And you expected to get decent mileage wearing those colors? Sheesshh!!!

 

I discounted the change in my sock color, as well as my switching from briefs to boxers. However, it seems that moving my rear-deck HSD emblem from the factory location up to the top-right corner (as documented in thread New Rear End) has decreased my tank avg by 1mpg, probably because I screwed up the aerodynamics at the rear of the car. There is no other explanation for my drop in FE!!! Anyone have a wind tunnel I can borrow?


Heck, I'm going in for my first 5k service on Thursday, I'll have them put in synthetic just for kicks, and see if I see a FE increase.

 

Hehe, one more convert! (No, I don't work for Mobil 1... yet.)

 

If I understand it correctly, all of the 0W20 is synthetic. Me thinks that you don't have much choice.

My change was to Mobile 1. I've not seen any other choices. I don't know what brand Toyota uses for their label.

Also, prepare yourself. The synthetic oil change is higher in cost than the plain ole stuff.

It wasn't convenient to go to the Toyota Dealer for my first oil change. I tried at least 4 of the quick-lube type places. None of them had the oil. So I ended up (preparing to duck from deluge of "ya did what with the new camry" e-mail) taking it to Wal-Mart. They had the oil and charged about $40 for the change. Other places said that it would be higher IF they had the oil.

BTW.... please don't ask about the color of Mrs. Scooters socks, she WILL blush..

 

I did my first oil change at 1600 miles and noticed a big jump, previous tank was like 36.7 and the first tank after switching to Mobil 0W20 I got 38.4. I also suspect some of it is engine break in. The seocnd tank was averaging 38.7, but the car is now int he body shop for 2 weeks so this tank will be skewed. But I have been a synthetic oil user for over 10 years and on 4 cylinder cars have always noticed a marked improvment in engine smoothness and running after switching. I usually wait until around 2k miles before switching to give the engine a little time to break in.

 

I doubt Toyota is putting Synthetic in at the factory. There may be some additives to the factory oil to help the initila break in, but leaving it in 5k is just your GM pulling it out of his ***. I have no conclusive evidence to back this up, other than years of expierience and reading other research and reviews... I liek to get the factory oil out fairly quickly as the initila few hundred miles is when the engine is going through its inital break in, more wear and seating going on, extra friction, etc. I used to pull factory oil at 1K and let dealer do that first change (as with many of my cars the first oil change was free) then at 2K i woudl pull that and go to synthetic. Yes it is overkill and a bit anl, but I figur eI am flushing out any crap that accumulated duringt he worst part of break in and provided the engine fresh oil during this period. At 2K I gfo synthetic and used to chaneg it every 3k miles. With my TL I began to use the maintenace compute rin the car and would change the oil when it said oil life was 30%. That was usually 5500 miles. In the TCH I kept factory oil until 1600 then switched to Mobil1 0W20 and will probably change the oil every 4k or 5k miles.

 

Another option you all have is "AMSOIL Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil" and I think you may find it a little better (spec vs. spec). I have used Amsoil in all my vehicles for many years now and with the same style of driving, I get more MPG on average using synthetic oil. Just my .02 worth.

 

Everything I've read about AMSOIL is outstanding and amazing. However, when I contacted racing groups that use and distribute AMSOIL, they indicated that the 0W-30 would not give the same fuel economy as 0W-20. Still, I doubt there is a better oil anywhere than AMSOIL, and would like to read a mileage report by a TCH owner who has tried it.

 

I read service manual and there is no mention of any special oil. They used to put special oil in new cars, which was replaced after 1000 miles, but I don't think anybody does that anymore. Did yu ask what extra benefit that special oil has and how is it different from normal oil? In the past special oil was less "slippery" and helped quicker engine break in, but that was all explained in user manual as well.

 

Another option you all have is "AMSOIL Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil" and I think you may find it a little better (spec vs. spec). I have used Amsoil in all my vehicles for many years now and with the same style of driving, I get more MPG on average using synthetic oil. Just my .02 worth.
Same boat here, have used it in everything for 20+ years, cars, boats, aircraft, trucks tractors. TCH received it at 1500 miles.