Oil changes

I change it about every 6 months...since I average about 3500-4000 miles during that time.

 

I agree. I guess my point is the products are not a Toyota magical elixir or filter, and many other on the market are just as good.

Not to mention that Toyota, and most other OEMs, are more design, assembly and sales oriented, and many many parts come from specialty vendors.

 

Agreed!

That is the key thing about forums. We get to find and post about the truly good stuff, or what sucks.

 

In Canada, it is recommended you do it every 16,000 kilometers. To keep it simple I do it every 10k on the dial. I'm almost @80,000kl now, so I'm just about due.

That's just under once a year for me.

 

oil-n-filter tire rotation 5k

 

Just wait until you hear about break-in oil and the debates around it.

 

I've been in the auto parts industry for decades and seen a lot of engines returned as cores. I've questioned the owners and inspected the engines and there is no difference between engines at similar milage regardless of oil change intervals.
The people selling you oil and the people selling you service have a vested interest in selling you the idea that frequent oil changes are necessary. Every time you come in for anything they get a chance to upsell you on whatever they can. It's how they make a living.

 

Great post!

 

If you're running flat tappets in an engine build, break-in oil is highly recommended.
I wouldn't worry about that on a Tacoma.

Cheers

 

Sh1t just got real-real in here...

 

I do mine every 8000km/5000mi with whatever full synthetic 0w20 is on sale + whatever semi reputable filter is on sale, lol. I do fit into a true extreme service scenario (33 inch LT tire, tow 4-5k lbs regularly, 1k lbs in the bed regularly, steel everywhere on the truck, majority of driving is on dirt roads and 5-10k km a month of this) so take that as you will.