i have a toyota corolla with 68k miles on it hat i just bought … i switched from regular oil to synthetic… royal purple specifically… the synthetic oil is getting a bit dark already… is that normal. not really dark but darker than she was no doubt … and it has the smell of gasoline but i guess thats not unusual i guess. the car runs good though… is this normal. its been about a week since oil change?
First off Royal Purple is dark to begin with. The darkness of the oil has NOTHING to do with it being Synthetic or not. This is normal.
I agree with Mike and would like to add that while all oils get dark with use as they become discolored with particulates and contaminants, this is perfectly normal.
I never really noticed that oil smelled like gasoline. How old is the car?
While there is nothing wrong with switching to synthetic, if Toyota does not recommend synthetic, you really don’t need to use it and it is not going to add 100,000 miles to the life of the engine. I would expect most synthetics would look dark soon after changing because they tend to have better detergents and will pick up trash left over from the last oil change.
The only logic to not useing synthetic would be the added cost.
thanks for your reply joseph… that is exactly what i was thinking … it probably is picking up the gunk from the oil… however… i think that synthetic is far better than oil… after my car would start in the morning when i took off there would be a low ping sound from the engine untill the oil got very hot from driving… when the synthetic oil silenced that… also synthetic oil stays liquid in winter unlike oil which is very thick… and has to thin as it warms. so synthetics are definitely better for cold starts. thanks for responding
I like synthetic for the long oil change intervals. I usually use the most extended duty oil filter available, Castrol synthetic, and maybe some Marvel Mystery oil thrown in to keep things clean. Hasn’t hurt me yet.
oh yea thats anohter thing i forgot to mention joseph… when you use synthetic you dont have to change your oil for like 10 thousand miles… so you really dont lose any money on oil changes… my last oil change where i swiched to synthetic was about 70 for everthing… youll lay that out for 3 regular oil changes easily… i need to mention to that i used 3 quarts of royal purply synthetic oil and on quart of LUCAS synthetic oil additive, which , is probably why i lost that ping noise from the engine… its known for doing that. that is why i put it in. anyway just wanted to clarify for people. thanks again
These 1ZZ-FE engines develop blow by, and the lightweight oil, especially synthetic is, affected by this more than conventional oil. Being a Corolla owner, I can tell you that you gain nothing by using synthetic oil, Toyota does not even recommend it. The only time you should deviate from Toyota’s recommendation is when your car starts burning oil (which it will because these engines are notorious oil burners), and then you should switch to a 10W-30 conventional or heavier.
these 1zz-fe engines develope blow by. can you explain what that means? what is 1zz-fe .? and what is blow by?? please let me know…
Just wanted to say that I’m a big fan of synthetic oil, but there’s no need to spend so much for Royal Purple. Mobil-1 or Castrol full-synthetic are very good oils and cost far less. Unless you’re doing endurance racing with your Corolla, there’s not much benefit to be had from the RP.
I’m having a difficult time understanding how a Toyota Corolla will benefit from synthetic oil. If dyno oil will get the engine to the 300k range, where’s the benefit?
Blow-by is when a small amount of unburned gases escape around the piston rings and darken the oil. This is normal. It is easier to notice in light colored oils. 1ZZ-FE is the model number of the engine in your Corolla.