Oversize Oil Filter & Synthetic Oil questions

[big_john]

Have an '04 Tacoma extended cab, 4cyl 4WD.
Question:
Anyone tried increasing the size of the oil filter for increased protection?
What brands (FRAM, TOYOTA, etc.) have you used.
Also, what type of synthetic oil is best for this truck?

Thanks in advance

[scott02]

Ihave an o2 tacoma v6 i use mobil one, herd alot of god things about amsoil but never used it. As for filters i herd some bad things on the fram filters. U can do a search and there are sites were people did test on alot of brand filters. Ucant go wrong with the toyota filter. Mobil one filters are good but are expensive, it think it was 12.00 bucks for that bad boy. You will get one hudred different answers on this subject. Find something you are happy with and stick with it.

['03DC3.4TRD4X4]

I use Amsoil series 2000 0W30 full synthetic in all of my vehicles including a '94 4Runner V6 with 180,000 miles and an '03 double cab with 4,000 miles. You can expect a couple of mpg improvement, easier starting and smoother idle. This is the best motor oil available anywhere. They make a good oil filter but so does fram if you the the premium ones-- avoid wix!!

[coloradotaco]

I have used synthetic oils like Mobil 1 and Castrol in my Mustang GT since it was new. I have 136,000 hard miles on it now and it still doesn't use oil. I change oil every 5k or so, no problem.
I was told that filters like the standard Fram do not have a leak down check valve so you may lose oil pressure when the car sits for awhile. This may cause oil starvation (rattling) when you first start it up. I understand that Purolator or Fram tough guard filters do have that check valve.

[Engine_Mapper]

Originally Posted by big_john

Have an '04 Tacoma extended cab, 4cyl 4WD.
Question:
Anyone tried increasing the size of the oil filter for increased protection?
What brands (FRAM, TOYOTA, etc.) have you used.
Also, what type of synthetic oil is best for this truck?

Thanks in advance

About increasing the size of the oil filter, that is a good idea. You can get an "oil fliter relocation kit" that will essentially put two oil filters in parallel for twice the oil filter area with only half the oil pressure drop. That means you can use some of the low-micron filtration filters (2 of them) without worrying about too much oil pressure drop from that type of oil filter. Then you could use some of the more expensive Mobil 1 or Purolator's "Pure-One" oil filters.

I've got some good info: Oil filters that are good are Purolator, AC, Bosch, Wix, Mobil 1, NAPA,... pretty much anything but FRAM. Ban Fram and you'll be fine. The details are at: http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html if you'd like to read all that. By the way, beware of oil filters that merely put a new label on an actual Fram filter. Compare the way the filter looks from the opening end if you aren't sure if it is really a Fram-filter-in-hiding.

About which oil to use: I've researched that and here goes:

I just found out the answer to that question: Chevron Delo 400 Synthetic 0W-30 if you live north of Texas, and Mobil 1 0W-30 if you live south of Texas (southern states only).

Why? Almost half your lifetime engine wear occurs during cranking (confirmed by several engineer friends and also by Mobil Oil Company), so a 0W-30 is the right weight to cut wear down. The "0W" part means the oil gets up and gets going to the bearings the fastest during engine cranking at start-up. Therefore, a "0W" is the best. (A "0W-30" can be used where the manufacturer recommends a 5w-30.)

But why Chevron Delo Synthetic 0W-30 for anybody who lives north of Texas? Taking the "Dragnet" approach, "Just-The-Facts", look at the incredible technical spec sheet at http://bestsyntheticoil.com/dealers...une-17-2003.pdf and notice that Chevron, employing some of the best engineers and having some of the best labs in the world, have come up with a synthetic oil that has a Pour Point of -76 degrees below zero. BEST THERE IS. That low number means that their Delo Synthetic 0W-30 oil resists the bad effects of cool temperatures, indicating that it is going to flow better when the weather is simply below freezing as well. By the way, the Chevron oil's Flash Point is still OK at 419 degrees (any number over 400 is good).

South of Texas (any southern state), its fine to use Mobil 1 0W-30, since its Pour Point is almost as good as Chevron's Delo Synthetic, and Mobil 1 has a slight edge on high temperature Flash Point.

Also, Mobil 1, like Chevron Delo Synthetic, is produced by world-class, well-funded engineers with some of the best labs anywhere. This means Mobil 1 or Chevron synthetic have proper additive packages in addition to having oil that flows at cooler temps and hangs in there at high temps.

One note: If racing or pulling a trailer, you might want to use Chevron Delo Synthetic 5w-40 weight or Mobil 1 synthetic 0w-40 weight. However, the 0w-30 weights in both brands of oil would probably do just fine there too. One more note about racing: Using Mobil 1 0w-20 may be the best for racing, since the lower-viscosity "20" number means it takes less horsepower to run the oil pump, giving you slightly more horsepower available to drive the wheels! Slight horsepower advantage with the thinner "0w-20" Mobil 1 synthetic, but possibly less engine life. Again, the Mobil 1 "0w-40" would make the engine last longer in racing, but it soaks up more horsepower than the Mobil 1 "0w-20" --- you choose which is more important when racing!

Chevron Delo Synthetic 0w-30 may only be available at trucking supply stores. Mobil 1 is available everywhere.

I don't work for Chevron or Mobil. I am an engineer (Mechanical/Aerospace/Computer) and I think you've got to go on the facts without ANY marketing hype.

It may be noted that Chevron sells the Delo Synthetic to trucking fleet managers who they know will see the numbers, so marketing hype is not going to suffice. That might be why Chevron has the best Pour Point while some other more heavily consumer-advertised oils don't.

For higher mileage (more than 75,000 miles) it may be good to go to Mobil 1 0W-40. Again, stick with the "0w", but in this case make the top number "40" to fill the larger clearances in older engines. I'm not completely sure about whether you really have to go to the 0w-40, and if it was me I would stick with the Chevron Delo Synthetic 0w-30 for any car in states north of Texas, and Mobil 1 synthetic 0w-30 for southern states, as in the analysis above, even for older engines.

good luck

['03DC3.4TRD4X4]

Nice post Mapper, but you are off base on a couple of important facts. 0 weight oils are not for everyone and you picked a very poorly performing example at that. The Mobil1 zero weight has much less wear protection than the 5w30. while it circulates well at low temperatures, this is not the only consideration to be made. I encourage you to take a look at Amsoil. Amsoil 0w oils actually protect better than every other oil under all conditions, not just at extremely cold temps. I like the Mobil1 5w30 synthetic because it is relatively cheap but you give up too much in wear protection with the Mobil1 0w30.
On to filters, Wix filters are the poorest, right below Fram. BUT, Fram also makes primium filters for those of us who pay attention to things like capacity and efficiency.
Now the facts which you seem to enjoy so much.
Amsoil series 2000 0W30
Pour Point -65F
Flash Point 439F
Fire Point 477F

Now for the 4 Ball Wear Test
(40 kg pressure @ 150C at 1800 rpm for 1 hr.)
Wear Scar diameter as follows:
Amsoil series 2000 0W30 the smallest @ 0.374 mm
Mobil1 supersyn 5W30 next smallest @ 0.667 mm
Pennzoil 5W30 with Purebase 0.848 mm
Quaker State 4X4 10W30 Synthetic Blend 1.497 mm
Mobil1 supersyn 0W30 the worst of this group @ 1.842 mm

The smaller the scar, the better the protection!

So you can see, even a synthetic blend pretected better than the Mobil1 0W30.

Go to Amsoil.com for all the facts.
An engineer such as yourself should eat this stuff up!!!
Happy number crunching!!!

[Engine_Mapper]

I appreciate your reply. And I would never knock Amsoil. It seems to have been around a long time and is a good choice.

A couple of years ago I spoke to and e-mailed some experts (truck fleet engineer managers, 2 MIT tribologists, and a couple of oil company engineers). They all said that START-UP wear is by far the dominant issue, since any name-brand oil will do great under oil pressure. Therefore, based on that assumption, wear rate under oil pressure doesn't add a rat's-rear-end worth of wear, given that a good Chevron Delo Synthetic, Mobil 1, or Amsoil is being used. This is backed up by many, many testimonials of engines going 300,000 miles on basic dino oil, the common thing being that it was mostly highway miles. If an engine can go 300,000 miles on old (SE-rated) dino oil, WITH OIL PRESSURE, that leaves the only really important issue of start-up wear. There is a great web page at http://www.avbuyer.com/Editorial/GAB/ShellGADec03.pdf that has some good pictures and read the area under "Scuffing".

The 4-ball wear test is interesting, and I previously saw the Amsoil result in this case. However, I don't think that test correlates to internal engine lubrication conditions. It is a test more useful for bearing grease. (This according to Mobil and my observation that engines can go for 300,000 miles on plain dino oil.)

Therefore, my own personal conclusions are:
----- Any name-brand synthetic oil does great under running conditions with oil pressure.
----- Start-up wear so dominates the wear picture that a "0w-XX" is the only way to go to try to minimize metal-to-metal contact time during cranking.

I've had this conversation a few times with other people, and unless they have fleet test results and sound scientific analysis to back it up, I'm sticking with the group of experts I talked to a couple of years ago.

I've got another upsetting fact I found out the other day: Changing your engine oil actually increases your wear rate slightly!!! There are SAE papers and other evidence about this. It basically says: Stop changing your oil so often, leave it in for at least 6,000 miles.

Whoa! Dick Clarke just started testifying in front of congress on the TV in front of the 9/11 Commission Investigation. Let the fireworks begin... BYE

[coloradotaco]

I'd be leery of using base Fram products in general. I found out the hard way that the PCV valve Fram recommended for a Turbocharged Mustang did not have a positive shut. Under boost it would allow pressurized air to enter the crankcase. I couldn't figure out why I kept blowing cam cover gaskets.

['03DC3.4TRD4X4]

Mapper,
No argument here--the majority of engine wear does indeed occur at startup, especially at extremely low temps rendering mineral base oils with high parafin content in a waxlike state, totally incapable of any circulation whatsoever.
The point that I was trying to make is this--Amsoil is the best oil available so why would you intentionally use Mobil1 0W30? To save a few bucks, yes, or because you can pick it up down at Walmart?
And yes, Amsoil has been around for a while. Amsoil is in fact the first synthetic motor oil ever, try 1971.

[onemeantaco]

I bought an oil filter relocation kit and i can put an oil filter on for 460 f 350 it adds a little over a quart of oil and I use Hastings brand oil filter with kendall oil