Synthetic oil MPG boost since change

[BailOut]

Originally Posted by PetersRedYaris

Hypermilers change their oil often because fresh oil always nets better MPG's, regular or synthetic.

Actually, I'm set up for annual changes with 5W-20 Mobil1 Extended Performance synthetic along with a K&N Gold oil filter. There have been a lot of tests done and they show very little viscosity change in this oil at 15,000 miles.

I also use a magnetic drain plug just in case.

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by CASTREX

BTW I just received a 12pk of Amsoil 0W-30 on my mail today!

Also got thhe 75w-90 gear oil for the tranny.

Can some one tell me how hard is to change the tranny oil??? Should I go to a shop or is something I can do by my self???

I am going to change my tranny too. I have not crawled up underneath mine yet, but a simple fill and drain plug arrangement is all there is. Take a peak at the shop manual and you can see the fill level procedure which is pretty much status quo for any manual tranny I ever owned. I would stop by the parts counter and get a drain plug gasket before doing the job. as a matter of fact I am in contact with a manufacture that is providing me with a magnetic drain plug for the motor and I might just pick up a magnetic drain plug for the tranny.

[KittenRD]

I use synthetic oil too, but my mpgs aren't nearly that. How do you get such good gas milage?

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by KittenRD

I use synthetic oil too, but my mpgs aren't nearly that. How do you get such good gas milage?

I just recently traveled to the east coast of my state (which is flat) and got an average of 47+ MPG. I kept my speeds at approximately 65 MPH with the AC on.

[swng]

Originally Posted by blacksan

I just recently traveled to the east coast of my state (which is flat) and got an average of 47+ MPG. I kept my speeds at approximately 65 MPH with the AC on.

That is a really good result, if you are not a hypermiler, I mean, if you just drive like an ordinary driver or an F.E. conscious driver at most. I guess you may be a not-so-serious hypermiler. Anyway getting 47 miles per US gallon without losing the comfort of the AC is no small deal. I think just the use of synthetic oil cannot have given you such a good result. I have to assume that you have not driven much in busy city traffic. I am very interested in knowing more about how to get good fuel economy without sacrificing comfort, convenience and safety and I sincerely invite you to share your skills and experience at the Fuel Economy thread.

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by swng

That is a really good result, if you are not a hypermiler, I mean, if you just drive like an ordinary driver or an F.E. conscious driver at most. I guess you may be a not-so-serious hypermiler. Anyway getting 47 miles per US gallon without losing the comfort of the AC is no small deal. I am sure just the use of synthetic oil cannot have given you such a good result. I have to assume that you have not driven much in busy city traffic. I am very interested in knowing more about how to get good fuel economy without sacrificing comfort, convenience and safety and I sincerely invite you to share your skills and experience at the Fuel Economy thread.

I use synthetic in both engine and tranny. I short shift at low RPM and keep a real steady throttle at speed. When I changed the tranny fluid to synthetic I noticed how much smoother the synthetic was as I lost a discernible degree of engine breaking with the tranny. On my previous car (Subaru) I still had 75% brake pad material after 80K which is a result of my interstate commute and engine breaking with tranny. Does this help?

BTW, I change my filter at 5K and top off with a full fluid change at 20K with Amsoil synthetic in both motor and tranny.

[swng]

Originally Posted by blacksan

I use synthetic in both engine and tranny. I short shift at low RPM and keep a real steady throttle at speed. When I changed the tranny fluid to synthetic I noticed how much smoother the synthetic was as I lost a discernible degree of engine breaking with the tranny. On my previous car (Subaru) I still had 75% brake pad material after 80K which is a result of my interstate commute and engine breaking with tranny. Does this help?

BTW, I change my filter at 5K and top off with a full fluid change at 20K with Amsoil synthetic in both motor and tranny.

Very sensible! The dealership has been offering to change my engine oil to synthetic oil for double the price of the regular mineral oil (about C$35 with regular and C$70 with synthetic oil in a basic routine service, plus tax, if I remember correctly). As I have all along been using the Yaris basically as a light duty workhorse car, not a heavy duty/sports car, I have chosen to stay with regular i.e. mineral oil. Since I need to change the oil about every six months, I think considering my rate of fuel consumption, even with the noticeable better fuel economy to be expected, there is little chance that the synthetic oil can pay for itself. Now that you say that synthetic oil improves smoothness (I admit I am slighty surprised), which I presume will render the driving more pleasurable, may be I should give synthetic oil a try.
Remember, the Fuel Economy thread always welcomes sucessful fuel savers like you to share their reasons for their fine achievements.

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by swng

Very sensible! The dealership has been offering to change my engine oil to synthetic oil for double the price of the regular mineral oil (about C$35 for regular and C$70 for synthetic, plus tax, if I remember correctly). As I have all along been using the Yaris basically as a light duty work horse car, not a heavy duty/sports car, I have chosen to stay with regular i.e. mineral oil. Since I need to change the oil about every six months, I think considering my rate of fuel consumption, even with the resulting better fuel economy, there is little chance that the synthetic oil can pay for itself. Now that you say that synthetic oil improves smoothness (I admit I am slighty surprised), which I presume will render the driving more pleasurable, may be I should give synthetic oil a try.
Remember, the Fuel Economy thread always welcomes sucessful fuel savers like you to share the reasons for their fine achievements.

I am from a very rural background (farming & trucking). Long before I was old enough to drive I was wrenching heavy equipment and analyzing wear. We (my family & I) sent off oil samples for wear when equipment started to cost 100K +. Synthetic with good filters (Wix my favorite) kept coast down and equipment running longer. The other variable I found to be significant is tire inflation. I check mine weekly and keep it at 34 PSI (cold) which seems to work well in my situation. I also rotate front to back at 5K.

[swng]

Thanks for the insight again. My tires are at 34 PSI (cold and all around) too. A balance between comfort and efficiency, hopefully without losing the important emergency braking ability in daily road conditions too. They are rotated at every other regular service. Hmmm, may be synthetic oil next time I take the car to service.
BTW, nice avatar blacksan, and of course KittenRD too!

[blacksan]

Originally Posted by swng

Thanks for the insight again. My tires are at 34 PSI too. A balance between comfort and efficiency, hopefully without losing emergency braking ability in daily road conditions. They are rotated at every other regular service. Hmmm, may be synthetic oil next time I take the car to service.
BTW, nice avatar blacksan, and of course KittenRD too!

I am always willing to add my simple experience to my brothers in the north. If you ever head south for holiday please give me a shout, K.

[swng]

[alhope34]

I use 5W-30 Mobil1 synthetic with the normal Toyota oil filters. I never bothered to see if there was a mpg difference when I changed from normal to synthetic, it was around 3000kms on the car. I was just interested in the added engine life that comes along with using a full synthetic constantly since after break-in. I try to change the oil between 6-8000kms, and the oil is usually not too dirty. Not amber but not complete black like the cars we'd get in at the dealership.

Personally, I'd be kind of iffy using a 0w-30 oil. At the Toyota dealership when I worked there they were dead set on 5W-30 for all their cars. Didn't matter if it was synthetic or normal, even if customers bought their oil somewhere else, we would only use 5W-30 unless the customer absolutely insisted on other type. Would that have something to do with the oil pump pressure? Could the lighter oil mess it up somehow? I know using a thicker oil isn't good as it restricts oil flow, especially during warm up.