For those wondering if you can do oil changes at the intervals Toyota suggest

What type of oil is being called for on the 3rd gens? 0-20?

 

Yep. In the first post.

 

It has been my professional experience that 0-20 oil has the consistency of water, despite the fact it is synthetic, most of these people running their oil changes into 10,000 miles before changing their oil and not checking it typically wind up at the dealer complaining that their car just shut off while driving.

Upon inspection the dealer finds that there was little to oil in their engine leading to a lock up and full internal failure. Most dealers at that point become combative in wanting to warranty your engine as their main argument is that it states that in the owners manual that you should check your oil level. At this point most owners under warranty have uphill battles involving long winded phone calls accompanied by hold times.

Despite the fact that Blackstone Labs showed that the oil held up just fine in there, it is my recommendation to all who decide to run their oil past 3-5,000 miles to check their oil level and top off as/ if needed.

Bear in mind that as engine mileage runs higher, oil consumption will become a factor. Your 10,000 mile oil changes will require very frequent top offs.

Proceed as you deem fit.

I see it nowhere in the first post. Even with using the word search function on my browser.

 

Youve got some bold claims in this post. Very bold.

 

If f your running out of oil in 10k miles of driving, there is a different issue you need to figure out. When I didn't know better or care, 10k miles on an oil change had been achieved on a few vehicles.

 

Well yeah. Seems fair, since it's the operators responsibility to assure that the oil level is adequate between changes.

 

Yes. Not terribly, but some.

September the year you were born Dad (who worked for a Pontiac dealer) one evening brought home a thing called a GTO.

Red, white rag top, white interior, trips, 4 spd.

That evening we went out and hit all the local burger joints/drive ins to 'advertise' the new model arrival. I'm not sure we'd have drawn more attention if we'd been passing out $50 bills. There was lots of tire kicking, motor drooling, and occasional rubber deposits made in various parking lots and intersections.

The next day they took their first 3 orders. You know, like when you could actually order a car as you wanted it, not take something 'close' that some port jockey had brought in.

Anyway, I was not of driving age at that time. Well, my go-kart and Schwinn, if those count?

But I started saving my money from lawn jobs, bagging groceries, helping deliver TVs from a local repair shop, etc etc. 5 years later #104 showed up as a trade in. Dad went over it with a fine tooth comb and declared it sound enough to join the family. I cleaned out my account, paid for the car, replaced the rotted out mufflers and tail pipes and began a 12 year joy ride.

To keep this oil related, as the thread started off, it used 30w detergent oil, and had a spin on filter. My elixer of choice was Kendall GT-1.

OCIs were 2k, with a 1qt top up usually needed around 1k.

 

Up here in salt country my truck will rot out before the engine goes even at 10k oil changes

 

Well no crying here.

The truck I sold after a couple of years of use and updating for 3x what I paid.

The GTO I sold after 12 years of semi hard, but well maintained use for 2.5x what I paid.

Neither fit the stage of life I was at when sold, and they were replaced with more fitting choices.

But if you live long enough, you may have some fun memories too.

Just to get you back on track, thank you for posting your Blackstone results. I love it when folks actually use specific data rather than anecdotal.

 

Thanks for posting results.

So far, I am on track for doing about 6K miles per year. I think on this truck I will just do an annual change and be happy unless driving habits change drastically. Waiting 2 years for an oil change just seems too long. But even if I went back to 12-15K miles per year, I bet it would be fine with annual changes.

 

You're the same age as my dad haha
And I'm the same age as your daughter

Electrician for 9 years now

 

Haha just joking around.

No problem with the data, I did it for the main reason I was sceptical about the longevity of the oil but after seeing the filter was fine and the oil has life seems good to go

It's only in the summer I might still do it sooner than the 16k km since summer months are when I'm off road and put the truck through harder use might just switch to 10 000km.

Then again might not even do that 10 000km through the summer so maybe after summer I'll swap it out just to have new oil for the winter. Already had the truck 1.5 years and only 31 000km on it .

And most of those km come from the summer driving up to the cottage or trails every weekend . Daily commute is only 60km round trip max

 

im planning on changing out my air filter on a monthly basis because of the possibility of road dirt getting thru the fibers and sending the Silicates in my oil threw the roof and prematurely blowing up my engine, a 30k mile intervals are way too long to wait, u can never be too vigilant when it comes to prevenative care.

 

These are not "claims" as some of you are stating. I'm not here to argue the color blue, or attempt to convince you that unicorns exist. These are simply my personal findings during my 14 years as a tech.

I'm sure I ruffled some feathers just talking about it, but as I previously stated, proceed as you deem fit. It's your car after all, and no one is paying the bill on it but you.

 

It has a lifespan. Dunno what it is never paid attention cause I always do the km before the life span in months.

In your case you should be on the months life not milage

 

And with that vehicle that had no oil what was considered the cause of lack of oil in 10k miles? Because a modern day engine should not be running out of oil so fast without a cause.

It's supposed to be 8000km check and 16,000km changes. So obviously yes you should be checking oil between changes

 

It's interesting if he's a tech for Toyota to not know this...

 

It’s a claim though. No mfg is going to recommend 10k if that would cause the motor to quit working. Maybe 10k on a 5k motor would do what you described but even that is unlikely unless it had very high mileage.

Just do some critical thinking... the mfg would have to replace a tacoma engine at least once within the powertrain warranty if what you say is true.

 

I'm also curious how if he's a Toyota tech he wouldn't know the new ones take 0w 20.

But in Toyota defence they do say 5000 mile inspection and top up if low 10 000 mile change .