New 4.0 versus old 4.0

I hit 5,000 miles today on my way to a Toyota dealership to look at a new 4Runner for my wife. I bought my truck with less than 5 miles on it in June of 2009. The guys at the dealership were giving it the once over asking about rims, tires, racks, etc. Felt good!

I have some questions about the new 4.0. For those of you who have a second vehicle with the new 4.0, what have you noticed as far as differences? How difficult are the oil changes and any other regular maintenance? I was hoping the mileage would be better but looks like 17 and low 20s for the Limited with 4x4.

 

i think the only difference is that the new one has Dual VVT-i(intake and exhaust) where ours only has it on the intake. I believe that regular maintenance would be the same on both engines

 

i hope the oil filter is still easy to get to.

 

I am afraid that it is the canister type with removable media. I hope not but I think that is what the new FJ went to. I am looking up information now.

 

The 2010 and newer 4Runners with the 4.0L V6 oil filter is a canister type, with paper filter.

 

As far as performance goes, you might not notice too much of a performance difference if you are test driving a 4runner with the 4.0 Dual VVTi compared to a Tacoma with the 4.0 VVT-i. The reason I say this is because while the 4.0 Dual VVT-i in the 4runner has more HP and a bit more torque, it also weighs about 500-700 pounds more than the Tacoma.
The new 4runners are great rigs - I love the way they look, but the fact of the matter is they are frickin pigs - 4700-ish pounds now compared to 4300-4400 for the 2003-2009 gen.

 

Same mileage, same (apparent) power . Cartridge filter isn't too bad. You just gotta remove 6 bolts to remove the skid and then it's cake from there.

 

Seriously? You have to remove the skid to change the oil filter? That's a horrible design!

 

thats how most of the 4-runners and tundras have been the past years as well. well the ones with the v8 at least. the 4.0 in in the previous years is just like our tacoma's

 

Well anythings horrible compared to the older 1grfe. Lol. It's not that bad though. We get longer oil change intervals of 10k miles/1yr so that makes it a little better.

Despite wide skepticism about the extended OCIs, there's been a few oil analysis tests done on Mobil 1 synthetic that have gone through 10k miles in the new 1grfe and the test results come back very good. So removing 6 bolts once every 10-12 months is really nothing to fuss about IMO.

 

So is the OCI for conventional or synthetic?

 

I've read some opinions on the new engine on the 4runners forums, and as far as I know from reading, the consensus is that the 4runner is faster than the tacoma.

 

Synthetic.

 

We have 2 tacomas, 5th gen 4runner and an FJ. My taco is not stock but the other taco is and it feels more nimble than the FJ and 4Runner. Probably because even the DC LB is still lighter than both FJ and 4Runner.

 

Damn OP...5,000 miles in 20 months!?

 

Go read this post about "lack of power". (especially post number 6). It seems like the new transmission is programmed differently, you really have to get on it to get full power.

DriverSound: could that be the reason why you find the tacoma more nimble even with the weaker engine?