2006 Avalon Touring - Synthetic vs. Conventional

[Amsoil]

I switched my Yamaha R1 and 06 Avalon LTD to AMSOIL synthetic. They both run better. The bike runs cooler and both of them get slightly better MPG (1 - 3 MPG improvement). I prefer to spend my time driving my car/bike rather than waiting at a dealership for them to change the oil.

At the end of the day it's your choice and you will always find the cynical nay sayer as well as the full fledged supporter. Good luck with your decision.

[Heatwave]

Originally Posted by justwat

Hey folks, this is my first port & my first toyota. My father is a die-hard toyota owner(88 Cressida, 94 Camry, 2003 Camry). I recently purchase my first new car ever, 2006 Avalon Touring edition, I love it. I want to follow the maintenance to the tee because I plan on having this vehicle for at leat 8 years. I still drive my previous vehicle a 1996 Chrysler Concorde with 194,000 mile to work 3 - 4 times a week. OK, back to the question. I have 3,500 mile on my Avalon and Totota recommends oil changes at 5,000 miles. I'm used to changing my oil at 3,000 with my Chrysler but I know with new technology, 5,000 may be acceptable. I'm think at the first oil change at the dealer tha I may switch to synthetic oil, I've heard great things about it and again I would like to have my Avalon for at least 8 years. I appreciate any feedback you all can give me as I'm not very car saavy, so it will be services at the dealer.

Thanks again.

WAT

Buy peace of mind. It's as simple as that.

Buy whatever gives you confidence that you have properly maintained your engine. There are no "bad" oils on the market. If dino oil makes you worry whether you're going to get "oil gelling" or such, then use syn. If the price of syn makes you think you're wasting money for a product that works no better than dino, then buy dino.

It makes little difference whether you use dino or syn in your engine, but it's important that you follow Toyota's recommendations for oil and filter changes at 5000 miles.

[alamogunr]

Originally Posted by bugmenot

Used regular Castrol - every 5000 miles. 180K miles on 96 Avalon, ZERO problems.

Thanks
Bug

+1 Except 194K mi. Now have an 06 Avalon XLS. Going synthetic at 25K and changing at 6 mo or 10K. Do no expect any problems

John

[JohnintheCdnRockies]

We used synthetic right after the original break-in period (swapped out the break-in oil at at 1,500 miles). Change was always at the Toyota recommended intervals (~5,000 miles). We thereafter used synthetic.

At 50,000 miles we did the usual synthetic and then (our collective mistake) ran that synthetic for the next 15,000 miles. The oil was somewhat darkened (not black by any stretch of the imagination) and we were down <1/2 quart in those 15,000 miles. I was quite astonished.

All of our later model cars (BMW, Mercedes, turbo Volvo and the Avalon) have run synthetic after break-in and we have been very pleased with the results. I wouldn't hesitate to go with synthetic in any modern vehicle.