Oil Change Interval

You're right, I did! Does the toyota filters work well with full synthetic? Also, how much are they each?

 

I do 7000-7500 mile intervals with Mobil 1 Synthetic.

No problems and no complaints.

When I ran regular oil I did 3000-3500 mile intervals. (but as you stated manual recommends every 5,000 miles)

 

3k for dino

5k for synth with dusty atmosphere

 

My dad was a GM service manager for 20 years, and we also farm in western Kansas. I trust my dad's experience more than anyone's. Our vehicles ate a ton of dust, and we never had engine failure based on oil-related issues.

The reason vehicles can go longer intervals today isn't just cleaner oil. The main reason is cleaner running engines. Does anyone ever check the dip sticks on these Tacomas?

I checked mine right before the 5,000 mile oil change interval, and it was still golden brown and smells like oil. Check our 1982 Chevy Silverado on the farm, and it is black as night and smells like gas fumes. Guess which one probably needs the oil change more?

That said we have put 800,000 miles on that Silverado. We overhauled the engine once and just put a new engine in it. Each time we took apart the old engine. Not once did we find problems with scared cam shafts or wore crankshaft bearings. The truck is far from babied, and it was eating dust on a regular basis. How often did we change oil? We generally changed it at 5,000 miles, but sometimes things got busy on the farm and it might go 8,000 or 10,000 miles. Our tractors ate dust (obviously), and we made sure those were changed exactly at interval. Also, it was imperative to keep the air filters as clean as possible. The third tractor we ever owned was on the farm for 15 years, and we put 12,000 hours on it without ever doing anything to the engine, which is nearly unheard of. A guy bought it after us and took it right out to the field and pulled it another three years before getting the top and bottom end overhauled.

My dad says oil outlasts filters, especially on city vehicles where they don't eat much dust. Get a test on your Tacoma oil sometime, but my guess is you could swap filters at 5,000 miles and run it another 5,000.

My Toyota dealer said that after 100,000 miles the factory recommendation is synthetic oil at a 5,000 mile change interval. Personally, I'm not buying it, but that is what my Toyota service technician said is recommended.

FYI ... my dad did swear by using only Mobil and John Deere engine oils. He read something as a mechanic that these two companies have some of the most stringent refining and additive specifications in the industry. All motor oil comes from the same manufacturer, but each brand has its own blending and refining specifications. Also, we overhauled a number of engines for folks during the slower winter months on the farm. Some of the nastiest engines we worked on were guys that used Quaker State. I can't speak to their oil change habits but the engines always smelled like burnt oil and there was always a thick film on everything that was unlike most other engines.

 

That's half a tank

I'm coming from the Honda scene so 3k and mobile 1 was beat into my head. I used to change the oil in my integra every 2k miles, but it was built and turbo'd and saw 9,000rpm on a regular bases.

 

I change around every 4,500-5,000 miles since the manual says so. I use pennzoil platinum full-synthetic.

 

Interesting thing about that... several studies by SAE, Ford and even oil companies have confirmed that the greatest amount of wear on the engine occurs within 1000-1500 miles of an oil change.

That strongly suggests the BEST insurance is to use an oil change interval AT LEAST as long as mfr's recommended using a quality oil!

 

Well, I just bought a new tacoma and changed my oil at 1500 miles and I did see small metal shavings in the oil. I know its best to change your oil after you hit the first 1000 miles and what I saw the other day was proof on why you need to. From here on out I am going to change my oil at 5000 miles and then every 5000 miles after as well using Mobile synthetic. I just have to figure out what's the best filter to use.

 

You should have read "ordinary driving" which e46's and e90's oil change intervals are very long. Yes I understand it is on BMW's dime to change the oil and not everyone changes it based on BMW's change interval. My point was that the oil outlasts the filter by any stretch of means, and the shearing of the oil will last up to 25k. This is why BMW chooses still to this day Castrol 10W-60 formulated for the Sxx class motors. The S54 was amazing as it was a high rotating mass with a long stroke; which led to bearing failure due to poor design until it was rectified... Anyway. Next time you reset the maintenance interval if you have a M series, check the next mileage interval indicator. I had blackstone labs perform my oil analysis at every 2.5K until 20K miles and the oil stayed consistent. However at each 2.5K interval i changed out the filter and topped the oil level off. I used 1 quart over the span of 20K due to filter change.

I did care about my oil changes as I had over $100K invested into my 06 E46 ZCP M3 aside from the cost of the car itself. The E46 was Active Autowerke supercharged and it never ate oil. Neither did the E90.

If you think M3 motors burn oil, you should get into the x35i's and see how much oil they burn then compare them to Audi/VW where they burn/eat/disintegrate more oil than you can imagine in a small time frame which is why I tossed my wife's 07 A4 2.0T in the can when I could. 1 quart per 1,000miles in within spec for Audi/VW? Get real.

Whatever anyone choose to do with their oil, I would suggest Oil analysis and take it from there with their own research.

 

geniuses at the yota dealers said they used synthetic in my '11 v6 taco so told me it was in 10k intervals.. well went yesterday for the 3rd routine service and was informed it was 5k and its conventional oil that's been used in it..... crap... so pretty much went 10k before my 1st oil change... gotta love dealerships

 

Changing oil before the 5000 mile interval only increases the cost of maintaining your truck and adds excessive wear to the drain plug threads.