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Thread: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

  1. #1
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    Default 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    Hello,

    I have a 1985 Toyota LiteAce with the 1.3 litre 4K-J engine. The truck has 35,000 kilometers.

    Could you please advise what the recommended motor oil is - both weight and type (natural, synthetic, blend)?

    I'm thinking something like a high-quality 10W-30 synthetic would be best?

    Thanks in advance for your help!

    Best Regards,

    Robert
    Atlanta, GA.

  2. #2
    Junior Member Too Much Toyota oldcorollas's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    10 may be a bit thin... 20W-50 is pretty typical. 10W50 would rev a little better at low temps, but that's only during warming up..
    synthetic or semi-synthetic will maybe last longer between oil changes (take longer to go black) but.. that vs cost..
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    Thumbs up Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    Okay, great, thank you so much for the reply!

    Robert

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    FYI, old post but i had to comment.
    synthetics are too slippery for these old motors. you will loose pressure before the skirts and cause piston wear with a synthetic oil.
    i have tried it and proven it.
    best is mineral oil 20-50.

  5. #5
    Junior Member Too Much Toyota oldcorollas's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    Interesting.
    I ran 5W-50 full synthetic for quite some time with no ill effects.. at regular reasonable rpm...
    30 and to a lesser extent 40 weight were too thin for the bearing clearances though..

    Synthetics are not more slippery, but maintain their organic chains longer. They may have different additives but more about viscosity stability than friction.

    Mineral oils get thinner faster than synthetic (organic chains break more easily).. but rich mixtures getting past loose rings will kill both
    "I'm a Teaspoon, not a mechanic"
    "There is hardly anything in the world that a man can not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper" - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

    AU$TRALIA... come and stay and PAY and PAY!!! The moral high horse of the world!

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    i had brand new 10 40 in my 4k and i took it out after a week. it was a waste of money.
    once hot, the engine both knocked and slapped at idle.
    changed over to mineral oil, and it weny away.
    there must be some truth to the commonly mentioned idea that sybthetics are slipperier.
    i suspect oil manufacturers quickly poo pooed the claims in order to pretect their reaearch and development investments.
    proof is in the pudding.
    get an older more worn out engine and try it, with a working mechanical oil pressure gauge.

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    Junior Member Too Much Toyota oldcorollas's Avatar
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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    40 weight oil is likely too thin for the clearances you ran, nothing to do with synthetic or mineral, just choice of viscosity. 5W was a little thin when cold but tolerable
    a 50 or 60 weight synthetic would probably have been ok.

    fwiw, the whole point of oil is to be slippery..
    "I'm a Teaspoon, not a mechanic"
    "There is hardly anything in the world that a man can not make a little worse and sell a little cheaper" - John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)

    AU$TRALIA... come and stay and PAY and PAY!!! The moral high horse of the world!

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    There seems to be a misunderstanding everywhere about oil viscosity. I live in malaysia which is near the equator, and its really hot here.
    Take 5W-40 for example.
    the 5W denotes the viscosity at 40C , typically 77cst which is plenty thick enough for start up protection. The 40 denotes oil viscosity at 100C, which for 40wt ranges from 12.5cst to 14cst.
    If indeed your engine only has 35000 km, then a synthetic will be great choice. I used SHELL 5W-40 synthetic for more than 10 years in my 1980s mitsubishi and it works great

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    alcyon i appreciate your knowledge of the exact definitions of the temp ranges for the W number, ive never had someone give it to me that simple.
    but how come you say the shell 5w 40 synthetic works great?? do you periodically inspect your engines internals and compare them to another clone engine running another product of the same viscosity but just plain mineral oil?

    upon further reaearch i think u may be a little bumsteered by someone, i think the w number is the tested viscosity at a range of temperatures from
    negative 40 celcius for 0w and
    negative 15 celcius for 25w
    so not quite as simple as 40 and 100 degrees.
    these oily assholes couldnt just give us a simple figure like that could they....

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    im also not yet convinced that climate affects the running viscosity (at operating temp) of any oil. the engines temp is regulated by a thermostat and that shoukd make all engines around the world regulated to the same temp, so long as it isnt soooo cold that the temp can never get high enough due to a constantly chilled radiator rapidly cooled by adiabatic and impact icing.
    hot climate should just make the warming up of the engine happen faster.

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    http://tdc.ge/wp-content/uploads/201...LTRA_5W-40.pdf
    this link explains the way the first number and 2nd number is specified. As for the range of startup temperatures, those are called CCS, or cold cranking simulator.

    When I said it worked great, I meant there was no sludge for a 10000 to 11000 km run, and fuel economy was really good, much better than with a 20W-50.
    As for thermostat opening temps, in my car I found that a lower temp thermostat does lower the oil temperature a noticable bit. I surmise its because it is giving a head start to the cooling system to expel the heat. And I also found that ambient temps do affect the oil and coolant temperature, because the radiator has to expel the heat to the surrounding atmosphere, thus the higher the ambient air temp, the coolant temp and oil temp also goes higher. For a given thermostat reading, I found about 6 degrees celcius difference. I found this out by having oil temp and pressure gauges installed for 2 years in my car.

    But yeah I agree with you, if your engine sounds better with a 20W-50 then you are probably better off with it. However if the engine clearances are still tight perhaps a 5W-40 will work great.
    Last edited by alcyon; 05-10-2017 at 11:23 AM.

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    but the thernostat regulates the temperature.
    so during your winter, it keeps the engine as hot as it is in summer.
    cooling systems are designed to work efficiently in the harshest environment, so that means they can cool an engine in summer.
    the thermostat means that the engine will operate at exactly the same temp in summer and winter.
    eventually anyway, it just may take some time in winter.

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    fuel economy much better??
    no wayy, i simpky think there must have been other factors at play.
    in a controlled environment, oil companies have obly ever confirmed 0.8 percent increase in economy between a 10w30 and 10w40.
    you could never measure that on a road.
    its simply horseshit.
    the more oil pressure, the better the lubrication.
    if flow could possibly be restricted to 0, so that oil doesnt flow, without it getting cobtaminated, effectively a closed system where oil is pressed into the journals would be the best design, but it cant be done.
    the only reason oil has to flow at all, is for filtering and the fact we cant engineer oil seals into ever bearing in the engine.

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    please dont take offence to my replies, i get very passionate about the topics im interested in, almost to the point of obsession.

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    Default Re: 1985 4K-J Recommended Oil?

    Quote Originally Posted by rebuilder86 View Post
    but the thernostat regulates the temperature.
    so during your winter, it keeps the engine as hot as it is in summer.
    cooling systems are designed to work efficiently in the harshest environment, so that means they can cool an engine in summer.
    the thermostat means that the engine will operate at exactly the same temp in summer and winter.
    eventually anyway, it just may take some time in winter.
    Remember that the thermostat only directly regulates COOLANT temperature. Engine temperature and oil temperature can be much higher if there are issues with the transfer of heat to the coolant. Also, oil is essentially part of the cooling system too as it extracts heat from areas of the engine that coolant cannot reach (such as the crank, underside of pistons etc). You can have a perfectly normal functioning coolant system and oil temperatures can continue to rise past that due to the load on the engine (which will be higher in hotter temperatures because the engine is ingesting hotter air and working harder to produce the same power)
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