josephdoc

LOL...
I always tell my friends to use better oil for better protection, but I always use cheap oil myself. I don't give hard punch on my cars, and I get oil change evey 3k or so with synth grade, but I don't like to pay more for things I don't need.

I hit 75mph on hwy once in awhile. Only when the mood is right!

$30 bucks with YZZA3 at dealer is a slickdeal, but I don't like their tech to "test drive" my cars.

insomniac

damn ive been using 10w 30 is that bad???

Lexmex

There is nothing wrong with 10W30. People use different weights for different reasons. I have used a lot of weight of M1 in my RX300, 0W40, 5W30, 5W50 (down here we have it), 10W30, 15W50. I never saw anything harmful, though each had its pluses and minuses from my experiences. Depends on a lot of factors like your engine, mileage, any issues you have had, if you take your vehicle to the track, time of the year (summer/winter), etc.

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Not at all. In the summer time, I tend to use 10W-40. I just switch over to 5W-40 in the winter. Don't know if it actually does much, but makes me sleep a little better.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

I only have 1400 miles on my BMW x3, and when I checked the oil,it was black in color. I called the BMW Center thinking that my car has dirty motor oil. They told me the factory Castrol Syntec oil is black in color.. Your post just confirmed it for me. Now, I can see how it looks right out of the bottle.

T0ked

iTrader: (2)

How did you check the color of your motor oil? Cause GC when looking at it on your dipstick or while pouring it, actually still looks golden in color. The only way I can tell my 0W-30 batch is the older green GC is if I open up the oil bottle and shine a flashlight into it at an angle. But also to GC. The 5W-40 I use is BC, btw...

TunedRX300

That just proves color of oil has nothing to do with oil life.
A member even posted "black color means severe oxidation of the fluid", as if he can tell the Ph balance, % of oxidation and nitration by the color.
Most oil color are result of dye, base oil at refinery is clear in color, oil companies add golden dye (or in GC, green; in Royal Purple, purple) because consumers expect oil to be honey in color.
ATF is dyed cherry for leak detection, when dye worn off, it does not mean ATF is done.
It is amazing how many people fall for this "seeing is everything", but do our eyes really see everything?

SCoupe

Dude, you're in Hawaii ! Using 10w-30 did nothing bad to your engine. The 5-30w does help in cooler climates, especially in the winter.

IS_Mine

Thanks for all the input guys! I feel much better about taking my car to the Toyota dealership.

And they won't be test driving my car cause I'm one of those customers that likes to watch the work done on the car.

sc250tt

20-50 castrol gtx all day .i used it in every car i owned and never went wrong i use 20-50 because i drive hard and i live in florida

Lexmex

My father had a 79 Nova once and used to run that and it was great for track use, too.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

The dips stick/rag test. My X3 3.0 (same motor as the 330 & Z4) has only one dipstick under the hood, which is for the motor oil.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I agree with you on this. I tried telling people the same thing, but they kept on refusing to believe that color has nothing to do with how much life the oil has left. Apparantly I'll need to show them the Castrol oil

TunedRX300

So true, the same guy even proclaimed "if oil is dark, change it, how hard can it be?" Well, the virgin oil of GC and RP is close to dark, shall we dump unused fresh oil ?

2URGSE

I used German Castrol 10W-30 in my Subaru STi, that was good oil.

As for the IS-F, I used Castrol full synthetic in the beginning but when it came out it looked like old watery coffee.

I switched to RedLine 5W-30, the car runs much much smoother.

My friend uses RedLine 0W-20 in her IS250 and is very happy as well.

It is expensive, but worth it.