synthetic oil

E

ed75

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i have noticed oil level is low on our toyota estima, and having bought it with no service history/manual/owners handbook, I've no idea what oil it has in it or what oil is recomended. checked oil & water for signs of head gasket problems, both seem fine, no stains on drive, so i figure its burning oil? its a 2.2TD with about 60k on clock, year is 93. oil level is at min mark on tank under bonnet. i have some synthetic oil for petrol/diesel engines.my question is, will it be o.k to top up with this. the car needs to make it from north wales to york tomorrow so just being on safe side.

thanks for any help/advice,

Ed.
 
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Unless you want to drain it & refill, then top it up with the oil you have as long as, as you say its for Diesel engines.
 
If you bought it with no service history, you have no idea how old the oil is, or what quality :rolleyes: so you ought to give it an oil and filter change. This is quite easy and cheap to do.

Buying expensive synthetic oil to top up what might be worn out, black cheapo stuff is not the best answer. A 1993 engine does not need synthetic anyway. But you can use what you have handy.

If you don't have time for an oil change before your jouney, top it up with an ordinary mineral oil or whatever you have handy. After you have had time to drain the old oil, you can refill with a semi-synth if you want to, but it is more important to get the dirty old stuff out. If you get hold of a manual I bet it won't say Synthetic is needed. You can easily get a manual at Halfrauds, any motorist shop, your local library, or on Fleabay.

Your mileage sounds suspiciously low for the year.
 
cheers guys, just checked oil, its a 10w-40 semi-synthetic, only £10 for 4 litres from local autoparts store. i know this isn't best option but so much to do before going. will give it an oil change when we return.
car is a jap import so manuals are quite pricey, low miles normal on these also. had it about 6 moths now, no probs yet, just hope this is not the start of something. car runs o.k, not noticed any smoke either so is there any other way/reason for oil loss? forgot to mention in first post its automatic, any relevance?

thanks again,

Ed
 
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oil was full when we first had it and remained so for a while, only recently oil level warning light started to come on sometimes. at first when i checked oil level seemed fine so thought sensor was a bit touchy. checks had been neglected past couple of months though, (its not my car, i don't even drive).not to worry about lack of sympathy, its not what i came for. but i will be keeping a closer eye on the matter from now on.

thanks again for your help,

Ed.
 
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