with a Puralator PureOne filter and change it every 8000 miles or 10 months (whatever comes first) and at 145k miles on my odo my truck is in great runnng condition and my compression test and leakdown were still within factory new specs. I also have zero leaks anywhere and I use Redline fluids in the tranny and gearboxes and change them every 40k miles.

I see no reason to change what I'm doing.

 

[twitchee2]

Yup, drain it/new filter and fill it back up. I suggest turning the tires all the way left. makes it easy to get to the filter, its right there.

Edit, I have mobile 1, but next change im going to put in royal purple now that i found where i can buy it.

 

[Nuke]

M1 in my 3rd gen with an M1 filter at 10,000 mile change frequencies. She's my main tow vehicle and has over 151,000 miles. No issues.

M1 now in my 4th gen (at 1800 miles) with an M1 filter and will be performing oil changes at 10,000 mile frequencies also.

Amsoil in my Mustang with an Amsoil filter with oil changes at 8,000-10,000 miles. She's my long distance ride with 27,500 miles on the clock. No issues.

When I had my 2nd gen, it was dino (Castrol) with Fram filters at 3,000 mile oil changes. Sold her at 205,000 miles. Last I heard, she had over 325,000 miles with no issues.

My reason for changing from dino to synthetic had nothing to do with protection since I feel dino, chnaged at 3k miles, will protect an engine as well as ANY synthetic. It was putting over 2,000 miles/month on each car and changing the oil every 6 weeks that drove me to synthetics.

 

[jettag60]

Yup, drain it/new filter and fill it back up. I suggest turning the tires all the way left. makes it easy to get to the filter, its right there.

good tip thanks


the reason i'm going with the dino oil is because:

1) she doesn't have the money to spend on synth
2) the car isn't driven enough to take advantage of the long miles the synth can take

i'll just change the oil every 5000 kms or 4 or so months with the dino

 

[p nut]

good tip thanks


the reason i'm going with the dino oil is because:

1) she doesn't have the money to spend on synth
2) the car isn't driven enough to take advantage of the long miles the synth can take

i'll just change the oil every 5000 kms or 4 or so months with the dino

#2 doesn't make sense, since synthetic oil changes are about twice as much, but you can also change it out at least double the mileage and/or the length of time of dino oils. Actually, if I were in your shoes, I'd change it once a year with synthetic.

 

[Clemsonfan15]

#2 doesn't make sense, since synthetic oil changes are about twice as much, but you can also change it out at least double the mileage and/or the length of time of dino oils. Actually, if I were in your shoes, I'd change it once a year with synthetic.

It's safe to go a year with synthetic? I don't put any more than 6,000 a year on mine.

 

[jettag60]

#2 doesn't make sense, since synthetic oil changes are about twice as much, but you can also change it out at least double the mileage and/or the length of time of dino oils. Actually, if I were in your shoes, I'd change it once a year with synthetic.

i see what you mean but i'm not letting oil sit in the car for a year

i'd rather change it more often so that it's fresh, it just won't have the miles on it


it's not like the car will be parked and not driven at all, it just won't see 20,000kms a year

 

[p nut]

It's safe to go a year with synthetic? I don't put any more than 6,000 a year on mine.

This is per Amsoil website:

SERVICE LIFE
AMSOIL Synthetic 5W-30 Motor Oil is recommended for extended drain intervals in unmodified(1), mechanically sound(2) gasoline fueled vehicles as follows:

 

[p nut]

i see what you mean but i'm not letting oil sit in the car for a year

i'd rather change it more often so that it's fresh, it just won't have the miles on it


it's not like the car will be parked and not driven at all, it just won't see 20,000kms a year

Technology has improved everything, including oil. You will be fine leaving that oil in for a year (under normal conditions). But of course, if having a peace of mind is changing out the oil more often, well, then no one can argue that.

 

[jettag60]

hey guys, just pulled the truck in to the garage...how the heck to you get at the oil filter??

i can see it through a platic/rubber shield thing, should i just pull that off??


and 5L on refill right?

thanks

 

[jettag60]

got it all figured out

dropped the rear skid plate (don't really even need to do this), drained the oil, pulled the shield thing from the drive side wheel well, removed old filter, cleaned up the area a bit, replaced with new oem filter (old one was some POS), replaced drain bolt with new rubber washer (old on was some clear plastic thing????), refilled with oil, started engine to check for leask, replaced shield, and done

thanks guys