For those of you that want oil spec info.....Here you go.

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbi...oil_bible.html

Your welcome

 

i've been going pretty easy on my car. dont think i've been over 4k rpms yet. i've put about 500 miles on it, and have had it about 2 weeks.

 

Tobacco Juice and ground Kudzu Drippins, good for 1 zillion miles on concrete blocks!

 

2006 xB picked up the Monday after Thanksgiving last year 2100 miles - still breaking it in - yeah it gets better and better the more you drive. Gently revs prevent cooking the top rings before they seat fully and they take a while to polish up - there are a lot of other things in the drive train that break in like chains and their roller surfaces and the gears in the tranny. Pushing it too soon can cause spot heating and damage the surface and break down the oil. Take off in first and give it a little gas and wait until the engine will not rev any more - the more the engine breaks in the higher it will rev. The oil issue as far as I can see only helps if you go for long oil change intervals - I have been going 5-8k with oil on the last two new cars I have owned and they rusted before the engine caused any problems. Regular oil will be dead in about 6-7k, syntec blend castrol keeps going. Never tried Mobil1 but hear it increases mpg . . . I am getting about 40-43 mpg on my xB right now and it is winter here in RI so I think I am doing ok. Too many people are throwing away perfectly good oil by changing it too soon. If it is not slippery and really dirty and smells of gas or burnt oil you NEED to change it. If you are getting white sludge you have water problems from not getting the engine hot enough - usually forms under the filler cap. Highway breakin - just take your foot off the gas once in a mile or so to let the oil up into the top rings and change the loading on the gears and other engine components. Keep in mind that the VVT-I engine has internal hydralic control of the valve timing and that needs a little motion from time to time with throttle and RPM variations. Read an article on the heat cycling of the piston alloy that recommends a lot of starting and stopping without heavy throttle use so that the pistons become stronger too.

 

^^40-43mpg!??!!

 

Yeah I was worried for a while about the mpg coming from a 94 Geo Metro that got 54mpg and the gas price increase really gets me at the pump but yeah got a few tanks of low 30's then realized a 1.2 mile trip with 5 stop signs in cold weather will do that. Then got to take a few low speed non-stop drives and accelerate a little easier at the stops and coast up to them longer . . . well 433.5 miles 10.810 gallons of HESS gas do the math. Oh and the odometer is off by about 9-10% lower that actual distance traveled.

 

Great driving technique!

I was happy getting consistent 30.5~31.5 with a best of 32.7! SoCal traffic is brutal for mpg.

 

If you want to keep a closer eye on your gas mileage I really recommend the ScanGauge - you can watch the MPG change as you drive and if you coast you can see 120-300mpg depending upon your speed - it really lets you know when you are using and wasting gas. The wheel bearings in the xB are amazing allowing it to roll for almost a mile if you put it in neutral on a slight downhill. The gas pedal is extreemly sensitive and the ScanGauge can show you that the slightest motion can affect mileage. It also lets to see the trip MPG dropping as you sit in traffic with the motor running.

 

 

I got back into my friend heated garage last friday night and slid under the front end and got stuck - man the xB is low. jacked it up and added 8 oz of some 20 year old vintage Slick50 Gear oil additive and saw about 4-5 mpg increase the first day driving. I got 49.3mpg on a 34.5 mile trip. Can't wait to add some to the engine after the first oil change.

 

Slick50, eh? haven't heard that name for a long time, used it alot in past vehicles...good stuff....just don't forget to drive a while after you add it to get the full effect.(I think about 20 min.)

 

Not sure about the gear lube driving after adding it but the engine treatment needs to be added and driven right away. As it turned out I finished adding the gear lube at 1:30am in the morning so it was way past bed time and I had to wait for a while - it seems to be doing its job - may say something about the stock gear oil in the Scions too!

 

When I bought my Echo new they told me to take it easy for the first wile for brake in so when i left the dealer lot i did a big red line clutch drop peelout. I kept doing so up to today and my compression is good
and the engine runs smooth and strong. So do good maintenance and drive it like you stole it. Oh and I used synthetic oil from first oil change but from 35,000 miles to present [50000] I use M1 15w50.

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Toyota has dummy proofed all of their engines for guy's like me . That is why they have a rev limiter and i suspect the real brake in period is completed before they ever let us potential nuts get control of the throttle.So I challenge all of you nuts to try to blow up your engine before the warranty is up in stock form or slightly modded. That was my initial plan to get a new engine before warranty was up but it just won't work . Believe me I tried also the tranny and clutch is surprisingly strong as well. I have 50,000 with no problem at all and do clutch dropping Redline burn outs almost every day. Hard on tires though. I just can't help my self.

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I have never owned a car or truck that could take the abuse my Echo as. I have owned 80 Cutless / 96 Tacoma /90 Supra/ 87 Toyota 4x4/
90 Tercel/ 76 Volvo 242DL/ 85 626/93 Pathfinder. I still own the 626 and Pathfinder but nothing can take a beating like the Echo.

 

In varying the speed, the speeds per se are not what provide the benefit, rather the process of changing the speeds. In other words, you should frequently accelerate and decelerate. For the first 500 miles, for instance, accelerate to 60, hold it for a minute, then back off to 50. For the next 500 miles, use 70. When accelerating in gears, stay below 3000 rpm and 3/4 throttle the first 500 miles, and 3500 rpm the next 500. But drive hard within those parameters. After 1000 miles, drive as you wish. The break-in period is then over, although the engine will continue to loosen up and make more power and mpg.

Such a break-in "rocks" the internals for more complete and uniform polishing and mating. On acceleration, the pistons and rings and valve train are under one kind of force, while on deceleration they are under a different force. In a sense, the break-in process is a continuation of the manufacturing process.

If you break in an engine this way, it will be optimized - be as good as it can be. But even if you do a poor break-in or no break-in, the xB engine will not be harmed and you will not know the difference.

Any difference might be discernable if you could drive a perfectly broken-in car for comparison, or after 100,000 miles when the poorly broken-in car might show more oil consumption and valve train noise, and less power.

The Toyota engine is so perfectly made that a careful break-in is not critical. With the vintage air-cooled BMW motorcycles that I restore, the break-in is critical. Steady running too fast can make the pistons seize in the cylinders, and wil not wear in (seat) the rings. The first oil change at 200-400 miles is at best dark with wear products. At worst the oil will come out with a metallic sheen or grit.

I changed the oil on my xB at 400 miles. It was uneccessary. The oil was barely turning amber. The modern engine is made such that essentially no additional wear is mandatory to make it broken-in. We need not finish the manufacturing process by special driving. Merely driving normally is sufficient.

 

that guy needs a girlfriend

 

Got one, 30th anniversary next month.

 

0\/\/n3d...

 

to the both of you, I am talking about nb, the guy with the bad attitude.. saavy?
gees, read the whole thread before you jump in front of the firing squad!