The old 5k or 10k oil change debate

Yep, my 4th toyotacare visit was scheduled for this august...that would be nearly a 18 months between oil changes. I called for an appointment this past feburary to get it done, making it about 1 year since the last oil change. A year is fine for me, but not 18 months if i took the dealers advice.

 

5w-30 mobil1 was all i ran in my 2001 tundra for 19 years and nearly 300k miles....very good stuff. In fact i still see my old tundra on the local roads here running strong.

 

Something I found interesting here, is Toyota recommending 10k change intervals while they are doing the changes.... for free, and after the warranty is up, and they are not responsible for them anymore, it's back to the 5k change interval....Hmmmmm.
No corporate savings scheme here..... Operating as normal, just like they tell us all the time in the dealership.

 

I can't argue with that.

 

also likely has to do with the age of the vehicle. a brand new truck isn't going to have any potential chance for crud floating around.

my old chrysler/mitsubishi variant 3.0 v6's all used 3k oil changes, specifically because at the time i was buying them around 100k, the hydraulic lifters would start sticking and making noise from crud. most of the time lifter noise rattle was occuring right around 3.1-3.5k if i didn't maintain an exacting 3k schedule. both times, the motors actually quieted down over the course of my ownership due to the shorter-term change schedule, and the use of synthetic cleaning out the existing crud.

 

What are you talking about? The warranty is far greater than 25k at 5 years and 60k miles…

 

Just another crazy opinion here, but over 20 years of 4 stroke outboard marine engine experience. These engines spend most of their life running 4500 - 5500 rpm turning propellers pushing boats under much heavier loads than 99% of our Tacomas. Oil change interval is 100 hours or 12 months.
As others have stated, the oil change time interval is also very important. Probably in no circumstance should we exceed 12 month intervals on oil changes (or ~10,000 miles). If we frequently run a lot of short trips that do not heat up the oil enough to burn any residual gasoline that finds its way into the oil from high pressure direct fuel injection, we probably should adopt 6 month oil changes irregardless of mileage.

 

I THINK he might be referring to Toyotcare which only does 10K changes during their complimentary service then after that they recommend 5k service. At least that is what it looked like in that picture of the of the major and minor service schedule the OP uploaded

Which is odd because people are saying Toyota recommends 10k services

 

The 3k oil change was a very successful advertising campaign back in the day. What was the OCI before then? The 22r in my 1984 Celica had an OCI of 10k miles displayed on a sticker on the core support. That was before synthetics, and those engines ran forever. I will stick with the owners manual, which has been verified by many on this forum with their lab results. You people would lose it if you owned a Mercedes Sprinter with the 20k mile interval.

 

What do you mean, "You people"?

 

I’m here and I own German cars!

 

Might a new vehicle experience some break-in wear where a shorter interval will cycle-out some of that debris versus one already broken-in?

 

Maybe his point was that a 10k interval reduces the cost of Toyota-responsible changes in-half?

 

Where do you see this? Not in my manual unless you fall under special uses.

 

look at the 1st post which he might be referring to

 

the prevailing argument these days seems to be that manufacturing tolerances are so close that break-in oil is no longer needed, and that new vehicle break-in procedure is mostly legalese to protect the manufacturer.

 

I think their dealer has a specific oil change interval they recommend to customers. The service manual from Toyota has it every 10k unless you fall into special uses.

 

Yeah, take a vacation to germany or even other parts of europe. Their oil change intervals are about double what they are here. Oil is expensive over there. We don't don't conserve our motor oil like they do yet they still have the same engine reliability.

 

I use the same oil they do. Liquimoly. Can’t pick it up off the shelf like other oils but it meets or exceeds the strictest of tests, I think the next closest Mobile 1 EP

 

Because that is what the guy that sells oil told him.