On a new SR5, do you change the first oil early?

@MikeyMcFly

Great, honest feedback.

I had dealership do the 5K mile oil change (I paid for it/both literally & figuratively). Young tech over-torqued skid bolts & screwed air dam bolt at angle.

Been doing oil changes every 5K miles since and currently standing on about 19K miles.

OP, reading the manual while taking a break from doing your taxes is good balance. You did well in this.

 

Laboratory grade eyes!

But if you wear glasses, or when that day comes, you'll want to add a taste to your decision tree.

And rubbing it between your fingers can indicate viscosity or additive changes too.

 

I give up, do whatever that makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

 

It's your truck, change it when ever you want.

I did my first around 2k, then every 6 months(5k~7k miles).

 

OK, been to church, gotta get back to taxes, so gotta make a decision - 5000 it is.

Thanks all

SonOfEru

 

It certainly can’t hurt to do it every 5K. It’s worked for me so far.

 

It's your truck and your money. Do it as often as you are comfortable with. I did two oil changes by the first 10,000 miles.

 

Mine is a daily driver, no heavy off road driving.
I change my oil twice a year, it's usually right around 5K miles.
once in the fall just before our mild, low desert AZ winters and again around May before the Temps start climbing into steady triple digits.
Is it necessary that i change it at those intervals? Probably not but it's not going to hurt anything and it's my decision.
Do whatever makes sense to you.

 

Break in oil isn't used in mass produced plebian engines. The original fill is the same stuff it gets refilled with. Assuming the dealer is straight up.

 

Harder for an independent garage to make money doing 10k oil changes. All I can tell you I've been using mobil1 doing 15k mile oil changes on the 2001 tundra I had. Sold it 19 years later with nearly 300k miles, and it never touched a drop of oil. Even been doing 10k oil changes on the wives 2012 prius which now has well over 100k miles, and it running same as it did new. The shop said that car should see well over 250k miles, as they have many they service like ours with that already.

 

If you do it yourself, it is only about 50 dollars and a half hour of your time. I go every 5000 miles or 6 months. I did my first at 1000 miles.

 

One consideration is if you plan to keep it long term. If you plan to flog it after 3-5 years just do the minimum. I like to keep my vehicles long term so I follow a severe schedule and it has worked well for me in my past vehicles. YMMV.

 

Well I said I was done, but I'm the curious type and I haven't used up my 9 lives yet.

So I thought I would call the dealer service dept and see what they think of my description of my usage. Right off, they said we are considered to be in a severe usage area, meaning central New Hampshire's winters. I'm acquainted with the owner and know her to be a straight up integrity person so I can't believe it's a trick to get more service work.

Bye again .... <giggle>

Oh yes, I was gonna mention that I have always had my trucks long term. The last one made it to 270,000. All but one served me till the rust got 'em. That other one died in a black ice crash.

I just always considered that once they were paid off, it was cheaper to pay the cost of maintenance and repair than to do payments. And I never had a need to have a newer looking model. Once my butt got used to the driver's seat, that comfort mattered more.

 

Well I'm south in nw Connecticut, and have a couple dealers that have been trusty. Both recommend 10k mile oil changes for our vehicles if not towing a lot of miles, or spending time off-roading.

 

My 2011 has a light it comes on every 5K. I change it then, it also give me the time to look at every thing else little things like greasing U joints etc. Living in the frozen NE is hard on vehicles. My last two both had 300+K trouble free miles on them. By comparison oil changes are cheap.

 

It's taken me a long time to realize my youthful tendency to be penny wise, dollar dumb (or something like that). When I tried to decide between 5000 and 10000 on my wife's car, I finally decided to do it at 7500.

Well, that got into some squirrelly calculations to do oil on a 7500 schedule, while keeping all the other items on their normal schedule. I worked up a rather bumpy spreadsheet to keep track of it, and when the "Maintenance Required" message came on the Lexus display, I would note the mileage and add 2500, estimate it and enter in my phone calendar.

But really, to do the oil a little more often would likely keep it running better longer. And trying to save money? Well what is time .... ?

 

I did my first change at 1000 miles to get rid of any metal from break-in, plan to do it every 5000 after.
OP get the Motivx kit. Super nice
https://www.motivxtools.com/

 

Don’t forget the fumoto valve. A proper oil change cannot be made possible without said valve. Sorry guys but what oil thread would be complete with mention of that stupid thing.

 

Apples & Oranges.

I did my oil changes every 20k miles on my 85 4x4 22R truck, and drove it for 19 years/590k miles. had three brake downs in the life of that truck.

The 3rd gen uses low tension rings, 10k~20k OCI can cause stuck rings, scoring the cylinders, leading to excessive oil use.