New maintenance schedule for '10+?

Hi all,

I just got back from a new owners dinner held at my dealership. Now bear in mind here for my next question that there were mostly new Prius owners there. But the service director told us that Toyota will be putting out new maintenance schedules for 2010+ which states that the oil only needs to be changed every 10k miles with synthetic fluids. Has anyone else heard or seen this?

 

Surprising a dealer is telling you to see them less!That is if your willing to pay them to do that sort of thing

 

well....they did say that the maintenance required light will still come on at 5k. In that case, we should go in for at least tire rotation

 

New owner's dinner? Wow, they must be killing people on Prius sales. As for the 10k, haven't heard about that on Toyotas but I'd have a hard time trusting an oil filter that long. I think BMW's do 10k service now. I'd still want to see an oil analysis and check out that filter. It's not like $30 in oil and filter is going to break the bank every 5k...

 

In my previous vehicle, the oil was fine when I drained it and had it analyzed at 8000+ miles.

As long as the warranty would not be problematic, I would be very happy to do the same with my Tacoma. Hopefully it will apply to 09s as well, and I'll wait until I see something in writing from Toyota saying it's OK.

I'll send the first couple in for an analysis, then probably every third oil change from then on just to make sure. If it is questionable at 10k, then I'll try swapping the filter and topping off the oil at 5k, and changing at 10k.

 

Wow 10k, NO for me! I change mine every 3-4k and I dont trust anyone to touch my truck, BUT ME.

 

I use synthetic - Penzoil Platinum. I let it go 7K miles on my last interval and was shocked at how gooey the oil was. I will not allow that to happen again. Stick to the 5K miles - even with synthetic oil.

3K is overkill and only recommended by the oil companies and quick-change shops.

Also, learn to change your own oil. Dealerships use crap oil that comes in 55 gallon drums. It's easy and fun to work on your truck. You'll feel better about knowing it was done right. I have found wrenches and rags in my engine compartment when I used to allow dealerships to do it. You just never know what they can screw up. I'd rather be in charge of screwing something up.

A Fumoto drain valve makes oil changes pretty clean and easy. It's a $25 investment.



As for tire rotation...leave that to a shop if you do not have experience or want to learn. That can actually be dangerous if you do not know what you are doing. And it does NOT need done every 5K miles. Maybe 10K.

 

Tires and oil, every 5000 miles

 

If there were other vehicle owners there, then I'm not surprised. We had a 2004 Sienna and the toyota maintenance schedule called for 7,500 mile intervals for oil changes (non-synthetic). So nothing surprising there to me because you'd expect they would go a little longer with synthetic.

BTW, one of California's state departments under CALEPA (can't remember which one) ran TV commercials a couple years ago telling people that you didn't need to change your oil less often than 7,500 miles. All oils were easily lasting longer than that and it was a waste of money, energy, etc to change it more frequently.

Now that doesn't mean I don't change the oil in my Taco more frequently than their recommendations...

 

I can not imagine any reason why the Toyota V6 or I4 engines would cause oil to break down any faster than any other manufacturer's engines.

I will still send it in for an analysis, but I expect to find that a quality synthetic oil is still in great shape at 8000-12000 miles. In my previous vehicle, even driving hard in hot Kansas summers did not cause the oil to degrade in 8000 miles.

 

I'll stick with every 5,000 miles...it's easy to remember and after having the oil analyzed on several engines (some ultra high performance street legal but purpose build racing engines) I know it's a good / safe maintenance interval.

 

Thanks for all the great input all! I'm definitely not liking the idea of 10k so I'll probably stick to 5k. As for those of you who say not to let the dealer handle it, I feel ya! I've never liked anyone else touching my cars but I really don't have a choice. I really wish I had a garage but living in a condo and working in the parking lot is kina frowned upon

 

NO,NO,NO....never I'll do this.
I often analysed motor oil in the past and yes the oil oxidation(Oil life) is good for a more than 10k but after 7k the silice(dust) is coming too high in the oil. It will wear the motor.
Dusty Road=Less millage between oil changes.

 

I would stick with every 5K also

 

I would have no problems with running a synthetic for 10k miles. With a quality oil filter, there are no reasons or data to support 5k mile oil changes, just paranoia. Porsche recommends 7500 mile oci for their turbo cars and 15k miles oci for their normally aspirated engines. Engines that see demands that far exceed our Tacoma.