Any reason to do 5K service?

Guess I’ll skip it. I rotated my tires last night and reset TPS. I can certainly check the oil, ps fluid, brake fluid etc...in less time than the drive to the dealership.

 

I skipped my 5k check till the 10k then had it all done. Dealer was trying to get all us new Canadian buyers to do our first 5 k with them and they would reward us with a 25.00 pre-paid gas card for it lol. The service would of cost 75.00 or more not sure so saved myself that on the first 5k just saying.

 

Out of 50ish vehicles I've only had 3 new purchases.

One never saw the dealer again.

One only went for some warranty work.

One only went back for recalls.

 

That is my plan stay away from dealers. I have a reputable mom and pop garage that has an excellent reputation for quality service and pricing. I used them over the years as they are family run business and the bonus they are only 15 minutes away as the dealer is 2 hours.

 

I do all my own service work. And I changed oil at 5k.

 

I have to admit I wasn’t an every 5k fan. Then I watched this and now I am a believer. This video is from a mechanic with a pretty large following…
https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4

 

2 Oil Changes and 3 Tire Rotations...that's how the Service Tech presented it at the Dover Service Center.

Here's my scheduled dates:

(1) 5K Mile - Sep 30, 2021 // I paid to have the oil changed BUT on will be doing the next one in July 2022.
(2) 10K Mile - Feb 15, 2022 // Oil Changed included in ToyotaCare.
(3) 15K Mile - July 2022 // Projected Date to Schedule.
(4) 20K Mile - Dec 2022 // Projected Date to Schedule includes Oil Change.
(5) 25K Mile - May 2023 // Projected Date to Schedule; 2 year anniversary since purchase.

This was from my 2nd visit (10K Mile ToyotaCare). I conducted an inspection of the work done before I departed.



Ed

****

 

They changed my oil at around 5k but pretty sure they just moved up my 10k service. Because at 10k they were calling it my 15k service. No big deal. Not sure why a dealership wouldnt change your oil at 5k, free of charge, if you requested it. You are going to get your oil changes one way or another from them.

 

My time is worth something. Even if there is no charge for them to look at the truck, I have better things to do with my time than drive 15 miles to the closest dealer, sit in a waiting room for 1/2 hour to an hour then drive 15 miles back home. Most of the things I can do in my driveway on my schedule.

10,000 mile oil changes are actually pretty conservative with synthetic oil. You could probably do fine with 15,000 mile oil changes. The important thing is to simply make sure it doesn't run out of oil. I know of one car engne that went just over 100,000 miles without ever having the oil changed, or even checked. It would have gone even farther had they just added oil and not let it run dry.

 

This very well may be true. Think about it. With so many customers coming to you regardless it isn’t imperative for them to perform a top notch job. If more people changed their own oil the competition amongst all these quick change shops would be furious and likely will cause them to step up their game.

 

The SIGN to look for another shop or do it yourself is when you feel the need to check their work.

 

Anecdotal. I know a guy who’s parachute didn’t open and survived.

 

This. May do it yourself ( oil change). watch till the end. https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4

 

Couple things, Car Care Nut, I like him, he has a good show. All of my cars, past and present, regardless of manufacture recommendations gets 5K oil change. I generally get 300-400K miles out of my cars with maintenance items. Changing my own oil, getting the supplies, recycling the oil, etc, I'd rather pay someone to do it and get a few phone calls done at the shop while waiting. When I was younger, I did all my own maintenance, but as time becomes more limited, kids, family, work, taking it in and getting other work done is best for me. Tire rotations every 5K miles, in my experience have made my tires last a lot longer. For instance, on my 5 series with run flats, I got 75K miles out of the original set of tires (4/32") is when I changed them out. So for me, its worth going in every 5K miles for an oil change, tire rotation, and once a year regardless of miles, an air filter.

 

Here is more from a survey a few years ago by Cooper Tire:
70 percent are extremely confident they could add washer fluid to their car
• 47 percent are extremely confident they could jump start a car
• 48 percent are extremely confident they could replace their windshield wipers
• 39 percent are extremely confident they could fix a flat tire
• 37 percent are extremely confident they could replace their car’s air filter
• 37 percent are extremely confident they could replace a fuse
• 33 percent are extremely confident they could change their car’s oil

This is the way the world is going. Young people nowadays do not want to change oil or any of the above. They see no value or fun in it.
It is just the changing of society. There will always be groups such as TacomaWorld that will cater to the enthusiast and several who stick around to answer questions from those without knowledge but those will continue to shrink as well.

 

OP - this is good info here - thanks for posting.

Question for everyone - When should you take it in for "routine" maintenance? Or...when/what are the big milestones for service? 30k diff fluid? How long can I go just doing oil changes?

 

An owners manual in the 70’s would tell you how to adjust your valves.
An owners manual in 2020 tells you not to drink the water from your battery.

Case closed.

 

For me, I do 5K oil changes, 30K manual and diff fluid changes, 2-3 year brake fluid, and 5 year coolant. Power steering too if its needed. Automatic transmissions 60K fluid changes - I had an 2006 BMW X5, original transmission 300K miles, when I sold it, also no oil burning. 5K oil changes.. works every time.

 

The people in my circle wouldn’t support these polling numbers. These numbers seem very overstated.

 

Question 1- NEVER.

Question 2- 5k engine oil/filter changes, 10k cabin filter changes, 15k engine air filter changes, 20k diff/transfer fluid changes, 30k transmission pan drain and refill, 60k spark plug replacement.