Which Oil?

[Richard Martin]

Morning all,

Well the car is now due a service and TBH with the disaster our usual mechanic has caused on another vehicle i'm not inclined to let him touch it. Also have had some major issues with the local toyota dealership so would rather not let them near it either, safest option is just to do it myself and know its actually been done....any rant over lol.

oil, handbook says 5w/30 but reading online a lot of people are using 10w/40 which would be the best? Will 4 litre also be enough?

BTW the car is a 2003 t4 1.8 estate (the newer shape), car has done just over the 100k mark. (UK based aswell if that makes a difference)?

Also whilst here lol for the service I was going to do, plugs, oil, oil filter, air filter, pollen filter have I missed anything or would anyone recommend doing something else at the same time?? Coolant and brake fluid look alright but was going to replace the coolant before winter comes.

Cheers

[Druid Boy]

Get yourself to your local Halfords, check thier oil listing sheet and buy 2x 4 litre cans of Magnatec fully synthetic for £17.50 each. Bargain. They list 5/30 for my 2.2D4D. Curiously I have rather a lot in the garage now.

[B3rtie]

If the engine is not worn you will find that 5w 30 is better for fuel economy and cold start-ups as 5/10w 40 will be thicker when warm. Both our cars of this age are on 5w 30 (the other a Citroen) and the engines are designed too work this viscosity.

My favourite brand at the moment is Amsoil fully synthetic (performance Oils) - not too expensive, seem to run very quietly and consumption is not as much between changes compared to synthetic / semi-synthetic Shell which Mr T uses.

With regard to your other queries, some of the items you mention are time-related so may only need to be done periodically. Check the service booklet which came with the car - you might want to change the ancilary drive belt if it hasnt been done for some time.

[mickeybo]

03 car now should be 10w40, im not sure about the capacity but 4.5 would be my geuss...just keep an eye on the dipstick when filling and youll be fine.

plugs are Denso K16RU11

brake fluid should be done every 18k miles ( just rember to pump the brake pedal before you drive hahaha)

use pink coolant

if the pollen and air filter are free from blackening or build up of dirt then leave them alone, they'll be fine

Mike

[B3rtie]

check manual but I would use 5w 30 in preference to 10w 40!

[Collie72]

Get yourself to your local Halfords, check thier oil listing sheet and buy 2x 4 litre cans of Magnatec fully synthetic for £17.50 each. Bargain. They list 5/30 for my 2.2D4D. Curiously I have rather a lot in the garage now.

WOW!!!...That's cheap! Over here in Ireland they are charging us £25.00 just for one can in Halfords. Talk about being ripped off!!!

[mickeybo]

oil and fuel is an absolute rip off in Ireland haha, but any car u to 03 should now be using 10/40, it will be 5/30 on the book and autodata but 10/40 is the oil to be using