STP Oil treatment

I didn't find a discussion on the forum for Gen1s. I've been putting 1/2 bottle of STP oil treatment in every oil change for 25 years, because that's what my Dad did.
Is it actually necessary?

I've also always run conventional oil on a 3k interval, but the guy I bought my '05 from says he uses synthetic on a 5k interval.

 

In this day & age as long as you are using a reputable brand of oil, oil treatment shouldn’t be necessary as it’s already included in the oils. Synthetic is the way to go.

the old saying they don’t make them like they use too, when it comes to oil it’s a night & day difference of how for we’ve come in oil performance, longevity, impurity removal etc…

 

Synthetic 5w30 every 3k is my choice. To each their own.

 

I bought my 1997 T-100 (V6, 3.4 liter, manual 5 speed) new. Today it has 277,000 miles. Conventional engine oil (always the same Quaker State) on 3,000 change intervals. Last 10,00 miles full synthetic oil on 5,000 change intervals. All oil changes done by me. Runs like new. No STP (or similar).

YMMV.

 

All that's in the bottle is an additive package, similar to the additive package added by oil producers, each brand has its own additive ratio.

It's not much different from using seal refreshing agents, like AT-205, which many of us have used to shore up small leaks in a way that's not consequential, like many of the "fix in a bottle" treatments are (Barr's stop leak, etc.)

I wouldn't sweat using it, as long as there's nothing in it that conflicts with the additive package of the oil you're currently using in the crankcase you should be fine. And honestly, what's more important is you're changing based on miles or time, whichever comes first. What do I mean by that? Folks who do a fair amount of short-trip driving - i.e. driving where your engine doesn't get up to full operating temp and stay there for at least 10-15 minutes - that type of driving is incredibly hard on an engine and breaks down oil far more rapidly than highway, one of many reasons I'd buy a 200k highway-driven vehicle over a 100k short-trip vehicle any day!

Due to the low accumulation of short-trip driving, it may take someone who short-trip drives their vehicle 2-3 years before they finally hit your 3,000 mile interval, and by then, the oil is cooked beyond belief. Not only that, but every time they fired up the engine, warmed the oil to the point of steaming, then shutoff the vehicle immediately after, all that steamy oil ends up caking on everything in the engine, especially using dino/conventional oil, and you end up with nasty shit like this, which is the inside of my ~65k-70k original mile Gen1 truck, and this was another member's low mile, short-trip driven truck.

Bottom line?

Sure the treatment won't hurt anything. I've been Seafoaming my trucks (crankcase, gas tank) for eons because it does help, incrementally.
Change your oil base on mileage or time: If conventional, that's 9-12 months or 3,500 miles. If synthetic, 7k-8k miles or 12-15 months. whichever comes first.
If you short trip drive your vehicle, don't. I mean, if you can avoid it. Find an excuse to drive an extra 5-10 miles, or use a high-quality synthetic, which will handle that abuse better.

I get it, the guy who owned my truck prior was an older dude who worked at a bank in Alabama. He drove like 5 miles and back to work each day, every day of the truck's first 10-12 years. Sucks ... but what can you do?

 

Conventional oil and STP oil treatment are so 20yrs ago. Get with the times. Full synthetic oil is the way to go. Far, far, far superior to the old ways.

 

https://youtube.com/@themotoroilgeek?si=6MGJuu4cGSFZt_ao

For all your questions involving motor oils

 

Forget the STP. Change you oil and filter every 5K with synthetic 5W30 and nothing else. Cars in you dad’s day may have lasted 100K mile. Your FGT should last 10x that…unless TB, LBJ or rust.

 

I've been using the NAPER (napa) synthetic blend because i can use our employee discount . 5w30 in winter, 10w30 in summer. I'm a short tripper, and some of those changes had less that 2k on them. I've run a couple Lucas treatments through her too.
Many years ago I put Mobil1 in a brand new (less than 7-8k miles) car..... and it started leaking on several seals . That's always made me shy away from synthetic, even though I know it's better.

 

When I worked as a mechanic in my younger days, the owner of the station often said that STP was a viscosity enhancer. Said another way, it made the oil thicker. So, I you're running a 5W-30, do you really want to make it thicker???

Back in the day when I ran conventional oil, I remember changing my valve cover gaskets and finding all this caked on, hard oil on the cover. Now, with the new synthetic oil, they are clean. Dramatic improvement.

 

Thanks everyone! Had it changed today with synthetic. The oil filter is a lot easier to reach on the 05 vs. the 04.
I found out the shop also does an underside inspection and changed a differential gasket that looked cracked. I think it was about $5 for that.
$70ish for the oil change with synthetic, was paying about $45-$50 before w/ conventional.

 

I do it myself, and pay for the oil. I buy TOTL oil, so it was $50 out of pocket. I only use OEM Toyota filters because it's what they specifically designed for the necessary flow characteristics of their engines, and the filters come out to about $2/ea, which is cheaper than most store brands.

$50 for a full-syn oil change with top-tier/non-recycled oil is f'n awesome. You can go to Costco and get their Kirkland brand oil (which is from a major national manufacturer, it's solid quality) for something like $35, I think?

Anyway ... stop trusting other people to do your oil changes. It's such an easy thing to do on your own. And if you want to make it even easier, get the Votex brand easy-drain system for $30 or whatever. Install it once, and as long as you never lose the drain tube, the worst part is swapping the filter.

 

And some Walmarts carry our

$32 90915-YZZD3 Oil Filter 1/2 Case (QTY 5)

90915-YZZD3 oil filter

 

Apparently scAmazon does too, because the forum is auto-linking the part number, but I sure as hell would wouldn't buy it on there

But OP is running V6, so I don't think

$32 90915YZZD3 Toyota Genuine Parts 90915-YZZD3 Oil Filter 1/2 Case (QTY 5)

90915YZZD3 is a correct filter for his truck.

 

$23 Toyota Oil Filter 3-Pack with Gaskets Genuine OE OEM 90915-YZZD3 & 90430-12031

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01BX8MSM0?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title Uhhh, I mean, could they copy them that good? They were in real Toyota boxes. fawk

 

Yes, they absolutely can. They counterfeit the boxes, the rainbow foil stickers, and the filters. Who do you think makes all that peripheral stuff in the first place? It's not proprietary equipment they're using, anyone can get their hands on it, and it's not like printing money where you need special paper and ink and such. Same concept as knockoff bags - they look really friggin authentic, and 99% of the public doesn't know how to spot a fake, unless it's a really poor representation.

The mafia owns a significant chunk of the counterfeit market. It's extremely well-organized, and that's how they can manufacture and have truckloads of fake/grey market product show up at several scAmazon warehouses around the country, and get mingled in with legit inventory.

This is why you just DO NOT buy parts-products (automotive/appliance/small engine/etc.) on scAmazon. It started with that shit on fleaBay. They've since capitalized on scAmazon because scAmazon has made it so easy to prop up store fronts just as fast as they get taken down when (and/or "if") they get caught selling knockoffs. I know it's painful for some folks to NOT buy on there, but on this specific type of product, replacement parts/maintenance parts/etc., it's best to avoid these vendors due to the hold they have on the market.

It's also true with things like Nintendo Pro controllers, misc others. Simple electronics like that are rampant with knockoffs. I bought two Pro controllers for my kids a couple years back and one for myself. All three were counterfeits. I know because I cracked open the case, and the battery was a different brand than Nintendo uses, the weight of the controller was like 25% lighter, but it otherwise was IDENTICAL. Right down to the easter egg on the PCB Nintendo left.

 

But beyond that Bro, why would you pay so much money? This was my last order from the local stealership via Toyota's Parts website. scAmazon is $23 for 3 filters. I got 4 filters and 2 drain plug washers to do 4 oil changes for $18.58 after tax. And this wasn't even during a sale event!! Cheapest I've ever gotten away with filters was $1.80-something.

​

 

Convenience I suppose. Maybe when I go to change the oil next time I can cut it open and see if the filter medium is different, not sure how else you could tell, maybe the relief gasket material?
THX for that post/price comparison

 

I guess that may work? I wouldn't know what to look for inside. I just know if I'm buying it at the stealership, who gets inventory direct from Toyota's warehouses, it should be authentic. And if it's 50% cheaper in price getting from an authentic source (3.89 / 7.60 = .51, so essentially 50%), I'm all in!

 

ah shit you right.

 

Snake Oil...

 

He has a video proving all this stuff is snake oil. I never used any of that stuff.

 

Thanks for posting the oem part numbers! I couldn't find them in the FSM or OM.

I don't think your local dealer is a 'stealership'

I have to pay 9$ per filter and 3$ per gasket from my local toyota dealer. None of the dealers in my county are on toyota's part website. In fact it looks like none of the dealers in my whole state are on there. Still cheaper than the Amazon ads at the bottom of this page though.

I would use oil additives if running conventional, but I pay more for synthetic in large part for the included additives. Since low sulfur gas became standard I focus more on my oil's NOACK vs TBN, which I think also makes more sense since I'm a short-tripper too. Many manufacturers' oil standards call for NOACKs below 11, but you can find oils with NOACKs below 6. I'm referencing an out of date version of the Afton Specification Handbook which you can get for free online, so I don't know what the newest standards are, but they are assuredly getting lower.

 

Sorry if it was already mentioned, but I didn't see it

Mobil and Valvoline both make excellent high mileage synthetics with detergents that are guaranteed to keep it clean and gunk free. They've both been reviewed by multiple reputable sources and rated as two of the far superior products

 

As a followup to this thread, Project Farm did a great comparison video and it appears STP is no longer relevant compared to modern oils with additives.