sha4000

iTrader: (1)

if anything came out the tails it was probably carbon build up in the cylinders or exhaust. whatever the oil cleans out will show up when you drain it out. if the soke was bluish then you haveraw fuel going through the exhaust, whitemeans coolant is leaking into the cylinders and black smoke would indicate an oil LEAK. cold start up bis when the emmissions are the worst so sometimes you might get that smoke but its nothing to worry about unless its constant

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Been on the website bobistheoilguy. there are some really **** guys (in a good way) there that have been doing used oil analysis and it seems Mobil1 is more than enough for most people and their cars, although it seems to be thinner grade per grade when compared to other oils. Other good oils are Castrol Syntec especially the german formulations and the higher end oils such as Amsoil, Royal Purple and Red Line. Filter comparisons have shown that the Mobil1 and PureOne filters are pretty good. M1 filters better and PureOne flows better but both are very good at both. I think Amsoil and K&N were also pretty decent. I agree that if you do regular oil changes every 3k miles or so, the difference between good dino and syn are not that appreciable. Syn will clean the engine and so the possibility of seepage or leaking is there. I generally use synthetic (various brands and 10W-30 or 10W-40 in the summer and 5W-30 in the winter) with Mobil1 filter and change 5k or 6months, whichever happens first.

additude

Also, the use of Synthetics does not rob the earth of yet one more natural resource...and err...ahhh line the Persian Gulf with even more US currency...

Tryk

Amsoil 5W30 ---- Toyota filter

Lexusfreak

Amsoil oil filter imo. But Toyota filters are decent.