I need to change my oil at 3000 miles, so far my 1999 corolla is at 119,000 miles. What is the best type of oil I should use? synthetic vs conventional? I heard conventional is good enough because corolla's don't need the expensive stuff...is it true? And if conventional what type should I use? I keep hearing people say 10w-30, 5w-30, 15w-30, 20w-40....what does all these numbers mean?? thanks, any advice is appreciated
more info if this helps, i live in NYC where summer is around...85-100 winter can go below 20 degrees average 50-70 degrees most of the time in spring and fall. Don't do any towing just regular weekend use not even commuting to work with my car. automatic transmission...2wd...
The numbers 10W-30, 5W-30, 15W-30, 20W-40 - all refer to the different oil viscosities. The one you should use is stamped/printed on the oil fill cap / written in the Operator's Manual. For the 8th gen Corollas, 5W-30 is the recommended oil viscosity. First off - almost all motor oils now are multi-viscosity oils. They have some number (W) to another number. The W stands for "winter". Use to be, all motor oils were single weights, SAE 30 weight, or SAE 40 weight oil. Not a problem if the temperature that the engine was expected to operate in never changes. Modern oils are designed to work in a wide range of conditions - the first number tells you how the oil behaves at low temperatures, i.e., a 0W-30 vs a 10W-30 - the 0W oil "flows" like a SAE 0 weight motor oil, where the 10W oil flows like a SAE 10 weight oil when "cold". Second number tells you the oil's characterists when "hot", i.e., 0W-30, 5W-30, and 10W-30 will all behave like a SAE 30 weight oil when hot. Granted, there is a lot more to that than this simple description - check out http://www.motoroilbible.com/,http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ forums, and oil spec sheets on the manufacturer's web pages for more information.
Convention vs synthetic motor oil - more of a personally preference in most cases. In some climates and driving conditions, you will benefit from synthetic motor oils - for all others, very little gain. What is more important is having regular fluid exchanges, rather than concentrating on brand or type of motor oil. Modern formulations of conventional motor oil are actually pretty close or in some cases superior to some older synthetics. Check past topics on this - there are a number of posts that talk about the pros/cons of each one.
The greatest advantage in running synthetic is its extreme low temperature and extreme high temperature characteristics. Good flow at low temps gets oil where it needs to be at startup and very cold weather, high temperature oxidation resistance helps prevent oil consumption at breakdown at high engine temps. Conventional oil has greatly increased its operational range, but synthetic motor oil is a quantum leap above them in that regard. Additive wise, the part that actually protects your engine, IMO - conventional and synthetic are about the same. Each manufacturer has their own proprietary recipe for the additive package, but they accomplish basically the same thing.
Personally, I run synthetic because I can run a longer oil change interval compared to conventional. This may not apply to all cases, as any extended oil change program should be closely monitored and backed up with periodic used oil analysis and good filtration. But in my case - I can run 7500-10000 miles between changes, which makes the cost difference pretty much a non-issue. Right now - sitting on 165K miles on my Corolla and a bit over 115K miles on the Matrix, both are showing exceptionally low wear metals in the UOAs and neither one burns a drop of oil between the lengthy changes. I also have a Camry that ran only conventional motor oil its whole life - ran that over 180K miles before it started to consume some oil at 3000-5000 mile change intervals. Now it has almost 300K miles and burns about 1/2 quart every 3000 miles.
chapman.university
I just changed my oil over the weekend. The last time I changed the oil, I poured 4 quarts of new oil and last weekend I measured 3.5 quarts of used oil. Is this normal if my engine is burning half a quart?
I always changed my engine oil at 5K with conventional oil. My car is a 1999 Corolla (US) version and it has 95K miles.
149 posts
Your '99 Corolla requires 5W-30.
The "best type of oil" is whatever SL/SM oil is on sale. (anything more than that is a waste)
I just changed my oil over the weekend. The last time I changed the oil, I poured 4 quarts of new oil and last weekend I measured 3.5 quarts of used oil. Is this normal if my engine is burning half a quart?
I always changed my engine oil at 5K with conventional oil. My car is a 1999 Corolla (US) version and it has 95K miles.
Also keep in mind that some of the oil will be trapped inside the oil filter and in the oil passageways inside the engine. That said - engine oil consumption, especially with high mileage motors, is considered normal operation. Generally speaking, anything less than a quart every 5K miles for an engine with 100K miles is pretty decent - especially the first half 8th gen Corollas. Just keep with that oil change interval and oil brand - and you should be set for some time.
Is this still true on the 2018s and 2019s?
For the correct oil viscosity - always refer to the owner's manual / look at the viscosity listed on the oil cap itself / engine placard information under the hood of the car.
More recently, automakers are pushing to lower and lower viscosities. Not unusual to see an OEM recommend using a 0W-20 or less for the crankcase. All to help squeeze every drop of gasoline out of the car to help push those CAFE MPG numbers.
Each car is different - depending on the driving conditions, age, mileage, how it was broken in, etc. Best to start with the factory recommendations, then experiment for yourself afterwards. You can baseline each fill with measuring fuel economy, noting an oil consumption, and pull samples to be sent in for UOA (Used Oil Analysis) testing.
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110 posts
I use 5W?30 from Toyota parts department. This is what is noted in the Owners Manual "SAE 5W?30". You can probably get a PDF of your Owners Manual online if you no longer have hard copy.
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