Synthetic oil?

I'm planning on changing my oil every 5k, I know Mobil 1 has extended performance that's recommended for 15k. You know what Mobil 1 syn is rated for (10k)?

 

The Mobil synthetic designed oil filters are also rated for 15K, but I'm too chicken to go that far. I may inch my way up with an oil analysis at 13K to see how the oil holds up at that point.

 

Not say you are wrong but I wanted to post this since driving condition change for different users.

• Normal Service – Up to 25,000 miles, 700 hours of operation or one year, whichever comes first, in personal vehicles not operating under Severe Service.
• Severe Service – Up to 15,000 miles, 700 hours of operation or one year, whichever comes first.

Severe Service: Primarily short trips (less than 10 miles [16 km]); turbo/supercharged engines; commercial or fleet vehicles; excessive idling; first-time use of AMSOIL motor oil in a vehicle with more than 100,000 miles; frequent towing, hauling, plowing or driving in dusty conditions.

 

Stuff we can all agree on.. Oil breaks down over time. Conventional oil breaks down more quickly than synthetic. Conventional oil has carbon in it, Synthetic does not. Running conventional oil carbonates your seals (swells them) that's why it's not a good idea to switch back and forth once the seals swell with convectional oil, switching to synthetic will suck out the carbon and potentially shrink the seals (cause leaks).

Personally I don't think it matters. Conventional oil and change it every 3k or synthetic and change it every 6k. But don't switch back and forth.

 

Well, no, technically, oil does not wear down or break down. It gets dirty and loses it's additives via combustion and it's exposure to water, soot, carbon, heat, and gases. A filter can only remove so much contaminants, and it can't add the additives a motor oil needs to maintain viscosity and certain lubricating properties.

 

The paper filter replacement you are thinking of is seen in 5th Gen 4 Runners. You pull off some paneling - one small and light; one large and heavy(15 lbs.). You now spin off an oil filter housing and pull/replace the filter element inside.

2nd Gen Tacoma's have the filter on top of the motor. Engine oil drain plug is down below - attached to oil pan as it is on other vehicles.

While the engines in both the 5th Gen 4 Runner and 2nd Gen Tacoma are both known as 1GR-FE, their VVT-i systems are different. That's why the oil filter had to be relocated below for the 5th Gen 4 Runner.


VVT-i, or Variable Valve Timing with intelligence, is an automobile variable valve timing technology developed by Toyota. The Toyota VVT-i system replaces the Toyota VVToffered starting in 1991 on the 5-valve per cylinder 4A-GE engine. The VVT system is a 2-stage hydraulically controlled cam phasing system.

 

So the oil will pour out the paper filter housing on the 2016 Tacoma V-6. That's the procedure for draining the oil? No drain plug?

 

If you are talking about just draining the oil filter housing, here is what I do on my 2014 4 Runner. Your 2016 Tacoma is a 1st year 3rd Gen Tacoma. Different than 2005-2010 2nd
Gen Tacoma's.

Some people remove a small circular plug on the bottom of the oil filter housing with a 3/8" ratchet/small breaker bar; then push in a small piece of plastic tubing with a hose attached to drain the oil filter housing. The plastic tubing is included with the oil filter along with 2 gaskets - one small; one large. I skip the plastic tubing business and simply spin off the oil filter housing(some use an over-priced tool) and carefully tilt to pour out some of the oil in the oil filter housing into a catch pan below. After pouring some of the oil in the oil filter housing into a catch pan, tilt some more and empty out the rest. Pour slowly to avoid spills and maybe burning yourself. Directions are on the box if you buy a dealer filter, at least they have been for all of my vehicles that have this type of replacement element filter.

You must also remove the oil pan drain plug to empty the oil that is in the bottom of then engine.

I don't know how much oil a 2016 holds - should be in your owners manual.

The following URL is a pictorial of an oil change on a 5th Gen 4 Runner. While it's not a '16 Tacoma, the procedure may help you to understand how all of this works in later model Toyota's with a replaceable-filter cartridge-in-oil-filter-housing system:

 

I had Toyota do my most recent oil change (Toyota Care). I've got the RCI Metalworks IFS Skit plate. They installed the Fumoto for me without a problem. Haven't changed the oil myself yet though so I'm not sure if it's a nightmare to get to or not!

Also I went Mobile 1 Synthetic!

 

I'm all about the 5k mile oil change anyhow. Why? Because the owner's manual on the truck says so. If you change every 5k they can't claim you caused the engine problem by not doing so.

 

I looked up the OF housing and filter part #s; they are the same as wife's 07 Lexus ES350. The opening is threaded and some oil filters kits come with a threaded adapter, making it easier to attach than the push-in type. Fram Ultra is one filter I recall having the threaded adapter. I now see lots of cool wrenches available to remove the filter housing. When I got mine, there were only two or three non-OEM choices on Amazon. I got a cheap one that remains available (GearWrench Tools 3253) but it binds a little. This design was not available then and looks appealing: those similar to Astro 78521.

 

Oil, I plan to go Amsoil synthetic as soon as my Toyota-care-less period is over. As far as the K&N, buy it to save money on future filters, don't expect much if any gain of anything. I ran a K&N for 175,000 miles on my 06 which is still on the road with 205,000 currently. That exact same filter lived in my 2013 for 10,000 miles and now lives in my 2014 with 11,500 miles. Considering that the $50 filter now has almost 200,000 miles on it, I think that it saved way more than $50 and have had ZERO problems because of it.

 

And those k&n filters are easy to clean? I've had one but got rid of the car before i had to clean it.

 

Not hard but takes time to dry. What I do is keep a paper filter in a box and swap it in while the K&N dries. It's just a matter if spraying on the solution, let it sit, then rinse, I do it twice. After it dries, spray it with K&N oil and put it back in, you don't want to drown it in oil, just evenly covered.

The drawback used to be the cost of the recharger kit, it used to be $20 and was good for about 2 cleanings. The kit is now only $10.

 

When I bought my 2016 and the salesman was giving me the run-down on how to operate it, he said that they would cover oil changes, tire rotation, etc. and that the first oil change comes at 10,000 mi. When I asked him about the 10,000 mi., he said they use synthetic oil. Now I would not go so far to say that I'm an environmentalist but I do try to be as gentle to the earth as I can reasonably be. I find the idea of dumping half the amount of oil and filters into the waste stream as I have in the past and maintaining my warranty very appealing. As for K&N filters, I use those on my motorcycles and find them a piece of cake to clean and recharge and plan to talk to the service people at the dealership as to how installing one would affect my warranty and free oil changes.

 

Good point right there.

 

Wow, Motorcycles are extremely hard on the environment. They have absolutely zero pollution control, zero legislation demanding such, they're like lawnmowers only worse. They say mowing your lawn has the same environmental impact as driving 300+ miles in your car. Motorcycles are much bigger.. If the environment is your concern, loose the Motorcycle!!

 

Easy there. I concede motorcycles pollute more than cars in grams per liter, but they are far from the "extremely hard" comment, and "absolutely zero pollution control" is an ignorant statement to make. Title 40 section 86 of the Federal Code of Regulations covers emissions regulations for 1978 and later motorcycles (see subpart E & F):
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-id...xt&node=40:19.0.1.1.2&idno=40#40:19.0.1.1.2.5

See also this list of related motorcycle regulations and documents:
https://www3.epa.gov/otaq/roadbike.htm

Here, you can view the allowable pollutants allowed by CA for motorcycles:
https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/Document/I6E7243702DDD11E197D9B83B68A61150?viewType=FullText&originationContext=documenttoc&transitionType=CategoryPageItem&contextData=(sc.Default)

Take into account the following: the pollution generated by the making of a car vs a motorcycle; the waste generated by a car vs a motorcycle; cars use up more raw materials; and motorcycles consume less fuel, thus produce significantly less CO2.

A single car will, absolutely, produce more pollution than a single motorcycle due to the car having a larger engine and lower mpg.

Don't knock motorcycles!

 

You may be right about the seals, I'm not an engineer, but most "synthetics" on the shelf are semi-synth blends that still contain conventional bases to retain proper seal conditioning as well as much better additive packs that also ensure proper seal conditioning that didn't happen when synthetics were first introduced. If I was a betting man I'd put my money on switching from conventional to an actual full synthetic will have no ill effects.

As far as the OPs question about K&N filters, I say no. The horsepower gain, if any, is from higher flow and thus lower filtration which means you have the potential to introduce more contaminates into your engine which can potentially cause a catastrophic failure, a former member on here correlated his scored walls to use of his K&N filter. In addition the oil has been reported MANY times to get sucked into the intake and contaminate the MAF resulting in check engine lights and driveability issues.

At the end of the day it's your truck, your choice.

 

Here it is. My last Motorcycle was an FJ1200 (I'm that old) It was barely over a Liter, it had 130HP, the best mileage I ever got was 28MPG. Before having my son I rode Motorcycles of one kind or another for 20 years, they all had piss poor mileage. Let's not overstate MPG for Motorcycles, they suck gas. As I recall there wasn't one item on that machine I would refer to as "pollution control' being air cooled there wasn't even a way to regulate the temperature (get it hot enough to burn off a few more pollutants).

For comparison my Tacoma has a 2.7 liter, gets 140HP and 23 MPG. What holds it back are all the pollution controls, remove them and a 2.7 liter engine would get far more HP or perhaps my Tacoma would have a 1 Liter engine. I'm no scientist however touting Motorcycles as fuel efficient is simply wrong, as is touting them as environmentally friendly. Not saying you or your statements or statistics are ignorant, just wrong. Calling it as I experienced it.