Best Motor Oil

Unknown manufacturer, formulation, type, quality and track record. I recommend what I know. I don't know Toyota (oil) or the two you are asking about. I do know that Toyota does not manufacture their own oil, so provenance and formulation may change over time. I do know Pennzoil (from crude) and Mobil 1 (synthetic). Off brands may be a "blend" which only means they are above zero percent synthetic (maybe even drops per gallon).

 

there was an amsoil guy on here awhile back. he was pretty positive about it. i think i used royal purple in my mob in the 70's, is that possible?

 

My Toyota dealer says they use Mobil-1 synthetic, or Pennzoil Platinum synthetic.

But it's anybody's guess what is really in those big drums. I'm buying my own oil, and bringing it with me when I get my next change.

 

I think the sooner we get over bulk oil hang ups the better. The content of small bottles is just as mysterious as barrels. My nearby dealership is willing to sell me bulk in small qty, which is commendable. All these one-use, wee bottles of oil are not good for the planet.

Ok all done, lol.

 

But why? Bulk oil is an unknown of what you may be getting! I would hope most dealers are being honest with delivering the oil they say you are getting. But why not out smart them and use bottle oil? You know what you are getting is real stuff at least! If I use Toyota oil at the dealer I even ask for bottle oil.

 

I can buy the 5 quart "jug." And it's cheaper, too.

 

If you use the funnel I noted earlier for the 5 quart container and leave the bottle upside down draining into the engine, virtually all of the oil ends up out of the bottle. And when the dealer disappears into the shop to fill you bulk container, you are at his/her probable unethical mercy as to brand, weight, etc.

 

You are over filling, it only takes 4.2 quarts!

 

You beat me to it, but I think @William Redoubt
Means "when" you empty it

 

4.4 for the Gen4, but who's counting.

 

Of course you skim off the .6 quarts first. After 8 changes, you don't have to buy the next one.

 

safer to under fill the .2

 

Yep, the dealer overfilled mine. They put in an even 5 qts. That's why I want to bring my own individual bottles, and pour out 1/2 of the 5th bottle.

 

Or just give them 4 and do the last yourself.

 

I hate the five quart jugs, too much juggling, especially while trying to fill my Gen. II and then it gets spilled.

As long as the oil meets API service mark SN, I am happy. Most recently Pennzoil for $1.99 a quart at True Value.

 

Small bottles equals real stuff, large barrels not? Sorry, I'm not that paranoid. My bulk oil invoice says OW20 GENUINE TOYOTA SYNTHETIC, good enough for me. It's $4.50 Canadian per liter, and I'm not leaving a trail of oil fouled plastic bottles, what's not to like?

A dealership that can't measure oil doesn't deserve your custom. That actually made me bail on dealership service, with another car, about a decade back. But anyway, The Toyota dealership that sells me the bulk oil also uses large graduates when delivering it to customers, carefully measures out the oil. It is not that difficult.

 

how do we know what's in the one quart bottles, is anyone randomly testing them?

 

Okay, so I have a Honda Civic, and Honda says to use 0W-20 oil. 0W-20 oil only comes as a synthetic oil. The Honda has a maintenance minder, it tells me when to change the oil, it seems to come on around 8,000 miles. I go to the dealer for two oil changes. After the 2nd oil change I pay for the oil, and see a poster on the wall advertising Honda oil. Honda sells a semi-synthetic and full synthetic. The semi synthetic is 5W-20 oil. So I asked about this and they said they use 5W-20 oil, if you want 0W-20 you have to pay more. Not once during my two visits did they ask me if I wanted 0W-20 that Honda recommends. This is why you need to becareful and do your research. Now I see that in Britian the Civic runs on 5W-40 weight oil, so who really knows what oil is best!!!