Powertrain Warranty, Do My Own Oil Changes?

My first "real" job after graduating from college was with FoMoCo - as a warranty claims administrator - Many of the aforementioned examples of documenting DIY maintenance are certainly sufficient to substantiate Mfr's required maintenance and intervals. The basic requirement for the DIY is/was a "record" - any mileage log book, computer record, hand written notes etc, referencing the service performed, date and mileage and a record (receipt or other document of acquisition) for parts, lubricants, or supplies necessary to perform the service.

 

Sounds good. I just keep a Word document with an entry each time I perform maintenance which shows what I did, what I used and what the odometer read, along with the date and any other notes I might need or want. Since I pretty much buy everything online now as well, receipts are easy to come by if I need them.

My truck is a 2014 Tacoma with currently about 18,000 miles on it. I bought it used from the original owner who babied it and had it serviced at the proper (exact almost) intervals up until he traded it. So it is under the factory bumper to bumper, factory powertrain, and because I actually bought it through the dealership, the extra Certified Toyota warranty tacked on to the end of the factory warranty.

I'm fine letting the dealership service it while it's under warranty (if I have to), but I MUCH prefer to do it myself. Not that I don't trust them but I just know it's done right if I do it myself. I use OEM parts for everything (especially the oil filters) and good quality oil.

I've always done all of the maintenance on my 2002 Tacoma and it has about 170,000 miles on it and it's all original and runs like a new truck.

Speaking of oil, the bulk oil my local dealerships get is what they claim as Mobil 1. Can anyone verify that? I've never used semi, full or pretend synthetic oil. I've always used Castrol GTX and my '02's valvetrain is so clean you could eat off of it. So I'm wondering if I need to stick with Mobil 1 or go with some other oil? Would it hurt anything to go back to a true dino oil like Castrol GTX?

Thanks for all of the great info and opinions.

 

Where I live, the Jiffy Lube people are more conscious of their work than the lube techs at the local Toyota dealership. Neither of them service my vehicles. My statement is based on personal observation. I use the local Jiffy Lube for state inspection; dealer for warranty/TSBs. While in either place, I monitor the activity.

Very little turnover at local Jiffy Lube - same people that were there back when. Dealer techs come and go with the wind in my area. No continuity.

It isn't the company. It's the people who work for it.

 

I never would have bought a warranty from a company that made me have my oil changed at a shop.

Edited: Been reading about peoples experiences with Warratyforever. Im surprised that company hasnt been sued into the ground.

 

Warranties were made to be voided.

 

If you've been running synthetic, I'd stay with synthetic, although I doubt you would have problems going back to dino. I'm a believer in being consistent with oil, however, including brand. Keep the add pack the same over time. Otherwise, any name brand oil will be fine. I run Kendall FS, just to be different.

 

Sorry if I'm not getting it, but what is an, "add pack"?

 

Oil comes with additives for antiwear purposes. They will often contain elements such as molybdenum, calcium, boron, magnesium etc. Different brands will use different formulations.

Let's say brand X uses molybdenum primarily and brand Y uses calcium. It's my opinion that you would want to choose a brand and stick with it. Of course, I am not a chemist, and only based this on an article I read where a cab company tested oil results. The only wear problems they saw were from engines where they switched brands all the time that used different additive packs. But if I recall, the problems were not much of anything, and these cars had over 300k miles on them.

Go check out bobistheoilguy.com. Everything you wanted to know about oil, plus volumes that you didn't.

 

That said, don't sweat it if you switch oil now. I'm just saying for the long haul, consistency might be good. I'm sure people just use whatever is on sale each time and their trucks are fine.

 

Ah okay, makes sense now, thanks!