HEy, i might be purchasing a 2000 toyota tacoma, and it has 116,000 miles on it. Aside from changing oil every few thousand miles, what are the best products/procedures you can do to your engine to clean it, and extend its life? I seen some products on the net, like the Z-Max system

http://www.zmax.com/

does stuff like this actually work?

Dude, watch out for things like that. Zmax and alot of other things on TV usually just do one thing-make your wallet lighter. Honestly, i think the best thing you can do-is have Avis or Jiffy Lube flush out your entire engine by machine (forgot name) then do oil changes every 2500miles. I change my oil around 2500miles instead of 3000, i have a ford tbird with just over 125K miles. Also, lots of people will tell you that most additives should remain on the shelves-not in your engine.

BTW, that sounds alot like highway miles there, so the tacoma should be in good shape. Hopefully though they didn't get the thing up to 100mph a day-on the highway, and not do regular oil changes.

Don't use any addetives or other stuff, just buy a good oil and filter for your engine. If you want to "clean" it you can buy a little cheaper oil and only drive for a very short distance and then replace it again.

There is also no need to replace the oil every 3000 miles or something like that, it's just a waste of a perfectly good oil and a lot of money. I would recommend a good synthetic oil with the viscosity and classification as recommended by the manufacturer. Then you should probably replace your oil every 12,000 miles or so. Half that if you drive in a dirty environment, or if you drive only short trips (that dilutes the oil). Always replace the filter when you change your oil.

Ditto what SaabJohan said. Good Luck.

Thanks. I ran a carfax report, and it showed that the Tacoma had an oil/filter change around every 7-10k miles. The person looked to have taken care of it. What does flushing out your engine mean when you send it to a Jiffy Lube?

Well you drive to jiffy lube, or avis.. They hook up this machine to the oil filler spout or fill hole, and basically flush it out with Soap and Water.. Then they fill it up with the oil from the "oil-changed" jug..

:-)

Well you drive to jiffy lube, or avis.. They hook up this machine to the oil filler spout or fill hole, and basically flush it out with Soap and Water.. Then they fill it up with the oil from the "oil-changed" jug..

:-)

You think this would be a good idea if going from a regular oil to a synthetic oil? Or can you just change from reg. to synt. at the next oil change?

No special preparation is required to run synthetic oil.

Additives are not neccessarilly a bad thing people. I put z-max in my engine at about 92,000 and i notice a huge difference in acceleration and gas mileage. Yeah it's expensive, but I think it was worth it. Also, Restore oil additive is a godsend, after about 50 miles you can really tell your car is pulling a shitload more, at least mine does. It usually takes my mom's explorer about 150 to really tell the difference. Another thing is about the oil changes are alot more important than you make it sound. Using the same oil for that long in city driving puts alot more wear and strain on your engine than it needs. I drive for a living and so I probably have a lot more time to think about these things than i should, but it is my life.

Motor oil such as castrol syntec high mileage are synthetic blends. they work great. i wouldnt go pure synthetic though, ive hear horror stories of running pure synthetic in a high mileage engine after a life time of natural oil. im not sure why though. ill look on google to see if i can find anything. :sunglasse

There are a lot of tales of what will happend when you go from mineral to synthetic, there are no truth in these tales, at least not with modern synthetic oil.

Z-max is also just another "snake oil" product, any gains are just "imaginary". It is also not good for your engine.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/02/speedwaycmp.pdf

Again Ditto. The very best additive is------> Regular oil changes. Dino or synthetic, just change it. If you knew how an engine works you would also know that Slick50 cannot give you more power. I suppose that if you filled the crankcase with WD-40 it would rev faster until it BLEW UP!

synthetic oil in a high mileage motor is not recommended as it'll break down some of the carbon deposits that might be filling in the cracks. Running synthetic would break down those deposits thus giving a possibility for leaks.

other than what Rubix just said i can find nothing factual, just stories, no lab results or anything...so... w/e...

synthetic oil in a high mileage motor is not recommended as it'll break down some of the carbon deposits that might be filling in the cracks. Running synthetic would break down those deposits thus giving a possibility for leaks.

Some brands make those oils specifically for High Mileage. Saying they contain additives which help seal cracks. Are those gimmicks also? I think Pennzoil makes a high mileage oil

I will never use those products again. I just makes sense that some can of oil cannot make your engine like new again. I once used engine restore in an old engine and it made the car smell like I was running 110 octane. I think they must but something in those cans that will just burn like high octane because they know you are going to burn some oil in an old engine. Maybe that is how you get the feeling of more power. I don'
t know really but I do think it is a scam. If you have an old engine just use thicker oil like 20-50 or something similar.

synthetic oil in a high mileage motor is not recommended as it'll break down some of the carbon deposits that might be filling in the cracks. Running synthetic would break down those deposits thus giving a possibility for leaks.
Synthetics contains the same cleaning agents as mineral oils do, so there is really no difference.

Some synthetics can however follow the surface of a material better, which means that they can more easily can find their way out of the engine in bad seals, the seal problem is however not caused by the oil, it was already there. These properties does also make the synthetic a better lubricant.

There are a lot of tales of what will happend when you go from mineral to synthetic, there are no truth in these tales, at least not with modern synthetic oil.

Z-max is also just another "snake oil" product, any gains are just "imaginary". It is also not good for your engine.
http://www.ftc.gov/os/2001/02/speedwaycmp.pdf

Dammit! That was a waist of damn money. I guess I noticed something because i put it in with a new oil change. That sucks, thanks man.

synthetic oil in a high mileage motor is not recommended as it'll break down some of the carbon deposits that might be filling in the cracks. Running synthetic would break down those deposits thus giving a possibility for leaks.

I think this would apply to older engines rather than higher mileage engines. I would thik that a 4-5 year old engine with highway mileage would be relatively clean of any deposits like that. I'd run synthetics. My $.02.

The only additive I will stand by is that Restore stuff you can generally get at any auto store. I was running around 160-165 PSI in all my cylinders, ran that stuff for one oil change and gained 10 points on all cylinders. It also helped for quicker startups. I would recommend it for older engines. For newer ones, regular oil changes and don't beat the motor up all the time.

Also, do those fuel injector cleaners do anything, or are they a waste of money? Is there any better way of cleaning the fuel injectors?