ive been boosted for a month now and im almost 900 miles added to my milage...but i wanted to now what is the BEST oil for my car...?i drive it 3-5 days a week and im boosted at 7psi.....my kit is the turbonetics bolt on kit...when should i change it....? im from guam and guam is not that big.....i dont drive very far...maybe less than 15 miles a day......what can i put to make my turbo LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG lasting....i dont drive fast..i always cruise it...no more pass 45 mph.....

 

mobile 1 synthetic and get a turbo timer or after you drive let the car idle for 1-2 mins

 

As stated above, synthetic oil is great. On that note, inaddition to Mobile 1, I would also recommend Royal Purple syntheic.

The key to turbo longevity is a couple of golden rules you MUST follow religiously:

1) Before any hard performance oriented driving, bring the car up to operating temperature. IOW - Let that turbo and the oil warm up.

2) Regular oil changes with the OEM recommended viscosity. If you go synthetic, changing every 5K miles is fine. If you decide to go with a good (Penzoil, QuakerState, etc) conventional oil, changing every 3K miles is recommended. Remember, any oil breaks down over time/use. Changing your oil on a regular basis is the key. If you ever take your car on the track (time trial, track day) change your oil shortly there unless you just changed it right before the event. When you run your car (and turbo) at the limit, it's always been a good practice to change out the oil and filter.

3) Use a quality oil filter. I recommend the OEM Toyota filter (they are excellent and engineered to the specific needs of the engine). The cost of these (Compared to quality non-OEM filters) combined with the frequency of oil changes makes it a good way to go based on how you describe your driving habits.

4) As stated earlier, always let your car idle for 30 seconds before shutting it off. This allows the hot oil in the turbo to by cycled out. If you come to a stop and just shut down, that hot oil in the turbo will eventually bake your turbo seals and reduce the life of your turbo.

5) Keep up on your OEM recommended maintenance schedule (including what is recommended by the Turbo manufacturer given the tC doesn't currently come from the factory with a turbo option.).

Bottom line: Preventative Maintenance = Engine/Turbo Longevity

 

One last comment (a bit outside the scope of your post but something to consider). Turbo's generally will increase the breakdown of motor oil (synthetic or conventional) because the turbo uses the engines oil to cool down. Heat breaks down oil. As such may want to add an oil cooler to mitigate the additional oil tempurature increase due to the turbo.

Plenty of room up front behind the lower grill for a cooler and the installation is fairly straight forward.

If you've gone through the significant expense of adding a turbo, spend a bit more for an oil cooler.

Cheers!

 

I would stick with Turbonetics TS1 oil or Royal Purple. And change it every 2,000-2,500 miles.

Also the tC need ALOT more then 30 seconds to cool down. I have my turbo timer set for a 4-5 minutes depending on how hard I drive it. 30 seconds will do nothing.

 

I'm using Amsoil right now. No turbo timer but I'm letting the car sit for at least a minute at idle to cool down.

 

Greddy Oil is what I use. Its good stuff for sure.

 

I agree with the above if you have been driving your turbo hard and/or you come right off the freeway where you are at speed (@1 minute to circlate and cool down). I've owned a number of turbocharged cars over the years, some of which where track day cars.

As the original poster stated, driving is not performance oriented. Oil circulation rates in modern engines flow at fairly high rates. about 30 seconds to a minute of idling will cool down a modern turbo that hasn't just been under hard load (eg - track events and/or hard driving where the turbo is under load and generating heat).

Adjust your behaviors to the style of driving you do.

 

I use Royal Purple 5w-30!

 

I use quaker synthetic oil but I'll switch to royal purple after my next oil change

 

LOL, just like how it takes 5 mins to get the car to normal operating temperature... You don't sit there for 5 mins waiting for the car to warm up, but instead you let the oil cycle for 30 secs and drive the car under 3,000 rpm. The turbo timer is used to cycle out the hot oil in the turbo and I believe 30 secs is long enough to do that. It takes hours for the engine to cool down so there's no way it will drop in temperature if you wait 4-5 mins before shutting off. But there's really no need for a turbo timer. Just drive the car normal when you're about to get to your destination and it's the same thing.

 

^very true.

you do not need to sit over 2 mins. Just adjust your driving habits. Say you ran the car hard on the freeway and you are exiting. Just cruise lightly into the parking lot and til you find a parking space. Park, let idle for 30secs or so, and shut off.

Crusiing lightly lets the oil move and cool faster than if it was idling. Just like warming up the car, cruising lightly warms up the car faster than letting it idle for 10 mins.

 

btw, i recommend Mobil 1 or Amsoil. Amsoil is one of, if not, the best synthetic, but is not found cheaply. M1 is very cheap and easily found at your local walmart. M1 synthetic oil filter can be found at your local autozone to match that oil. Or you can try TRD's oil filter.

I've used RP before and it seemed as if it broke down sooner than M1. Also, it burned off easier. Otherwise, theres no difference. Full synthetic is still better than blended or dino oil.

One common misconception is that "turbo requires a thicker oil." This is untrue if you are concerned about the longevity of your stock motor. Your turbo will be cheaper to replace than your motor. When you boost, your motor still retains the stock bearing clearances and require the same viscosity of oil as stock rating.

 

Hey you guys do whatever you want. I'm just letting the guy know whats worked for me for a year on a boosted tC.

 

here on guam there is no freeway...and i barely drive more than 15 miles......guam is small...about less than 40 miles long and less than 25 miles wide...but to tell you the truth,everyone here has more than one car....but i let it idle for 40 secs.......but how much is that oil cooler????do i really need for the turbo??

 

It would help alot. You can find them as a kit from 250 and up. ZPI sells one and I know a few guys running oil coolers kits from ebay and they work fine.

 

can u post up a picture on how yours look???

 

I dont have one. Its something that I'm going to do as soon as the weather warms up here though. Its cold enough here not to need one at the moment.

 

and one more thing...you know how our BOV has a tube connecting to the intake???can i change it to another bov that is very louder that what we have???do you know which one fits ours??

 

i use amsoil european oil best in the bizzz and depending on how hard i beat my car up i will let it run for 5 minutes before shutdown if i beat it bad i let it sit for 9 min, just set the timer and walk away.