I don’t know about NZ emission requirements, but you can’t use “full zinc” with catalytic converters.
Stick with Toyota’s recommended oil, see your owners manual, on an ‘04 **probably ** 5w-30.
As far as the external cleanliness of the engine, not unusual to clean the engine in preparing the car for sale.
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Exactly!
Unless catalytic converters are not used in NZ, a car owner in that country would wind-up destroying a key part of his vehicle’s emissions system by using a high-zinc motor oil.
Yeah the manual just says 10W-30 or 5W-30 and not much else, from what I been told this Penrite oil does no damage to catalytic converters, they make some of the best oil in these parts AU/NZ, a lot of people use them in pretty much any street vehicle and in race cars. It is bit more expensive then all the other brands though like Castrol etc… but lasts longer.
Check the API specs just below the 5W40 against the requirements Toyota set for your car. They should be in your owner’s manual. If you don’t have the owner’s manual, you can download it from the Toyota website.
Where are you getting your information . . . ?!
It is not “pretty universal” . . . not by a long shot
There are many different colors for both engine oil dipsticks and automatic transmission fluid dipsticks
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From a guy living in Minnesota Rust country where the paint looks great until the giant rust blossoms burst through… Shut up. 
So you’re saying the rust is bubbling under the glossy paint and intact clear coat . . . ?!
Shut up. 
It’s a lot cheaper to respray a car than it is to replace the whole freakin’ body. And working on a car from the southwest is a whole lot more pleasant than having to break free rust-welded bolts every time you touch it. Up here, we even dread it when the state sends us new license plates, because there’s a really good chance that the plate screws have rusted tight and you just have to hope you can eventually get 'em out without spinning the nut. It’s always fun when you have to remove the bumper to fix the license plate mount.
I used to live in NM. The climate was hell on paint (and what the sun didn’t wreck, the occasional dust storm blasts would). And interior plastic tends to shrink and/or crack which isn’t fun. But you’ll see 50 year old cars that haven’t been washed since the Reagan administration, and there’s not a trace of rust on 'em. Given a choice, I’ll take the paint damage any day.
And I did! The truck I just bought is from SoCal, and it’s got some minor clear coat damage, and it’s got some interior issues from the sun baking, but it’s a 15 year old rust free truck which means I’ve already gotten several notes on the windshield asking if I’ll sell it.
I don’t see SJ or SL on the Penrite bottle. I wouldn’t use it. Maybe Penrite has a 10W30 in those API grades.
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Yes you can check the engine block serial number .if it matches your vin then its the original engine. If they changed it they would’ve given you whats called a vin card which lists the vin and the serial numbers for the tranny and the engine. Its needed to prove the new engine is supposed to be in the car. Its usually listed in the registration paperwork also.
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Decided to go for this one instead reckon its better? SN is backwards compatible with SL from what I read, and it was on special so got a good deal on it. Hopefully works out all good! Cheers for all the advice guys!
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Yes that’s the one you want. In API ratings the second letter, in this case ‘N’ indicates a newer formulation than ‘’L’, they are usually backward compatible. This oil does not contain zinc, therefore is safe for your catalytic converters.
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Obviously you haven’t spent any time working in any shop. Any technician worth his salt knows over the last 15 years car manufacturers have been required(in the u.s.) to have the oil and trans dipsticks clearly marked oil being yellow trans being orange.
Oh this is gonna be good…
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Apparently my 2004 truck is too old as its transmission dipstick is red and my 2013 Mustang’s trans dipstick is gray. Although that gray dipstick is only accessible from under the car.
Apparently Acura likes the color yellow for a trans dipstick as shown in this little series of videos.
Apparently Mazdas are black…
And Toyotas are black, too…
Honda likes the color yellow on this 07 Pilot
Must all be scofflaws ignorant of that US regulation that REQUIRES them to be orange. (hint: that is not a requirement)
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I’ve only been a professional mechanic for 26 years or so
yet somehow in all those years, I obviously “haven’t spent any time working in any shop.”
Come to my shop
I can show you any number of domestic vehicles which have trans and engine oil dipsticks which are NOT color coded to your satisfaction
Where do you get your information . . . ?!
Maybe you need to spend more time in the real world and less time in the theoretical world . . . ?!
Orange trans dipsticks . . . ?!
Better talk to Ford, GM and several other manufacturers
They’re breaking your rules
Right off the bat, I can think of several manufacturers which don’t have yellow engine oil dipsticks
And yes . . . these are ALL from the last 15 years
How are you going to punish them . . . ?!
All laughing aside . . . I really couldn’t care less what color those dipsticks are. It hasn’t been a problem for me yet in all these years. Anybody with common sense and reasonably good eyesight . . . even if you have to wear glasses or contacts, as most of us do . . . can open the owner’s manual, look up the service information or even just visually follow the dipstick and see where it goes.
If you follow the dipstick and it enters the crankcase, you know it’s the engine oil dipstick
Who cares what color it is?
It could be polka dot and it wouldn’t make a difference
And some trans dipsticks clearly say what fluid to use . . . so who cares what color it is?
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What a crazy and uninformed thing to say. Here’s the trans dipstick for a 2016 Ford I worked on today.
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+1
My 2011 Outback, which was manufactured in Lafayette, Indiana, has a yellow handle for both the oil dipstick and the trans fluid dipstick.