My apologies in advance as I know oil gets beaten to death on this site (and the net) but I went to get oil for my Rav yesterday at Wally World. I usually bounce from Super Tech to Castrol Magnatic/Edge to even Royal Purple lately. I noticed that ST which is 15.48 for 5 qts was listed on the bottle at a 10K oil (slightly new packaging). Then for about $1.50 more, there is a new version that says it’s for 20K miles. Even though I change my fluids extremely fast as it gives me something to do (2-2.5K for oil), I bought the 20K version. Anyway, not sure if anyone saw this yet and posted the new choice.
You are changing your oil more often than needed but it is your money to waste. And yes oil related threads to should be limited to one per year.
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I’d pay the $1.50 more but ignore the 20K oil change interval… that is insane.
Your 2K oil change is a bit OCD as well. The oil that comes out must still be a transparent golden yellow color. 5K miles is just fine.
Use whatever you like and change at the Toyota specified interval. Make sure you know whether your SUV sees normal or severe service.
I am OCD but at least my fluids are good. Not really, the oil is black and when it sits in the garage in poly bottles I have, a nice, small layer of sludge sits on the bottom. Also, I used to spend $10 a day on the lottery and stopped that so I change my fluids often. Yes, I know toyota has a 10K interval but I’d never get close to that. Oil gets dirty. Might be holding viscosity but I wouldn’t let ST go 10K or 20K in the new formulation. What bothered me was my 2005 camry. Changed that 2.5-3K and after 150K miles or so, it used 0.25 to 0.5 qts of oil. Got rid of it at 185K. My point of posting was there is a huge following for ST and now at 16.98 for 20K oil, you can run it 5 to 7.5K and have pretty good confidence and not spend for mobil 1, castrol or other major brands if you wish. I tend to move all over the spectrum with brands. I did notice a huge difference with Royal Purple in terms of smoothness/quietness.
Just as I was about to move on, you threw this in. I can imagine nothing about oil that meets spec that would cause this. Any idea why?
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Changing the oil every couple of thousands miles is a bit overdoing it unless that driving is 6 months to yearly. With a several thousand miles change interval then I don’t understand why there is any concern at all with using the 10k or 20k version. It’s barely in there long enough for the oil to say hi to the engine…
And it’s ridiculous to even consider a 20k miles oil change regimen. People who buy into that are going to regret it at some point. How many of those oil manufacturers do you think will foot the tab for a new engine for someone who adheres to that kind of regimen? None.
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I use Royal Purple in my Mustang and have not noticed any of this. Maybe this is a placebo effect due to the (formerly) $10 a quart cost of the oil? 10 bucks a quart and it MUST be good, right?
My last oil change, I noticed the standard RP is now priced similarly with most cheaper synthetic products. The cheaper synthetics all use cheaper Group III base stocks which can be called “synthetic” because of the Mobil-Castrol lawsuit.
I used RP because it used Group IV base stocks - or “real synthetic” PAO base stock - so it was priced at $10 a quart much like Mobil 1’s 0W40 and 5W60 oils which are also Group IV stock. Since I track the car and live in Florida, Group IV oils provided more stable viscosity at the higher temps I see without confusing my cam phasers.
Royal Purple seems to have grabbed for the mass market with their standard oil, likely by dropping to a Group III base stock. Their HPS (high performance) oil is still $10 a quart so I suspect it is still a Group IV oil. None of this is posted on RPs site so it is speculation on my part…but cost is usually a pretty good indicator, IMHO.
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I’ve used Royal Purple a couple times because it was on sale. I saw ZERO difference in it’s performance or how quiet or smooth the engine was. Must be a placebo effect. The one thing I didn’t like about it was it was so dark.
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If you are going to be OCD about oil changes, then I suggest that you keep your car well beyond 185K. I was OCD with a 1983 Accord oil changes, and finally sold it for $500 with 277K miles. The new owner said he put the engine in a different car and was thrilled how little oil it used.
I used the old super tech but it had a bad smell when drained. That’s the only thing I would notice. Oil discussions are always good. Conversation should not become a stable molecule.
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Any difference in API service grades between the old and new ST oil? If not, it’s just packaging.
I’ve used supertech for a long time now because of the price, I never bother looking for specials on name brands. I’ll get whatever they’re now calling 10k oil and change at 5-6k.
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Times change and technology advances. This is not the oil your father put in his Oldsmobile. This is lubricant that was developed by Amsoil after WWII for use in jet engines which were then new technology as well. Conventional oil did not hold up under the stress of a jet engine.
At one time 10K mile intervals were unheard of, now Toyota puts synthetic in their engines at the factory and have a 10K mile interval in the service schedule. Extending this further, can $10/quart oil really protect an engine for 20K miles? I think the answer lies with CarTalk forum readers who have used it and extended their intervals over time.
There is a rebate on Mobil 1 now that brings the price
down below Super Tech.
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Walmart has a new SuperTech filter for the new oil as well.
Neither. Use Amsoil.
Project Farm did a test comparing all oils, and Amsoil won.
Is the extra cost of Amsoil worth it? Probably not. But if you want to keep your car as long as possible regardless of cost, then use it.
If you follow the owners manual does it matter what oil you use? Probably not.
I’d advise against doing a 20,000 mile oil change. Listen to what the manufacturer of the vehicle says, not the manufacturer of the oil. Worse case scenario of listening to the manufacturer is that you due shorter oil change intervals - you spend a little bit more money. Worse case scenario of doing a 20,000 mile oil change interval is that you damage your engine and spend big bucks. Which would you rather do?
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BULL. I’ve kept 3 vehicles OVER 300k miles using just regular dino oil (NON SYNTHETIC). 2 using full synthetic. One of those reached over 400k miles. Only my 98 Pathfinder was burning a little oil when my daughter finally sold it to her ex bf with over 400k miles.
There are many good oils out there. Any oil that meets or exceeds the manufacturers specs is perfectly fine and will give you hundreds and hundreds of thousands of miles. No need for super expensive extremely hyped oil. Amsoil may be the GREATEST oil ever…but it’s not necessary.
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