Been doing it wrong for 106k miles. . .

wtf is oil

 

Idk, but i heard it was gai.

 

I always refill with 5qts. There's no way you're getting all of the old oil out draining in your driveway.

 

You were fine at 5. As long as the pick up tube in the pan is submerged in oil it has no idea it's .5 qt low. I always do 5 in my 2.4L.

 

That's right. I can only see two possible benefits for being so anal about things that you try to get the oil "exactly" to the upper level mark on the dipstick, and these are very slight.

1. A half-quart extra will give you a small fraction more oil additives and buffering capacity and might increase the serviceable life of your oil a small fraction longer. However, if you look at the oil analysis figures posted by various people on the Web you will notice that at 5000 miles most oil still has quite a bit of life left in it anyway.

2. If you have run your engine for a couple of hundred thousand miles or so and it's now starting to burn a little oil you won't have to add it so often.

That said, if you want to top it off, that's fine too, you can keep that half-bottle of oil around for the next oil change.

 

earl is earl

 

I usually just dump a 5qt jug in and then have an extra quart in the garage to top it off for a couple of changes.

 

If the oil level is in the safe zone at 5 quarts, you aren't going to hurt anything by not adding tht half quart. If the truck was to start consuming oil, you would have less "extra" in the oil pan, and subsequently less time to catch the problem.

 

I always run 5. It's fine.

 

Relax. Half a quart low will not cause a problem. Your engine probably doesn't even know the difference.

In fact, it's preferable to be slightly underfilled rather than overfilled. That way the crank won't slap oil in the pan and aerate it. I usually dump 5.4 qts in the Taco when changing oil.

 

well you have a 106k miles and its still running so it cant be that bad

 

No! You HAVE to get it exactly on the upper mark! The tires will wear unevenly if it's not exact!

 

You can look at it this way, you are better off low, than over full. Over full can cause foaming of the oil and back pressure, I:E loss of lubrication and if considerably over full blow out seals and cause blow by.

 

Easy fix! For the next 106,000 miles put 6 qts in to make up for the 1/2 qt you have been missing. The Tacoma will never know then!

 

Oh one more thing. My timing chain cover is leaking very slightly. Would that have been caused by under filling? I know its a TSB an all, but i'm out of warranty ofc.

 

No, depending on who you read it either wasn't sealed quite right at the factory or not quite engineered right. If they issue a TSB then Toyota knows it's their fault' not the consumer's.

That said, until recently it was sort of unheard of for a high-mileage engine to be leak free. As long as it wasn't pouring out somewhere we all just added a bit of oil now and then and didn't worry too much about it. If you still have your truck when it comes time to change the timing chain they can fix the leak then.

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/17846-updated-t-sb-0326-08-oil-leak.html

 

I will not be fixing it until I can notice a change in my oil level. Toyota quoted me $1450 to fix it. LOL@thatshit

 

Isn't there like 1.5liters from bottom line to the top line -- I think the manual has the info on the capacity between the two marks. As long as you are a hair above the bottom line you are good. That is what the lines are for -- now if the engine consumes oil that is a different story.