Synthetic Oil

Oil of Choice

  • Castrol Syntec/Edge

    Votes: 233 8.4%
  • Royal Purple

    Votes: 325 11.7%
  • AMSOil

    Votes: 396 14.3%
  • Valvoline Synpower

    Votes: 160 5.8%
  • Mobil 1

    Votes: 992 35.9%
  • Other

    Votes: 660 23.9%

  • Total voters
    2,766

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Burla

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Hi Burla,

1. I'm not sure if I regret prepaid, it was $1300 for up to 80k miles, 5k tire rotations oil changes. Which also includes spark plugs and other misc items like air filters etc. So it's not a bad deal. I can still cancel it... But I do like my local SF Toyota dealership. At the beginning I assumed that dealership should use Oem oil but later I learned that it could be any cheap oil.

2. I'll look into this pump to get oil from the top.. Thx.

3. I'm done with Rams for now. It's a good feeling not having to worry about manifold bolts, hemi tick, or cam lifter failure. I do miss ram but Toyota seems to just have more reliable parts in their trucks.

4. Yes, based on me being heavily in Toyota community forums now, their engines are not picky about oil (so far), and any mid-level regular oil can take them up to 300k miles without any issues as long as you do regular 5k oil changes. This is my goal.

I follow this Toyota master mechanic guy a lot. Of course he only talks Toyota engines, and it's a whole different world from Ram, but I'll post a link to his popular video on engine tear down because of oil issues

5. Yes, if dealership uses Toyota Oem or mobil1 which is who makes Toyota US oil, I'd be perfectly satisfied. But I need to verify this somehow.

6. Thank you for providing spec sheet with information on Toyota oil.

I already had dealership do oil change at 1k miles. And will go soon to do 5k oil change.

Getting back to my original question - should I send sample to Blackstone right after the second oil change and compare values to the Toyota oil specifications that you posted above?

7. Do I also need to do TBN test?

Thx!
Tbn sets your interval and also verifies it. 5k unterval unless you have fuel dilution or insolubles, you could pass on tbn. If you ever have a bad wear report, the next run always good to have tbn/tan levels.

So verify this, but I believe toyota is like one of few manu's that use the most simplest spec for their oils, and now it should be gf-6. I could be wrong, if so someone educate me, but I think any gf-6 oil meets their spec. Of course any dexos is also gf-6, so I would at least make sure it was dexos as well. Especially with a turbo, you want low calcium oils and synthetic brother, moly is great to avoid lspi as well.

oem oil is SP, but I'm not sure even the manual even requires that. It should for sure, what does your manual say? Just use api sp or sn+? That is still the most basic spec, nearly every shelf oil synthetic will now be SP, then you get to other specs like rams ms-6395 or chevy's dexos, or mercedes whatever. I dont think toyota has any other spec. Maybe SP catches all specs pretty good so others arent really needed.
 
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U&A

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It could be worse, if you had the 5.0 you need to remove heat shield, remove cooler assembly drop sway bar and remove transmission mount and lift the trans. I guess I was wrong, you dont need to lift the trans, that is the 10 speed with the 5,0, so good news.

So looking at it again, the reason for the trans drop or "raise" is only for the pan to clear the exhaust, now don't you guys think it would be easier or smarter to just drop the exhaust? It just seams crazy to drop a transmision to change the fluid.
Good lord.

Never will I EVER buy a vehicle without researching maintenance tasks first. That is flat out STUPID AF. No reason for that beyond it was not considered during engineering. Cost prohibited or not. Do things RIGHT.

They literally need to make all engineers go through maintenance tasks on current vehicle’s, so they get a taste of reality before they get to design anything new. Somebody who is an engineer, might want to jump in and tell me about how things work but I don’t care. People need to help other people. That’s what makeS us “HUMAN”. helping others.

I’m so thankful that I am now able to be a engineer in industrial fab shop after my decade, and a half of being a welder in a fab shop.

Funny how much we change as we get older and the things that we care about. We care way less about people’s feelings and way more about peoples actions as we get older.
 

U&A

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I was wondering the same as well. Over here, we get this and its cheap. I mean really cheap.
View attachment 522411View attachment 522412
According to the bottle, it is made in colaboration with the Idemitsu Kosan Co. - I've seen some uoa for Idemitsu oil and it has a lot of moly.
This is the stuff that is used for all the Toyotas ovef here and these engines are driven hard. Some users take 10W40 as a standard fit.
A BITOG search gives us this.., but its only 0w20.
I also found this..

I was thinking of using Castrol Magnatec and Lubegard as a combination.
Mike & Corey and the gang.

Can’t remember where this conversation was but……

Wasn’t it Toyota trans fluid there was absolutely horrendous at protecting things. I would definitely do my research on the oil.
 

Burla

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thier ws fluid is nothing special, I dont know that it is "horible" because they changed most clutch packs to black, so that fluid gets black fast. I used d6 in my rav 4.
 

U&A

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thier ws fluid is nothing special, I dont know that it is "horible" because they changed most clutch packs to black, so that fluid gets black fast. I used d6 in my rav 4.
Ok thats what it was then. I remember you saying that now how it got dark really fast for some reason.
 

HEMIMANN

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It's what happens when executives tell engineers to throw unfinished designs out the door for quick bucks.

Boeing 737 Max comes to mind with killing passengers and W. James McNerney the XVIII escaping to his gated island leaving those he tormented to pick up his turds. Acolyte of the great GE lawyer Jack Welch.

I lived that dream.
 

mdc1990zr1

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Hi all,

Oil question for you!

So I got a 2022 tundra with the v6 turbo, and plan on getting oil changes every 5k miles.

I got prepaid maintenance/oil changes from the Toyota dealership every 5k miles. I like this idea as it saves me a lot of time and is convenient.

I'm however worried that they might be using very cheap bulk oil to do their oil changes. I've heard that dealerships usually use cheapest oil and not Oem.

Questions:

1. How can I verify which oil they use and if it's good enough?

2. Should I get Blackstone test done right after the oil change was done? And do send ****** oil sample to Blackstone to compare brand new oil and what Toyota dealership put into my truck?

Do I need to do TBN analysis as well?

What will these oil lab results tell me? Will I be able to figure out which brand/kind they use?

3. Any way to get oil sample out of my Tundra engine without draining oil from the bottom?

Any other comments? No I don't want to do my own oil change :)

View attachment 522407
If you suspect any "cheapness" in any fluid change, just change it earlier, say at 3,000 mile interval for any suspect crankcase oil.
 

JHoward

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2. I'll look into this pump to get oil from the top.. Thx.

I'm sure you know that getting a good representation of oil to be sampled for testing is midway of the oil drain from the bottom of the oil pan.

Blackstone rely's on the info you give them about what brand and type weight of oil to be tested. js

When you have the oil changed at the dealership, maybe they could save you an sample for your oil analysis report?
 

Yardbird

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You guys may go insane when I tell you what I put into my wifes Ford Edge with a 3.5 last week.

I thought I had 6 quarts of Castrol Edge on hand, so I drained the old oil out.

Looked and all I had was slightly over half a jug of Edge, and less than half a jug of Magnetec, both 5w20. So, mixed together I ended up with 4 1/2 quarts of the mixture.

To make up the difference I added enough PUP 5w30 to get to 5 3/4 quarts, to which I added Lubgard Biotech to get up to the 6 quarts I needed.

Engine is the quietest I've heard it since we bought it. Only has 58k miles.

I'll run this around 5k miles, then change to whatever research deems to be the best oil at that time.

I always research and stress over what oil to use, which is why I had leftovers of these three brands.

Each appeared to be the best at the time they were bought, so, I figure three very good oils together should give three times the protection....lol
 

Kap1

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I'm sure you know that getting a good representation of oil to be sampled for testing is midway of the oil drain from the bottom of the oil pan.

Blackstone rely's on the info you give them about what brand and type weight of oil to be tested. js

When you have the oil changed at the dealership, maybe they could save you an sample for your oil analysis report?
Well... I'm just trying to confirm what kind of oil dealership puts into my engine... So I do want oil to be clean.

I don't entirely trust dealership, they can pour good oil for my test sample but pump blend into my new truck (hopefully not lol but who knows!)

My engine now has 3k miles, previous oil change at 1k miles, so I think that oil should be just fine and I don't need to really test it?
 

Yardbird

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You never know what a dealership uses. They could change brands as easily as another distributor giving a better price and a few perks.

Several years ago I owned a gas station with a garage bay. I was thinking about converting it to a quick lube/inspection station.

I called a regional bulk oil distributor about him supplying me. The rep came down and looked my place over. We were talking about what equipment he could ge me when I asked him about the quality of the oil he sold, as I wasn't that familiar with the name.

He said it's good oil, in fact it's what is in the Ford dealership less than a mile from you, and their two other dealerships (other brands) down the road.

So..........The lowest price with the best service wins out at dealerships.
 

JHoward

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Well... I'm just trying to confirm what kind of oil dealership puts into my engine... So I do want oil to be clean.

I don't entirely trust dealership, they can pour good oil for my test sample but pump blend into my new truck (hopefully not lol but who knows!)

My engine now has 3k miles, previous oil change at 1k miles, so I think that oil should be just fine and I don't need to really test it?

Maybe the dealership can give you an sample of the oil that they are going to use a long with type/viscosity, etc. You would then have the info for Blackstone Labs for your self assurance?

Fwiw, I have done oil analysis/reports with Blackstone Labs on my current and two previously owned RAM trucks(~ 8 years)to stay informed on the health of my engine and they are very good on advising/alerting me.

So, the benefit is now I have an recorded history of oci's from the start that helps me to keep track of how well my HEMI is doing.

Happy motoring!
 

tidefan1967

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You guys may go insane when I tell you what I put into my wifes Ford Edge with a 3.5 last week.

I thought I had 6 quarts of Castrol Edge on hand, so I drained the old oil out.

Looked and all I had was slightly over half a jug of Edge, and less than half a jug of Magnetec, both 5w20. So, mixed together I ended up with 4 1/2 quarts of the mixture.

To make up the difference I added enough PUP 5w30 to get to 5 3/4 quarts, to which I added Lubgard Biotech to get up to the 6 quarts I needed.

Engine is the quietest I've heard it since we bought it. Only has 58k miles.

I'll run this around 5k miles, then change to whatever research deems to be the best oil at that time.

I always research and stress over what oil to use, which is why I had leftovers of these three brands.

Each appeared to be the best at the time they were bought, so, I figure three very good oils together should give three times the protection....lol
I did the same thing with my F150 last oil change. Thought I had 6 quarts of PUP 5W30 on hand but no, more like 3.5. I had two quarts of Rotella Gas Truck left over from 2-3 years ago and used those and then topped it off with some Redline 5W30 to make up the difference. Run’s just as quiet as the six quarts of PUP that I used the last 3 oil changes.
 

U&A

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Day late and a dollar short but here are the promised pics if anyone cares to see.

Ford 10 speed trans pan drop fluid and filter change on a 2019 ford Ranger. Was not difficult at all. Just messy AF being there is not drain plug. . Pretty normal to get screwed on that account tho as we all know.

It took exactly 8 quarts to replace what came out after the truck set over night.

The plastic pan is a piece of garbage. It with “oil pan” (pun intended) if you push on it. What a joke. It will get a better aftermarket pan next change. It called for 8 foot pounds of torq on the 8mm bolts. There are a few 12mm….or was it 13mm…. :think: The bolt holes in the pan have an aluminum bushing molded into them for some strength but im tellin yah what. All 8 of the foot lbs felt very mushy. I DID NOT feel right giving it all 8 so i went a bit less and will check/re-torq in a few days if needed. Can we please stop using plastic???? Steel (or cast aluminum as a close second) is so much more forgiving and predictable. It dose however have a large magnet inside it. Nice to see. Pic shows the “pile” of shavings that I pushed togtfor the pic. Not bad at all. …..Oh..And i wont lie. Found it hilarious to see the trans was “pink on the inside”;);). See pics.

Gasket seems to be good to re-use. Has a single green O-Ring that doesn’t circle the bolt holes. No leaks yet. Drove it today (in the 90’s for temps) a good 60 miles round trip. Shifted and performed perfectly.

Filter goes on easy with zero problems. Plastic as well so when you are tightening the 8mm bolts be easy. Filter is pleated felt it looks like or some kind of synthetic fiber. Definitely does not look like cellulose. as said before it does not come with the press fit seal like our transmissions do on the RFE it has a rubber sleeve that’s super easy to use. And apparently there’s is very important Small brown pc of paper that is cut perfectly square in the box with the filter. Lol. Guess this is the packaging material…LMAO

Lots of plastic bits, wires, wires connections, who-haas, dood dads, and thingamajigs inside that trans. Bit odd to see. Looks like a computer inside there.

Re-fill was super easy with the Motive Power fill.

Dip stick. Has a 19mm screw on cover with an O-ring seal. Also says Mercron ULV right on the dip stick. Still wana smack someone in the mouth for putting one in that spot. Need to be a bit of a contortionist to get the dip stick in and take it out without turning it upside down so the fluid doesn’t run up the stick messing up the reading. It’s between the catalytic converter and the passenger side of the trans housing about 3” above the machined surface for the trans pan seal. 200.gif

its vehicle dependent on how to read the dip stick. Some 10speeds (F-150) have a basic “A & B” mark to stay between. This one has numbers 1-6. If you’re checking for the procedures at full operating temp as your vehicle specifies and it has the one through six designation, the manual says to be between five and six. (Still check your manual. Im not chris fix)When it’s cold, it’s a different story obviously. They dont give cold check procedures so use your noggin.
200.gif



Mercron ULV trans fluid is about as thick as monday morning coffee. 50,000 miles and it came out clean but a Slight tint to it. Ill do 30,000ish next time.

Don't think im missing anything important. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Oh and do t tell the wife I used her “Christmas stuff” tote to catch the trans fluid. Ill report back this Christmas on that one.

Sorry about the photo links. Its All I can do.











 
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U&A

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Day late and a dollar short but here are the promised pics if anyone cares to see.

Ford 10 speed trans pan drop fluid and filter change on a 2019 ford Ranger. Was not difficult at all. Just messy AF being there is not drain plug. . Pretty normal to get screwed on that account tho as we all know.

It took exactly 8 quarts to replace what came out after the truck set over night.

The plastic pan is a piece of garbage. It with “oil pan” (pun intended) if you push on it. What a joke. It will get a better aftermarket pan next change. It called for 8 foot pounds of torq on the 8mm bolts. There are a few 12mm….or was it 13mm…. :think: The bolt holes in the pan have an aluminum bushing molded into them for some strength but im tellin yah what. All 8 of the foot lbs felt very mushy. I DID NOT feel right giving it all 8 so i went a bit less and will check/re-torq in a few days if needed. Can we please stop using plastic???? Steel (or cast aluminum as a close second) is so much more forgiving and predictable. It dose however have a large magnet inside it. Nice to see. Pic shows the “pile” of shavings that I pushed togtfor the pic. Not bad at all. …..Oh..And i wont lie. Found it hilarious to see the trans was “pink on the inside”;);). See pics.

Gasket seems to be good to re-use. Has a single green O-Ring that doesn’t circle the bolt holes. No leaks yet. Drove it today (in the 90’s for temps) a good 60 miles round trip. Shifted and performed perfectly.

Filter goes on easy with zero problems. Plastic as well so when you are tightening the 8mm bolts be easy. Filter is pleated felt it looks like or some kind of synthetic fiber. Definitely does not look like cellulose. as said before it does not come with the press fit seal like our transmissions do on the RFE it has a rubber sleeve that’s super easy to use. And apparently there’s is very important Small brown pc of paper that is cut perfectly square in the box with the filter. Lol. Guess this is the packaging material…LMAO

Lots of plastic bits, wires, wires connections, who-haas, dood dads, and thingamajigs inside that trans. Bit odd to see. Looks like a computer inside there.

Re-fill was super easy with the Motive Power fill.

Dip stick. Has a 19mm screw on cover with an O-ring seal. Also says Mercron ULV right on the dip stick. Still wana smack someone in the mouth for putting one in that spot. Need to be a bit of a contortionist to get the dip stick in and take it out without turning it upside down so the fluid doesn’t run up the stick messing up the reading. It’s between the catalytic converter and the passenger side of the trans housing about 3” above the machined surface for the trans pan seal. View attachment 522490

its vehicle dependent on how to read the dip stick. Some 10speeds (F-150) have a basic “A & B” mark to stay between. This one has numbers 1-6. If you’re checking for the procedures at full operating temp as your vehicle specifies and it has the one through six designation, the manual says to be between five and six. (Still check your manual. Im not chris fix)When it’s cold, it’s a different story obviously. They dont give cold check procedures so use your noggin.
View attachment 522491



Mercron ULV trans fluid is about as thick as monday morning coffee. 50,000 miles and it came out clean but a Slight tint to it. Ill do 30,000ish next time.

Don't think im missing anything important. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Oh and do t tell the wife I used her “Christmas stuff” tote to catch the trans fluid. Ill report back this Christmas on that one.

Sorry about the photo links. Its All I can do.











Oh shoot forgot to mention one cool thing.
Pretty positive there’s a magnet inside the transmission filter. If you look at the picture of the trans filter, the top left corner shows a circle. The old filter (no picture sorry) had five lines of shavings showing five magnetic poles in that circular diameter. Like a clock

So it’s probably collecting shavings on that spot outside the filter as I saw it but also inside the filter
 

Burla

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Day late and a dollar short but here are the promised pics if anyone cares to see.

Ford 10 speed trans pan drop fluid and filter change on a 2019 ford Ranger. Was not difficult at all. Just messy AF being there is not drain plug. . Pretty normal to get screwed on that account tho as we all know.

It took exactly 8 quarts to replace what came out after the truck set over night.

The plastic pan is a piece of garbage. It with “oil pan” (pun intended) if you push on it. What a joke. It will get a better aftermarket pan next change. It called for 8 foot pounds of torq on the 8mm bolts. There are a few 12mm….or was it 13mm…. :think: The bolt holes in the pan have an aluminum bushing molded into them for some strength but im tellin yah what. All 8 of the foot lbs felt very mushy. I DID NOT feel right giving it all 8 so i went a bit less and will check/re-torq in a few days if needed. Can we please stop using plastic???? Steel (or cast aluminum as a close second) is so much more forgiving and predictable. It dose however have a large magnet inside it. Nice to see. Pic shows the “pile” of shavings that I pushed togtfor the pic. Not bad at all. …..Oh..And i wont lie. Found it hilarious to see the trans was “pink on the inside”;);). See pics.

Gasket seems to be good to re-use. Has a single green O-Ring that doesn’t circle the bolt holes. No leaks yet. Drove it today (in the 90’s for temps) a good 60 miles round trip. Shifted and performed perfectly.

Filter goes on easy with zero problems. Plastic as well so when you are tightening the 8mm bolts be easy. Filter is pleated felt it looks like or some kind of synthetic fiber. Definitely does not look like cellulose. as said before it does not come with the press fit seal like our transmissions do on the RFE it has a rubber sleeve that’s super easy to use. And apparently there’s is very important Small brown pc of paper that is cut perfectly square in the box with the filter. Lol. Guess this is the packaging material…LMAO

Lots of plastic bits, wires, wires connections, who-haas, dood dads, and thingamajigs inside that trans. Bit odd to see. Looks like a computer inside there.

Re-fill was super easy with the Motive Power fill.

Dip stick. Has a 19mm screw on cover with an O-ring seal. Also says Mercron ULV right on the dip stick. Still wana smack someone in the mouth for putting one in that spot. Need to be a bit of a contortionist to get the dip stick in and take it out without turning it upside down so the fluid doesn’t run up the stick messing up the reading. It’s between the catalytic converter and the passenger side of the trans housing about 3” above the machined surface for the trans pan seal. View attachment 522490

its vehicle dependent on how to read the dip stick. Some 10speeds (F-150) have a basic “A & B” mark to stay between. This one has numbers 1-6. If you’re checking for the procedures at full operating temp as your vehicle specifies and it has the one through six designation, the manual says to be between five and six. (Still check your manual. Im not chris fix)When it’s cold, it’s a different story obviously. They dont give cold check procedures so use your noggin.
View attachment 522491



Mercron ULV trans fluid is about as thick as monday morning coffee. 50,000 miles and it came out clean but a Slight tint to it. Ill do 30,000ish next time.

Don't think im missing anything important. Hope this is helpful to someone.

Oh and do t tell the wife I used her “Christmas stuff” tote to catch the trans fluid. Ill report back this Christmas on that one.

Sorry about the photo links. Its All I can do.











good work thanks. yeah that fluid is some thin stuff, 4.5 at 100C, that is the thinnest I think I have seen ulv is. Funny all of the transmission maintenance issues makes some guys want their rfe back, lol. Glad it was easy for you.

pretty scary to see all those doodads up in there though. Just more stuff that can break, and since most of it is plastic, a little troublesome. It is what it is though.
 

Travis8352

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Here is a VOA for the SP mobil 1 FS 0w40. looks like esters were replaced with alkylated napthalenes based on the oxidation number. Calcium was cut in half and replaced with magnesium. Boron also cut in half likely due to needing less of it now that their using ANs. Moly remained the same. According to a PDS i found HTHS is 3.6. Its also half PAO and half GTL with ANs as well
 
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