What oil to use

I've spent this morning so far reading about this actually. A few people like this oil, others don't as it's made to American spec and not Japanese. Over on LCOOL the most frequently used/talked about oil is Castrol Delo 400, which meets the Japanese spec for your 1HZ.

We used Fuchs Titan Ultralube 15W40 in my 1HZ 80 series (no aftermarket turbo) for the last year and found it to be really good (it is suitable for Japanese diesels too), the car ran well and no oil consumption. On the last change we switched it to Valvoline Super Diesel 15W40. It then used 700mL of oil in 3500km and had a heap of blow by. Think it was something to do with the detergent concentration in the Valvoline, however next change I am going back to the Fuchs or might try Delo 400- the experience was a little scary for my liking!

Really, the best thing to do is use an oil that meets the specs recommended for your cruiser, plus a bit more for good luck- anything that is CH-4 or CI-4 will be fine. Change it regularly (5000km) and there shouldn't be any problems. Some people like some oils, other people like other oils, and it seems that some oils work better in some 1HZs than in others... it's an endless question really!

Any good reputable oil manufacture and as long as you use the right viscosity.

I don't think you are dumb by not knowing if it is a good oil, I think you are realistic and logical admitting you don't know.

I don't know.

It seems what oil company's spend thousands of hour, many kilometers of testing, large amounts of money, high levels of technology and qualified metallurgists to work out whats good and bad..... from what I have seen some people seem to do it in a lot less time with basic gear and no formal training.

What I'm saying is as long as you use a good reputable oil no average person will know if it's better then brand X, Y or the more expensive Z brand.

You could use a $5.00 a liter oil and it would probably do the same job as a $15.00 liter oil and still give you many hundreds of thousands of kilometers of reliable driving.

If you changed to full synthetics it may be a different story...it may not give you any extra reliability or longevity but you may save money on not changing the oil as much.

Used to use Caltex Delo silver and then after fitting a Intercooled Turbo I changed to Caltex Delo 400.It is as good as you can get.

I have a 4.2td Patrol and have used the oil you mentioned (Valvoline Super Diesel 15w-40) since new. Now have over 200,000 ks on the clock without a single problem. I just change the oil at the 5000ks mark religiously .
So to my mind you are using a good oil.

When your on a good thing stick to it!

i have a toyota ly30 2.2 diesel that drinks valvoline oil --full sump--plus 6 litres coming home from Brisbane --Adelaide --yet not a bit of white smoke.
Where the hell does it go , change to another brand mobil ---same thing on short fishing trip 500 ks over 2 litres ---still no smoke even when hot and i rev it up.
engine has only 172 .000 ks - fuel consumption is good --power is ok---climb a brick wall if needed,still have the original handbook and all it says to use is SAE oil .
ANY RECOMENDATIONS , both the others were 20/50---yes its 27 years old but still too good to throw away

I think it is to do with the ash content and detergents or friction modifiers in the oil.
A good quality oil 15w/40 the right with the right sae spec .I think CF or higher but the crucial thing is the other rating. Global DHD I think is the spec for the Japanese diesel. I have used Valvoline but used then one of the Mobil oils I think it was XHD and now use a John Deere oil which meets the specs. John Deere oil buy bthe way is made by Fuchs. The oil I use is called plus fifty and extends the maintenance life by another 50%. I still change at 5,000k intervals but if I am part way through a trip I no I can run past that with out any drama's

G'day Ken,
It is the eternal question. The manual doesn't overdo it, the Toyota engineers say the oil grade to use is rating API CD or better and a temperature range. (say - 15w 40)
CD is now obsolete so as others say a CH or CI would be fine according to the specs.
If it was really critical the specs should state this.
When my 1996 cruiser was new and under warranty, I supplied them with the oil as I didn't think synthetic oil in a 1Hz was necessary. After 200,000k it doesn't burn much, depends how loaded/towing I am.
It is impossible to prove (to me) the difference between the American and Japanese oils makes any difference. You would need 2 identical vehicles/kms/working loads etc, then pull them both apart and inspect.

Cheers,
Bill

Thanks to everyone, it has put my mind at ease that I haven't done the wrong thing by my cruiser.