Synthetic Oil for '88 Toyota 22-RE (FI) 4 cyl.?

Hey guys,

I have a 1988 Toyota Pickup 4x4, 22-re engine, 4 cylinder and fuel injected. The truck as 193,000 miles on it.

Someone suggested to me synthetic oil instead of normal oil. Do you guys suggest it for the truck? I live in Southern Utah; the mornings are pretty cold during the winter but every other time the temperate is comfortably to hot.

Also, what brand would you suggest? What grade? 10w40, 20w50? Thanks for any help.

Synthetic in an engine with that much wear is problematic. What might happen is that the superior detergents in the oil would remove deposits built up over the years. You'll likely see increased oil consumption for several thousand miles. After that consumption should return to normal after things are cleaned out and the new oil has established its own sealing.

I'd get Mobil 1 5W-30 or 5W-40. How cold is cold? If you aren't in the minus territory often, you might as well stick with a good conventional

5W-30. 20W-50 would be way too viscous for an engine in any but 100+ weather, and I'd rather use 15W-40 or syn 5W-40 in that weather in any case.

Ken

Cold: I'd say 20-30s and up.

Hot: close to 110 during the summer.

Eh, I guess for the cold I should say 30-40s and up.

I agree with Ken on this one. I use synthetic in all my equipment where possible. I bought a used riding mower from a dealer that had a fresh oil change when I got it and didn't use any oil or smoke. At the end of the season I changed to syn. Engine started using oil shortly after I switched to syn., it's used about 1 to 1-1/2 quart this season. I get a little blue smoke when running so I'm sure the syn cleaned all gunk out and now the parts are loose. I'm going to switch to a "seasoned engine" oil to see if it will stop using oil. Hope this helps, davidj92

I'd use a 10W-30 in the winter and a 15W-40 in the summer.

Ken