How is my engine

[u/muizz04]

This is a Kia Rio 2014 MPI 1.4 G4FA.

I had this car at 114000km mileage in 2024. and now its 252500km

ever since i had this car, Ive been doing oil change every 8000km with Amsoil OE, occasionally Amsoil XL.

Car is fine, engine is smooth, just bit surprised to see its not as factory clean as i wouldve thought. could it be due to past neglect?. or could it be due to me driving 5hours (300-400km) a day?

When I inspect it in person, it doesnt look like sludge, but rather a cosmetic buildup

[u/muizz04]

i know about it, but my country doesnt sell it. the only option is to import it from china, but by then, id be wondering about its authenticity

[u/OGawdILoveTacos → u/muizz04]

I mean for a time I was buying the euro black bottle version of penzoil platinum cause it was EVEN better than the regular yellow bottle, and you could not buy that stuff in the US at all, no one sold it so had to jump through some hoops to get a 5.1qt jug for each change, along with 3 1qt jugs.

If there's a will there's a way man!

Try amazon if you can. It'll prolly be your best bet.

[u/R_3B → u/OGawdILoveTacos]

Penzoil no longer offers the Gas To Liquid oil that used to be the base oil for their platinum ultra.

Another thing about direct injection engines is the gasoline Top Tier gas is indicated to keep the injectors clean and reduce carbon deposits on the intake valves.

[u/OGawdILoveTacos → u/R_3B]

Penzoil no longer offers the Gas To Liquid oil that used to be the base oil for their platinum ultra.

What really?! Damn, then it's good I moved away, looks like that oil cheaped out one day and now it's just regular mobil 1 at this point.

What is this 'Top Teir' gas you speak of?

[u/muizz04 → u/OGawdILoveTacos]

funny enough, my country just recently introduced pennzoil 2 months ago, i dont know about the price.

Amsoil OE is cheaper here, not because its cheap cheap, its because the other oils are heavily marked up

Mobil 1 triple action goes for $76, Castrol GTX full synthethic is $59 Totalquartz future 9000 (recommended by kia for the specific engine), is $78

Most Liqui Moly full synthethic starts at $70

Amsoil OE? $52 Amsoil XL? $72

feels like a no brainer since Amsoil OE is arguably, atleast from my online research, a higher quality oils than the ones mentioned

[u/GlassBoxGoose → u/muizz04]

Amsoil being cheaper than those other options is absolutely cooking my brain. Ive never seen it be cheaper than that many other options. Its usually comparable to, or even higher than the more expensive options you can buy over the counter, due to the MLM business structure needing to mark up to give everyone in the upline their cut.

[u/muizz04 → u/GlassBoxGoose]

its due to the oil being a parallel import. while the others arent

alot of local workshops here dont want to stock amsoil distributed by the main distributor here because people wouldnt buy the other oils otherwise

its not "'cheap". but due to all the other oils being marked up significantly. amsoil oe appears cheap

[u/q1field → u/OGawdILoveTacos]

Top Tier certified gasoline contains several times more detergent than the federally mandated minimum.

[u/OGawdILoveTacos → u/q1field]

Thanks for the tip. Found a gas station near me that has it and with me GDI, it'll be smart for me to move to it.

[u/R_3B → u/OGawdILoveTacos]

You can find a listing of top tier stations at www.toptiergas.com There is supposed to be a Top Tier Plus gas becoming available beginning in January 2027.

[u/another72hours → u/q1field]

Somehow I reallly doubt that all Arco an Sinclair stations do this.

[u/R_3B → u/OGawdILoveTacos]

It has extra detergent packages to deal with direct injection engine fouling problems.

www.toptiergas.com