Synthetic oil

I just received an email from Toyota Motor Co. stating that my 2011 Tacoma SR5 2.7 ltr. 4 cyl. engine REQUIRES 0W20 synthetic motor oil. This maintenance requirement will increase operating cost significantly. Oh well, got to do what you got to do.
Still, I'm surprised and dissappointed to learn of this requirement.

 

How significantly are we talking here? $15 for a 5 quart jug of dino oil compared to about $25 for synth. You can also do longer OCIs with synth too. So what costs are you referring to?

 

And this is why I use royal purple 5w20 on my V6 baby, plus just like he said you can increase the time/milage intervals between oil changes

 

the oil change interval for the Taco is still 5K even with synthetic. All other 2011 models that Toyota makes using synthetic now has 10K intervals.

 

What I was trying to say is that in 2011 all Toyotas come with synthetic from the factory. With that said, the 4 cyl Tacoma manual says to change every 5K miles, everything else 10K. Just going by what the owner's manual says.

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/181717-oil-change.html
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/181714-synthetic-oil-change.html

This is your third thread on this. Since your new and may not know how to see the threads you have already started I put links in this post ^^^ people already answered your question. You can run 10k on synthetic no issue.

To find threads you started, click your username, public profile, statistics, all threads and you can see your already existing threads.

 

No matter what others recommendations are, if you want to maintain your new 2011 warranty you may want to go by what the owner's manual says (5K). After the warranty is up...that's up to you.

 

Toyota REQUIRES 0W20 synthetic oil changes EVERY 5k miles!!! No length of service advantage to synthetic oil; merely higher cost.

 

Maybe it is not much better in general for 5k intervals, but the 0w20 will help, and I don't think it is available in a conventional oil. Once the warranty is over, then you can stretch it out to 7 or 8k. Your engine will thank you.

 

I'd like to see the full text of this letter.

 

I pulled this right out of the Toyota Care book that came with my wife's 2011 Highlander.

"NOTE: There is one notable exception not covered by this chart:
2011 4-cylinder Tacoma and 2010 4-cylinder 4Runner (with the 2TRE-FE engine type This engine uses synthetic oil, but oil and filter changes are recommended every 5,000 miles. They are covered under the complimentary maintainence plan."

 

That's about as weasel worded as you could imagine: it only says it USES synthetic a true enough statement but those words are NOT equivalent to saying it MUST use it.

Think like a lawyer would think. Also, consider how weak the language used for the OCI is. It's only RECOMMENDED, not required, to change on 5K intervals.

So all that means is Toyota never meant it to be what people are making it out for. Follow the chart and do the common sense thing with oil changes. They'd probably like you to use synthetic and stay with a 5k OCI, that's why they're quibbling with the words, but you aren't iron-clad required by any means.

 

I guess my point to the OP was that under warranty use the synthetic. Heck, Toyota will do it free for the first 5 changes (25K miles) after warranty change to regular oil if he wants. We all agree synthetic is better anyway and for it to be free makes it a no brainer

 

If the OP has that book then he has no obligation to follow it. Even if his warranty spells it out diferently, he can fall back on this. "RECOMMENDED"

 

Even if you do change the oil every 5k, synthetic oil has superior heat and friction protection qualities compared to dino oil. Its an extra $10 every 3-6 months....woopie ding

 

Again everyone is missing the point I am trying to make. If the dang warranty covers the synthetic oil changes for the first 25K miles, then what is the flipping issue? IT COST NOTHING FOR THE FIRST 5 OIL CHANGES. Who cares what a freaking lawyer would say about the RECOMMENDED comment in the book. If you were smart you would use the FREE synthetic oil that the dealer uses. You would have to be stupid to tell the dealer "I.m sorry I don't want your RECOMMENDED synthetic oil sir, I would like to REQUEST the cheaper stuff instead."

 

IIRC when u start using synthetic oil in your truck, ur not to go back to regular oil?

 

^^^Broscience. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. That includes here. There is no issue when changing between the two.

 

Of course, the owner manual will also tell you to use 260/70R16 of memory serves me right for your wheel, doesn't mean that after you updated your rims to some 22's and that you are going to slap 260/70R16" tires on them, do you see what I'm saying?

 

The original poster was complaining about having the extra cost of synthetic oil in his new 2011 tacoma. If you read all the entries to this post you will see that the topic turned to argue having to changed the oil at 5K. I don't see what the cost issue is due to the fact that Toyota changes the synthetic oil at 5K miles for you for free under the new Toyota Care program up to 25K miles. After the warranty is up he can choose to go with regular oil for less $. Not sure how we now have changed topic again to tires vs. oil. But with your analogy, if you switched to 22's while under warranty I'm sure it would void your warranty if you had any drivetrain issues.