First Oil Change

I just bought my Taco a couple weeks ago and I'm trying to decide when I should get my first oil change.

With all that said, when do you think is the optimum mileage to change your oil for the first time???

 

you can change it whenever really. go 1k miles, then change over to synthetic.

 

The first recommended oil change is at 5000 miles.

As a Mechanical Engineer I'm wanting to change it the first time at like 500 miles (I've done this on all my previous new cars) because most of the wear happens in the first few hundred miles. This wearing causing small metal pieces to be in the oil. It seems like those small metal pieces in your oil for the first 5000 miles would cause additional unnecessary wear.

Personally, I think changing it at 500 miles then at 2000 then at 5000 and every 3000 from there on makes the most sense to me. I want to see what y'all think because y'all know these Taco's way more than I do.


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go for it..........................500 miles is a good round number!

 

I ran break-in oil too far in the Mazda...actually way too far, when I changed the oil it was at 3,064 miles. Hopefully it didn't cause anything permanent to the engine but we just won't tell whoever comes to buy the car that little mishap. Then again I put in Mobil1 full synthetic so that should have fixed anything.

 

I just bought the wife's Taco, I'm thinking about 2500 miles for the first oil change. I worked on airplanes and the first oil change was at 25 hours using straight mineral oil which has horrible protection properties but is needed to seat the rings in '30's designed air cooled engines. By 50 hours things were seated and "normal". The new engines will break in with much less wear and purchasing the right filters will catch the biggest trash. I love my(her) 4 banger.

 

I typically change it in the 1000-1500 range.

 

I just follow the owners manual. Every 5000 miles or six months. As long as you care enough about your engine to change it at regular intervals you should be fine. Do whatever you feel comfortable with. JMO.

 

This is a topic that seems to be all over the map. I too usually change the oil on a new vehicle at around the 1000 to 1500 km mark. I mentioned this to the people at the dealership as I was doing the final paperwork picking my truck up (I get 4 free oil changes with my deal). They told me that Toyota runs the engines at the factory for a set time, then flushes the oil prior to the engine going into the truck. Not sure if that's true, or if it was a load of bs. Plus they told me to stay away from synthetics for a good long time.

They recommended simply getting the 1st change at 8000 Km's (as noted in the service manual) and all should be fine. I've read on these boards, and other info, 20 or 30 different points of view. This is enough to drive one crazy.

I think I'm just going to change the oil at around 1500 km's and then go back to the scheduled 8k km's, 16k km's....etc.

 

You should never stray away from oil you plan on using in the future. If you use a full synthetic and then put in some non-synthetic oil then the engine will not accept it and it will be like an organ transplant from a person with a different blood type...not good in the end. (either you die or the organ dies)

If you plan on putting in full synthetic then do it ASAP otherwise you won't be able to.

 

See.......now right there.

Talk to the dealership.....they say don't touch synthetics for several thousands of miles. At least until the engine has had a real good chance to break in. Then you read about people switching to synthetics right away. I don't know. Think I'll just stick with good quality regular oils at decent intervals until I feel the engine is broke in nice. Mind you......I don't put a lot of km's on my vehicles. My last 4 year lease went back with 44k km's on it.

 

The first couple oil changes was done at the dealership, they gave me 3 free oil changes(each every 5k). I took advantage of that deal. I found out they were using semi-synthetic. (whatever that means). Since then I have been doing my own oil changes with synthetic oil (thanks TW!).

 

The 5000 mile recomendation probably has some stipulation for being under non severe duty aplications. I'd say about 2% of the people who own a vehicle in the US actually fall under that category. Living in Phoenix I make sure to change mine every 3000 miles. As far as the Break in oil change i was almost convinced after reading all the post on this forum to NOT worry about it and stick with the normal interval, but when I wiped the dip stick to check it earlier it seemed to turn rhe rag the normal yellow oil color but with a sort of silver/grey streak in the middle like metalic particles. I have a little over 800 miles right now so I think I will change it tomorrow. My last new car was an 07 Ford Focus and I chande the oil at about 800 miles then 3000 and every 3000 after that and I regularly got 5-8 mpg over the EPA rating.

 

I guess stick with the break-in oil for about 3000 miles (dunno the KMs) and then change it. Just don't haul anything...or ass until you get a good change in there. When I changed, the engine on the Mazda got significantly quieter and smoother. It also fixed some issues I was having with the engine. I was told by many service departments and such that if you wait too long to change your oil to synthetic then the engine has adjusted fully to non/half synthetic and if you switch bad things will happen. Whatever oil you plan on using, use it for your first change and then stick with it through the life of your truck.
Then change it at every 3K miles or so. 5K if you feel like saving money or are really light with it.

BUK 0H5 has some good info there too.

 

Thanks for the props tacoholic

 

Yeah, all-in-all this is good info to digest. I guess the main thing to remember is that we're the types that are on top of this stuff. I read in that other forum thread about the neighbor that hadn't changed their oil in like 50k (ish) miles. That's enough to make your head spin.

 

mmm, fresh batcha royal purple 5-30 & a

$16 K&N hp-1002 K&N Premium Oil Filter: Protects your Engine: Compatible with Select FORD/LINCOLN/TOYOTA/VOLKSWAGEN Vehicle Models (See Product Description for Full List of Compatible Vehicles), HP-1002

K&N hp-1002 filter last night. Did have clean in it from the dealer 1000 miles ago when I got it but f that. Got a nice clean rinse before the rp went in. Like a 60.00 change doing it yourself but should be longer safe change interval too.

 

Does anyon know where to get 0W-20? I've seen Mobil1 0W-30 but no 0W-20

 

I've seen 0w20 Mobil 1 at Kragen and Walmart. I think it has a bright green cap on the bottle. I use 5w20 Mobil 1, because it comes in a 5qt jug at Walmart and you save a little coin.

 

IMHO every engine will wear less with synthetics. The rings seat fine with synthetics too, if you don't baby the engine during break in. The problem with changing to synthetics is that they are thinner when cold. This lets them lubricate faster, but OTOH it lets them leak through seals sooner.

That is why I think many dealers warn people away from synthetics: they don't want to be fixing oil leaks under warranty.

BTW, my break in oil got changed at 550 miles. Not because Toyota said to, but because the fan belt shredded and went around the crank snout, cutting the front main seal. I'm now almost at 3000 miles & will have it changed at that mileage.