What is the best oil for Toyota 1ZZ Engine especially for the harsh and mostly the undeveloped Zambian road environment?
The ZZ is a Toyota family of engines characteristic of a straight-4 piston engine series that uses a die-cast aluminium engine block with thin press-fit cast iron cylinder liners, and aluminium DOHC 4-valve cylinder heads.
The engine was introduced in 1997 and by far is the most used in a variety of Toyota vehicles. Because of the so many applications of Toyota brands, the question of what is the best oil for the ZZ engine always surfaces.
According to the Toyota owner’s manual the recommended oil for the 1ZZ engine is 5w-30 and 10w-30 with oil type API SJ or higher. So the best oil for Toyota 1ZZ engine is 5w-30 with the lower temperatures and 10w-30 for the higher temperatures experienced in Southern Africa.
A Little Story of the ZZ Engine
For starters, the Toyota ZZ engine family has four variants of which the 1ZZ is the most widely applied. The 1ZZ has 4 variants namely 1ZZ-FE, 1ZZ-FEB, 1ZZ-FBE and LJ479Q. The last two of the 1ZZ are irrelevant to Zambian market.
The 1ZZ-FE has vast application in the following Toyota cars listed below. And because of that reason, this article has dealt with only 1ZZ and the best oil to be used in that engine.
- Toyota Corolla CE/LE/S/VE, Fielder, Runx (Japan), Altis (Asia)
- Toyota Corolla Spacio
- Toyota Corolla Verso
- Toyota Allion
- Toyota Premio
- Toyota Vista and Vista Ardeo
- WiLL VS
- Toyota Caldina
- Toyota RAV4
- Chevrolet Prizm
- Pontiac Vibe
- Toyota Celica GT
- Toyota Matrix
- Toyota Avensis
- Toyota Opa
- Toyota Isis
- Toyota Wish
- Lotus Elise
- Toyota MR2
So what is the best oil for Toyota 1ZZ engine? SAE 5w-30 for best driving economy and good motor starting in cold regions. If SAE 5w-30 is not available 10w-30 will do fine for the Zambian weather.
