What oil should I use for my 1998 Tacoma with 180000 miles?

Hello.

I recently hit 180000 miles today on my Tacoma. Its time to do a oil change. What oil do you guys recommend?

My Tacoma is 1998 Xtra Cab 4 cylinder Automatic 4WD.

 

I've been using Full Synthetic Mobil 1 5W-30. Really you can run whatever you damn want in the 4 cylinders, they're solid engines that never burn oil. Some guys on here use conventional no problem, but I use full synthetic just for peace of mind. Always use the Toyota YZZD1/YZZD3 oil filter - they are so much better than any aftermarket FRAM, K&N, etc. oil filter out there. There's a post somewhere on this forum of someone taking them all apart and measuring filter media volume and the Toyota filters always won in filtering media size and overall quality. They're like, $5 at my local dealership too.

 

Thanks Tyler!

 

That's odd. They've always been (at least for the last 15 years) $6 plus tax at my official Toyota Dealership.

 

I would say perhaps, motor oil ? and something that meets specification from the owners manual

 

I get my OEM oil filters from @gunny1005 at Camelback Toyota for $35.60 for a case of 10. Free shipping & no tax. That's for the 3.4 V6. I choose to use the YZZD1 oil filters. I use RP HMX high mileage 5w30 full synthetic. I have just under 260,000 miles on my Tacoma. I've been using it since 180,000 miles.

 

Yeah full synth at that mileage is pretty standard although I am sure you could get away without it, but I would run full synth for piece of mind.

 

If he can still do that price I'd be in for a case.

 

What did you use the first 180k?

Any reason you're thinking that won't get you the next 180k?

Viscosity and SAE rating equal or newer than the OE called for will work great, either in syn or dino.

The only reasons to run syn over dino is if you either use the truck severe duty (short trips, towing, heavy off roading) or you're willing to greatly extend your OCIs. Otherwise you're tossing money away.

At you mileage you should consider an oil analysis at your next change. They'll tell you how much more life was left in the oil you were using and some great data on the internal health of your motor. Kinda like blood work.

 

Topic as old as time. Oil salesman love this kind of stuff. lol I use Mobil 1 5w-30. The stuff that goes 15000 miles. I change it between 8-9K miles. Mostly because it's usually been almost a year since I changed the oil last. High mileage oil filter. My 98 has 184k miles. Does it matter? probably not. Sometimes I get a blackstone labs oil analysis. I had royal purple in it for a year and 10K miles. Was still the same viscosity after that long of time and that many miles. Going to send in some Mobil 1 and see. Just for Shiz and giggles. Once drove a 87 VW GTI and used cheapo oil from wal-mart. Ran it until 270K until the motor just gave out. Just changed the oil every 3K with the cheapest crap I could find. As long as she is lubed up she'll run out fine.

 

I used the formula: If truck was running dino all life, don't swap to synthetic. If truck was running synthetic, no need to change that. In other words: don't change oil type, keep what the truck is used to. I fed my Tacoma for the last 318k miles with Toyota dino every 5k miles (normal driving). But my 5th gen 4Runner sees Toyota synthetic every 10k miles.

 

Pm him

 

This.

And just change it at regular intervals like the manual says. You don't need fancy expensive purple oil or whatever. Just use Penzoil, Valvoline, Castrol - whatever - it really doesn't matter. Just get the proper weight for your application (climate, etc...)

What matters more is the fact that you change it regularly.

 

AmsOil, like everything else.

 

I have been using Napa 5/30 for about the last 10 years.

1 3.4 has over 200,000 the other one who knows how many miles

 

There are small differences between products especially when you get to high rpm race engine applications (not Tacomas lol), but this is one of the most important factors in prolonging the life of your engine.

 

I usually run super tech from wal mart and a fram filter. 310k and counting

 

how long have you had the truck and how often do you change the oil - that's pretty good!

 

Ive had the truck about 4 yrs, and it probably had 270-280k when I got it. It came from a farm and was in VERY rough shape when I got it so I highly doubt it had any special treatment as far as maintenance went, that's if it had any maintenance at all. Since I've owned it though, I usually change the oil about every 5k.

 

If it's got that many miles on it then just stick with dino every 3-5000 miles. No point in changing to synthetic. I run Amsoil in everything but in your case Pennzoil dino or any other high quality dino will suffice. With Pennzoil being just about the favorite dino at BITOG that's what I'd go with. It's real good stuff and it was what was used every 3000 miles in my 2004 4X4 taco before I bought it from my dad. You can pick up a quart just about anywhere in the country as well if you need it so when the truck starts burning it some day you can just buy a quart at almost any store.