GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

I am very new to Toyota engines. Which oil is the best for a motor which has 70k miles. Which weight ? I thought of switching to SYNTHETIC . Car will be used daily city driving mostly. Your opinion would be helpful. thanks Peter PS We live in a warm and hot part of the country central west Florida.

You should ask about something less controversial, like politics or religion. If you go into the maintenence bay there are a couple of threads adressing oil preference. There are probably as many opinions as there are members. I prefer Penzoil Synthetic 5W30 with Purolator Pure One filter. I general, as long as you use a quality brand, and change when you're supposed to, you'll be fine.

I am going to use some type of synthetic next oil change

Quote, originally posted by K-NINE »You should ask about something less controversial, like politics or religion. Amen again! 5w-20 is now recommended for the '09's. I wonder if that would be a good weight for earlier engines. I also have read of oils supposedly formulated for higher mileage engines. Don't know if that is just marketing hype or if there is a difference. I did read somewhere that a good dino oil is better than a bargain basement synthetic.I don't drive that may miles - about 6,000 a year max. Believe it is better for me to use dino oil and change more often than keep a synthetic in there for a year.

Motorcraft makes good 5W20 synthetic blend. I havent had to change my own oil yet but I think I will use that. Ive used the 5w30 in my tundra. Its generally cheap too, about $2.50 a quart.

After owning 30-40 used cars ranging in miles from 70k to 250k, I am sold on synthetic for lower mileage, non-leaking, non-burning engines. That said, I wholeheartedly disagree that dino oil is better on short changes vs. synthetic on longer changes. Evidence: High end GM cars like the Corvette and Cadillac's use Mobil 1 and 15k oil change intervals. BMW uses synthetic and changes JUST THE FILTER at 12.5k and oil and filter at 25k intervals.Filter QUALITY is also very important. Look for very high SPE and MPE ratings - single and multi pass efficiency.There are very big differences between the cheap synthetic and high end. By the legal definition, the base is the only thing that needs modified for the manufacturer's to put Synthetic on the label. Amsoil, Redline and Royal Purple from what I have read are REAL, TRUE FULL Synthetic oils. I've been using Amsoil.Synthetic blends only need to have 1% synthetic oil added to regular oil to be called a BLEND. Therefore, mix your own if you want to go this route.All in all, regular changes with the highest rated API rating available - currently SM. As the ratings get tougher and tougher, we should start to see synthetics with higher ratings on this scale than the dino. Also, use good quality filters.Just as a personal note, you may add a cleaner on occasion like SeaFoam just to keep things cleaned out.That's my two cents but I try to keep things on hard evidence and not just opinion.

I use Mobil 1 5w-30. I change it every 10k miles or so.

Quote, originally posted by HighMileVibe »After owning 30-40 used cars ranging in miles from 70k to 250k, I am sold on synthetic for lower mileage, non-leaking, non-burning engines. That said, I wholeheartedly disagree that dino oil is better on short changes vs. synthetic on longer changes. Evidence: High end GM cars like the Corvette and Cadillac's use Mobil 1 and 15k oil change intervals. BMW uses synthetic and changes JUST THE FILTER at 12.5k and oil and filter at 25k intervals.Filter QUALITY is also very important. Look for very high SPE and MPE ratings - single and multi pass efficiency.There are very big differences between the cheap synthetic and high end. By the legal definition, the base is the only thing that needs modified for the manufacturer's to put Synthetic on the label. Amsoil, Redline and Royal Purple from what I have read are REAL, TRUE FULL Synthetic oils. I've been using Amsoil.Synthetic blends only need to have 1% synthetic oil added to regular oil to be called a BLEND. Therefore, mix your own if you want to go this route.All in all, regular changes with the highest rated API rating available - currently SM. As the ratings get tougher and tougher, we should start to see synthetics with higher ratings on this scale than the dino. Also, use good quality filters.Just as a personal note, you may add a cleaner on occasion like SeaFoam just to keep things cleaned out.That's my two cents but I try to keep things on hard evidence and not just opinion.Any opinion as to whether a low mileage driver like me could go say 2 years / 12,000 miles without changing? Right now I aim to change the dino oil at least every 6 months - which is less than 3,000 miles for me. If I used synthetic and still should change every 6 months that gets expensive.

Have your used oil analyzed and eliminate all opinions and guesses.

Quote, originally posted by djb383 »Have your used oil analyzed and eliminate all opinions and guesses. I suspect the bother and cost of an oil analysis would be as much as an oil change.

Wouldn't it be basically a one time deal. Put your oil in for X months and/or X miles, then have it analyzed. If they say it's in bad shape, you know you went too long........if it's in good shape, you know you can go at least that long.

i use Castrol 5w-30 Full Synthetic. Keeps the car running very clean. I just hit 71,000 miles on my 06 vibe and its still running strong.

The 2009 specifies 5w-20. I use Pennzoil Platinum, full-synthetic.I sometimes wonder if the fuss is worth it. Our fleet cars at work use basic straight 20w from a 40 gal drum and we usually get about 140k miles out of them before selling. They're on the highway proably 80% of the time, tho.

Mobil 1 full synthetic 0-30w.

My dad has been using regular Penzoil and AC Delco oil filters on all of our cars for as long as I can remember. We have gotten well over 200,000 miles out of four cars using this combination so I will be using this same combination for the Vibe, although I haven't been able to find the proper AC Delco oil filter, so for now I will be using a Toyota oil filter, but will be sticking with the regular old Penzoil.

Hey I like the idea of doing an oil analysis. I think everybody should have an oil analysis done so we could compare results. Even if just a few people did it, it would still be interesting.

Do they make home oil analysis kits? or a oil sample gets sent out somewhere?

Blackstone Laboratories416 East Pettit AvenueFort Wayne IN 46806260-744-2380http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.htmlThey will send you sample bottles that you mail in to them, I think it is $22.50 for the standard test and another $10.00 if you want the TBN test.

yeah you can also go all out and spend $99 to get the test and have an educated person interpret the numbers for you. They can even suggest an oil change interval. It looks like they just write short little paragraph describing how the oil is doing and the condition of the engine. Its not something I would really want to pay $99 for. Think I'm going for the less expensive test and trying to make sense of the results. There should be enough info out there to figure it out.it may be awhile before I get my results (just changed oil) but, I'm gonna put 5000 miles on my oil -as per the manufactures recommendations and send it in. We should start a thread in maintenance bay where everybody could stick up their results. If anybody else does it that is.

Since my '03 somehow started burning at least 1.5 quarts per oil change (every 5000 miles), I switched OFF of the synthetic. I'm not throwing money down the drain on refills in between. I am back on Castrol High Mileage 5w-30 for that car. For the '09, I'm going to stay Dino all the way and use Castrol 5w-20.

I agree with you. normal castrol 5w 2o is prob a really good thing for that engine.. but..I would change every 3000 miles instead of 5000 miles with the conventional oil. As far as oil analysis goes... I just ordered a free kit..they ship you the little sample jars for free!! cool!! c'mon guys I know you wanna compare oil analysis with me!! c'mon do it!! get the free sample kit!!

Quote, originally posted by Caretaker »Since my '03 somehow started burning at least 1.5 quarts per oil change (every 5000 miles)Didn't think that was possible with the 1.8L, Care. How many miles when it started to use oil? Did you buy it used? Check to see it's not really a 1.9L Saturn engine transplant in the bay. If you change oil every 5k, the Toyota 1.8L shouldn't burn oil.

Eh I use whatever was on sale (non synthetic), 5w30 and never had a issue, but always used the puralator filter.

MotorCraft 5W20 or 5W30 Synthetic Blend $2.57/qt @ Walmart. How can you beat that?

Thanks to ALL who participated, I am yet to do my 1st oil chng. You have been most helpful.cheers from HOT Florida

rolling on the floor howling. I am down 1/2 quart after just doing the oil change a few weeks ago. The oil goes buy buy somewhere in the 2003 AWD, but I can't figure it out. There are definitely no external leaks, and the oil is not going into the anti-freeze, and the car continues to pass emissions. It has been doing this for 2 years now (circa 75,000 mile mark) and is now at over 120,000. We were one of the first AWDs off the Corolla assembly line back in 2002. We'll just keep on driving it until it catches fire. Then it will be time to stick another '09 in the driveway at the expense of some Pontiac-phobe who think they need to dump their "Pontiac" before their warranty goes away. Come to papa!!!

As long as gasoline is consumed at a higher rate than oil, then you're OK. Your 09 theory is probably right. There should be a bunch of '09 and 10's that show up on the market if the production ends. At least these cars are designed to be driven a long time. Don't know what conditions are on the Delta Quadrant, but here in Winter Salt Heaven, a place where they pride themselves in making sure that your stailess steel muffler perforates before its time... there are many early Vibes that really don't show any signs of rust. Very popular car around our state.Have you ever done a compression check on your 03?