4 cylinder 2TR-FE Oil change at 5k,... or 10k? Dealer says 10k, ...Toyota says 5k .

I figure I paid for 2 years of ToyotaCare, and I intend to use it.

You guys who play with trucks for a hobby think differently than us old guys who simply want reliability and longevity.

I 'thought' my days of crawling under a vehicle and swapping out the oil and filter were over.

Interestingly, when I inquired at the parts department if he had a case of TGMO 0W-20 to sell me I was presented with an old ratty box containing 9 dusty quarts. 'All I have'.

Incredible. From all accounts, TGMO is one of the very best oils available and they appear to sell essentially none of it. The man promised me 3 cases along with a case of filters and drain plug gaskets for July.

Edit: Guess I gotta walk back the cat a bit on this one. I apparently made a big enough scene at the dealer that the service manager called. We had a mutually beneficial discussion. We'll see how it goes in 6 months.

 

Amen to that! The dealership is going to put the "lowest man on the pole" on oil changes/tire rotations/etc. The certified techs are going to be working on the real problems of the various vehicles the dealer sells. Fortunately I have a great "indy" (not a a quick oil change operation) who does the oil changes and I rotate my own tires as I don't want the pneumatic guns rounding off my lug nuts and I want all them torqued the same. Also, (now this is anal) I can clean out the inside of the rims especially the brake dust off the front disk brakes and the "indy" lets me clean out the inside of the skid plate. Who knows? I may have a serious front end accident sometime and the skid plate will be clean at least. The real "kicker" is that the closest dealer is 40+ miles away and what I have to pay for the oil (Mobile 1), OEM filter, and labor is less to me than the 1 1/2 - 2 hours driving and then waiting for a slot at the dealership.

 

great write up sir very eye opening

 

docsg you have some valid points.

I also like my service done correctly, and did it all myself for 40+ years.

But, for a couple years there 'I' was the low man on the pole working at a service station to pay tuition and board. I never ever used an impact wrench on the drain plug, never used a wrench to tighten a filter, and I certainly didn't stand there banging away with an air wrench stretching out lug studs like I've seen done. We had very powerful pneumatic grease guns then too, and I take pride in never blowing out a grease seal on a customers vehicle. I don't condemn a man for what his job description is. Been there. It's work.

That said, the 'monkey lube' places have a well deserved poor reputation. I expect more from a dealer service department. I discretely placed myself where I could watch the first service, and they did it right.

None of this is all that difficult, but somebody has to have their 'Give a Shit Face' on.

 

You might have been "low man on the pole" but you said you were working at a service station and probably had the experienced guys to watch your "early" work and give you advice on how to do even the basics correctly. The "indy" who does my oil changes is a 50+ guy (works at Road Mart) and he has changed the oil in my wife's Lexus and my Tundra (now Tacoma) for a long time. He lets me stand by him and he wipes and cleans any excess oil off the frame and pan, etc. I buy the Mobil 1 at Walmart and order the OEM filters on-line. They charge me $10 for the change and I ALWAYS tip the guy. I figure an oil change/service cost me $50-$60. I could get them free at the nearest dealership but it is about an hour away so that is 2 hours (and a 100 miles) of my time. However that dealer has a SUPER certified tech who has taken care of (in a expert way) all the minor issues I had with my truck from the outset such as rear door window molding, plugs in the front frame, transmission fill and then the TSB, and lastly, replacing the front passenger's side bushing that squeaked. That was all under 6K miles and I now have over 13K with no issues. Final point about "low man"...years ago we bought a Mazda 929. The dealer rotated the tires for me and a young service guy put the lug nuts on backwards. They were behind removable caps. After a couple of miles I noticed a vibration in the front end and immediately returned to the dealer. Fortunately the rims were not damaged. After that...bought a 3-ton jack and now rotate the tires myself. You were lucky to watch them do your service and BTW, I would never use a "quick lube" operation unless circumstances forced me to. I wish I lived near you as I would definitely let you do my services!

 

Ill do one, I just hit 2k, once I hit 4k Ill do an oil change since Ive had the filter and Mobile 1 when it was on sale. Ill send it off to blackstone

I also Off road once or twice a month but I remote start 14 days out of the month so extensive idling which would constitute for 5k oil change according to toyota

 

0w20 is a synthetic, it lasts longer than the old 10w30 that all the old mechanics use to change.

Toyota was reluctant to change the intervals on most of the engines even those most were revised for 0w20 years ago.

I have no qualms and have never seen an issue with 10k mi/16k km/1 year intervals but if owners want to change it early that's their prerogative. I don't come close to mileage so I'm just changing it once a year.

Dirty oil coming out of engines is a terrible gauge of engine health. If it comes out clean it's likely been changed too early. Blackstone likes to point this out in their reports on 3k oil changes.

 

or 12 months, whichever comes first.

 

That might come first, I bought it end of October 1800 miles

 

Yeah I don't come no where near 5,000 miles so the dealership changes mine once a year. It don't hurt it any getting it changed once a year for sure.

 

There's one of these near me so I drive by frequently. Seems like every few months I see an oil slick going down the road heading away from their entry/exit.

 

I'll stick to 5k intervals that I do on all of my vehicles. I usually do an oil change and toss in a tire rotation as well. 5k intervals keeps me looking and checking if things are going ok under the hood.

I do like the idea that someone mentioned earlier about having 2 dealers do the oil (one at 5k miles, the other at 10k miles) I could probably do something like that as well....me change the oil at 5k intervals between their 10k intervals. Hey, at least I'm not wasting ALL of my money....lol

 

Just got my oil changed at 7,500 miles for the first time on my 2017 tacoma 4 Cylinder. When I went in for the 5,000 mile service at the dealer they said the oil change interval is every 10,000 miles. I could of pushed them to do it earlier but just shrugged it off. I don't plan to ever go back to the dealer if I can help it. First of all an oil change would take a couple hours instead of 10 mins at oil change only facility. Not only that when I was there for the 5,000 mile service the service writer just stalls my truck right in front of me? Leaves it in first gear and dumps the clutch with the brake on. The dealership came across as very incompetent to me. I plan on doing the oil change at every 7,500 miles instead of the 10,000.