The manual says 0w 20 or 5w 20.
It no where says full synthetic or not - I recall a friends used full synthetic on older Camry and developed white smoke.
The car has 130k - no oil leak.
Which oil should I use, Full Syn? 0w 20?
Thanks
I think you’re overthinking this.
Go with whatever is cheaper, or more readily available at your store of choice.
Don’t worry about what happened with your friend’s car. Every engine is different, or at least has different wear.
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Correct me if I am wrong. White smoke, to my limited knowledge, is coolant getting into the combustion chamber, nothing to do with syn vs dino oil.
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Yep, forget the friend’s problem, nothing to do with oil.
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You are WAY overthinking this
Get 0w20 when it’s on sale at Costco
This is a direct quote from YOUR owner manual . . .
“0W-20 is the oil that provides the optimal level of fuel efficiency.”
End of discussion
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I’ve never seen 0W-20 that’s NOT full synthetic. Same with 5W-20.
If you do, let me know.
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+1
And, if they don’t have Mobil-1 on sale, Costco’s own Kirkland brand of motor oil–which is cheaper–meets the same Dexos specs that Mobil-1 does.
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Hi Mike:
While I often see 5W-20 in synthetic blends, if you do a search for “5W-20 Conventional Motor Oil”, you’ll find it’s widely available in multiple brands.
The 0W-20 - definitely full synthetic.
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The link says " The general rule of thumb is to change your Toyota Corolla oil **every 6 months or 5,000 miles", would 4k miles or 12months still good?
Is Walmart’s Super Tech also meets the Dexos specs that Mobil-1 ?
It appears that it does. Both brands are made by the Warren Oil Co.
Six months does not equal twelve months.
Your car, your choice. You can change it on time, or change it on your schedule, or never change it at all.
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I’m not a mechanic but have driven close to two million miles. I use Dino 5-30 in my Pontiac and change at 3000. I use o-20 Mobil 1 syn in my Acura and change at 5000. No white smoke or oil usage. They are both happy.
One person’s “white smoke” is another person’s “grey smoke”. And it is normal to see either coming out of the tailpipe after first starting a cold engine, water vapor is the end-product of burning gasoline w/air. If you see blue or really black smoke coming from the tailpipe, that could indicate a more serious problem. I have an older Corolla (different engine) , during Covid, other than occasionally idling the engine, it went unused for 3+ years, and I changed the oil once a year. No problems.
If you don’t have the owner’s manual download it from Toyota. Page 380 describes what the “MAINT REQD” light means. When flashing it means that 4500 miles have elapsed since the last oil change and you should consider an oil change. When it remains on it means that 5000 miles have elapsed and you should change the oil immediately. There is no time limit mentioned.
IMO Toyota has an excellent engineering organization. They don’t put a limit on the elapsed time between oil changes. I’d go with the OLM and change between 4500 and 5000 miles. I used the mileage based OLM on my 1998 Regal that called for changing between 7000 and 7500 miles and I never burned oil. I bought it new and put about 187,000 miles in it.
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And make sure to rotate your tires with every oil change!!!
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That should work. However, I expect the reason Toyota doesn’t have an oil-change time-limit built into their OLM gadget is the computer making the decision has no way to measure calendar time accurately. Such a function is technically possible of course , but would add to the manufacturing cost.
Toyota had the mileage limit listed on page 380 as I mentioned above. They could also have included a time limit if they wanted to. Yes, the OLM is basically a trip odometer with a different purpose, but it can be reset any time the owner wants to. The OLM doesn’t announce mileage, just turns on the light.
