Bad oil after 3k miles

Has anyone ever been told their oil was bad at the 3k interval mark?

My Tacoma just turned 25k miles and I took it in yesterday to the Mobile Quick lube for its second oil change outside the Toyota 2 year dealer maintenance.

Per our manual and even through the services at the Toyota dealer, the oil change intervals were once every 5k miles or (6?) months using conventional oil.

At 20.5k miles, I stopped in at this mobile quick lube and got their Mobile conventional oil, 5-30.

Yesterday at 25k miles (or 4.5k on the OCI) I pulled in and the manager commented that I am 1500 miles late as well as potentially have moisture in my motor...almost suggesting there could be damage (which I highly doubt).

As I argued with him regarding the Toyota 5k factory interval as well as asked what type of cheap oil is he putting in my truck, naturally I was the ill informed owner and Toyota is wrong for calling out more than 3k miles on an OCI.

At this point, oil is cheap insurance, and I get that, so I’ll be happy to change every 3k miles if necessary.

I’m curious if anyone else has the same issue using Dino conventional oil.

Am I mis interpreting the manual wrong with the 5k interval with conventional oil? I live in SE Michigan if that makes a difference. Perhaps the quick lube manager wasn’t trying to pull one on me, although he strong armed me into a $12 engine flush...

Also, do the Toyota dealers use a better grade of oil vs a quick lube? Either way, I’m not taking my vehicle back there and I’ll just do the next change myself, along with the Highlander and Challenger which I own. Just wish I would trust somewhere for a simple oil change...

 

Quick lube places LOVE to sell you stuff you don't need! Go by what the manual says, and tell that guy to stuff it! My 06 has 158K on 5000 mile Oil changes.

 

Its his job to sell services. You are fine with 5k intervals. If you are really worried about it, you can pull a sample and send it to blackstone labs for oil analysis. I always used mobil 1 synthetic with oem toyota filters.

 

I’m really curious if their oil they used was cheap garbage worse than the dealers or good to only 3k miles purposely.

 

Mobile quick lube? Trustworthy? Before I learned much about cars and began working on them there was a chain called BP Procare that would pull the old, here's a tube of sample fluids from you car and they tested bad routine all the time. Even tried to convince to get me my automatic transmission flushed on my 5 speed manual...

 

More then likely NOTHING at all wrong with the oil. A scam artist...

 

First problem is going to a quick lube place. They will always tell you that your oil needs to be changed. Listen to Toyota and not some quick lube tech.

 

Any sort of detailed oil analysis like Blackstone is not immediate also...minored in chemistry and majored in biology for my undergrad. Detailed Analysis of organic hydrocarbons doesn't happen at your local oil change shop btw

 

Kind of what I figured.

I’m decently mechicanically knowledgeable, so I’ll just do the changes myself going forward; they seem simple enough.

I’m just thinking of even doing my wife’s Highlander with the 3.5, but that seems a little more complex.

 

I wouldn't recommend quick lube places, though I'm sure some are better than others. I've used them for fleet vehicles but would never take my personal vehicles to one. I've always used Mobil 1 in the recommended flavor and do it myself every 5K mi and have never had an oil related problem. Is there a reason your not doing your own oil change?

 

The small town Dealership closest to me, NOT where I bought the truck, by the way, has always treated me well when it comes to maintenance and services. They might be a bit more expensive then Gyppy-Lube, but I plan to keep the truck for many more years, so to me the slight extra expense to let people who actually know the vehicle work on it is worth it!

 

If his oil cannot last up to 5k miles then go to someplace that sells a quality product...or change your oil your self.

 

Well the first two years with Toyota care I had no reason to do it since they are free.

The last two changes I didn’t do because quite frankly I was too lazy to do it in the winter but I will get over it quickly.

 

Also just to be clear, his reasoning was due to us living in an extreme climate condition is SE Michigan, and conventional oil cannot last 5k miles in such an area...

 

Better off doing it yourself if you can and use Mobil 1 full synthetic. Or have your TOYOTA dealer do it and tell them you want full synthetic.

 

so, should you trust the people who designed your engine, and the company who has a vested interest in it performing better for longer, or a guy selling quickie oil changes?

 

But Toyota was using conventional Oil, and changing it every 5000 with NO PROBLEMS?? The quick lube guy is A: Lying, and B: SCAMMING!

 

Did they say if your truck was low on oil? Do you make a lot of short trips? Short trips don't allow the engine to properly heat up and since the engine doesn't fully warm up, the moisture that forms in the engine over night mixes with the oil giving a milkey appearance to the oil. Completely normal for a milkey build up at the filler tube with short trips.

Really black oil would indicate an over use issue. If the engine isn't using oil between service, you're fine.

Sounds like the monkey at the shop was basically calling you and idiot and trying hard to upsell you and make you think this was bad.

Write it off and never go back. Double check your filter and drain plug to make sure they didn't sabotage you. I'm surprised they didn't say you where low on blinker fluid or muffler bearings. That place sounds shady AF.

I’m really curious if their oil they used was cheap garbage worse than the dealers or good to only 3k miles purposely.

Guaranteed they use the cheap bulk oil which is in no way better quality, but should be fine for the lay person.

 

The 3.5 highlander just requires a filter cup unlike our 4.0's. performance tools makes a cheap one you can get. Just lay some rags down around the oil drain pan and prepare to make a bit of a mess! Unless you have the filter housing drain tube that is.

 

Change your own oil next time and send a sample in to Blackstone. That's the only true way to know how your oil is holding up.