Looking for opinions (oil change related)

I have had my new 2010 reg cab 2.7L base model 6 weeks now and have about 950 miles on it now. I have been told by the dealer it came with a synthetic blend from the factory. I'm not sure how long the dealer had the truck on the lot before I bought it.

Since I am thinking of keeping the truck long, long term and since the miles are likely only going to be only around 5k-10k per year I may as well just spring for full synthetic unless you guys can think of a good reason not to.

I do have to sort out the fact that my wit the truck, the dealer "gave" me a "free" 2 years of scheduled maintenance of which I am suppposed to be receiving some sort of coupons in the mail about but unsure how they will work it if I want synthetic oil.

With all that said:

1.) At what milage would you dump this factory oil and start using Mobil 1 seeing as I am putting milage on this thing slowly and the fact I have no idea how long that factory blend has already been sitting in the engine and on the dealer lot? I was thinking maybe 2,000 miles unless that is too soon to start the mobil1.

2.) Where I live (Eastern Shore of Maryland) we see a full spectrum of temps from summertime highs that can hit 100F to wintertime lows that can get down into the teens. Though both of those examples are extremes and not the norm. Which weight of of Mobil1 would you recommend for my 2.7L w/ AT?

3.) What is your opinion of letting the dealer change the oil and service my truck in general? I'm disabled and my oil changing days are over, but having a best friend that is a service writer for Honda have heard so many horror stories about techs that come in hungover and do the bare minimum shitty job they can get away with on a daily basis. Not all, but some. Certainly this free 2 yrs service thing could make or break this deal but I don't know if they will just make me pay extra for the Mobil1 or if they will even do it.

4.) Filter recommendation would be great too.

TIA,
Eric

 

1.) Change the oil and filter at 5000 miles or six months. If you want full synthetic the dealer will charge extra for it. You can use Mobil 1 any time, but yer throwing away good oil if you change it at 2000mi.
2.) I would use 0W-20 (conventional or synthetic).
3.) My dealer has a good service department, all the assholes are in the sales department. Check the BBB or TW members in your area.
4.) NAPA Gold or Toyota brand are both good filters.
5.) Go to bobistheoilguy.com

 

i switched over to synthetic at 2500 miles and changed it again at 5K, ever since that i just did the regular 5k intervals.

 

Well that's kinda why I asked because I didn't want to get rid of perfectly good oil, but as I said I have no idea how long the truck has been sitting on the dealer lot, and now by the time I have 2000 miles on it it will likely be at the 3 month+ mark (just the time I've owned it) since I only have put 950 miles on it in the first 6 weeks and am driving the truck less and less all the time. In other words I figured it may already be well due to change just based on how long it's been in the engine.

Due to health issues it's been probably atleast 10 years since I've changed my own oil and I won't be able to do it now for the same reason, I sure wish I could for the same reason you guys like to (I know I would do a good job).

I do want to thank you guys for all the help and I will check out that link also, thanks!

I'm unable to sit at the PC as much as I would like but I was doing a little late night research here on the forum and I was also wondering about that oil capacity fiasco. Did we ever get any closure on that? I'm speaking of the one where either the manual is wrong, or the dipstick is wrong. It's funny too because I checked my oil the first night I brought the truck home from the dealer and mine read well above full on the dipstick as many others have reported. Was good to find out that it may not be overfilled as I originally thought..

Eric

 

Sounds like a lot of you are wasting a whole lot of money changing synthetic at 5,000 miles. The entire point of a synthetic is how much longer it take sto break down compared to Dino oil.

The specified oil change interval for Mercedes autos with Mobil 1 is as determined by the car's computer based on how the vehicle is driven. Your oil change light may not come on for 15,000 miles or more depending on how your driving habits are. The computer control gets the synthetic changed before it starts to break down. Their engines are a whole lot more expensive than anything in a Taco.

If you are changing your oil within 3-5,000 miles modern Dino oil has not yet started to break down. You are getting no real improvement in lubrication with a synthetic but are spending a lot of extra dollars.

I have my oil changed with Dino 10-30 (I live in Florida where it is always hot) every 3500 miles. The oil is still slick when I change it that often and has not broken down. I don't build up any noticable sludge.

Using this method I have driven several vehicles over 200,000 miles without a single oil-related probelm. I plan on taking my '09 to 250,000 miles or so before trading it and have full confidence the engine will be in great shape when I gett there.

Without a single drop of synthetic.

 

I got my 2010 4 cyl back in April. At that time they gave me a Prepaid Maintenance plain for two years ( promo). It covered oil changes, but not Synthetic which I wanted. So the service department called theToyota main office to see what could be done. Toyota said they would allow $40.00 towards the Mobil oil change. Worked out good for me. Dealer charges $80.00 for the oil change ( High) ,less the $40.00. Means I only pay $40.00 for the Mobil 1 oil change. Way less then If I did it myself. They did the oil change the right way. So I'll let them do it for the next two years. Then I'll be back under the truck.

 

I'm old fashioned. Even if you're not going to drive it a whole lot, I'd still change the oil at least 3 times, maybe 4, times a year. Regardless of oil quality.

It's true, oil will not technically break down. The additives in the oil will however and then sludge the oil. Change the oil.

Don't be so fixated on a brand of oil either, like Mobil 1. As long as the API logo is on the oil container, you're good.

I'd stay with Full Syn. Wonderful stuff.

 

That's great to hear and exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully my dealer will do the same for me. The other thing I was looking for was at which point most people were switching over to the full synthetic. From the info I have found on this site sounds like opinion varies from "you can use it from day 1 just like Porche" to "I wouldn't switch till after the 2 years of free dino changes that come with the truck". Sounds like a lot of people think that needing to use conventional oil for the first few oil changes is now dated information.

I'm starting to think that 50 people have 50 different ideas on this type of question and there is no one true answer. It has been interesting and helpful to read the various replies though and again I thank you all.

I'm going to call my dealer in the next day or two and see what they say about allowing me to use my 2 yr free service plan with an additional charge for synthetic and what they have on hand or what they usually do. We don't have a land line phone and our cells get terrible reception inside our apartment or I would have called before now. Just never seem to think of it the few times I escape the apartment per week.

If they want to be difficult I may just use their free 2 yr plan with the conventional oil and switch over to synthetic after the plan ends. Just seems to me like it would make more sense to use it from the get-go if you were going to keep it long term. Even if they charge me $40 more for the oil change, I paid a helluvalot more for my truck (hell, even the WT floor mats lol). I will not go through that many oil changes per year anyway.

I'm 41 and back as far before my first car my dad and I always religiously changed the oil & filter every 3 months or 3,000 miles whichever came first and never had a problem in any of the 25 or so cars/trucks we had through most of those years. However, I will say again and it's no small point that I am now disabled and can't do it myself anymore and have no desire to run 80 mile round trips to the dealer and sit around there waiting for them and stressing about which numbnutz is messing with my truck. At the price of gas now it would be more cost effective for me to go to full synthetic if it would stretch out the time interval between changes. I'm not going many miles likely well less than 8-10k per year so if synthetic can sit in your engine for say 6 months (and I have not researched that it can or cannot yet) then I might only need 2 changes a year and could care less what it cost. It ain't costing as much adding this second car payment and the fact our insurance doubled because of this new truck LOL. Synthetic oil is cheap in comparison. If it truly will help the longevity of the engine (and I guess opinion varies on that too) we are looking to keep this truck forever and just get a new car every 3 years. So I do care more about this truck because I know I'm more/less stuck with it for life. Given my current health situation that may not be as long as it sounds, but one day at a time

 

I'm glad Old Dog was able to provide the clue you needed.

If you're partial to Mobil 1, and use Mobil 1 filters, twice each year at 5,000 mile intervals sounds about right, once you exhaust your maintenance coupons at the dealer.

I'm an AMSOIL fanatic. Like you, my truck only accumulates 9- or 10,000 miles each year. Being truly lazy, I've installed a remote filter that's huge so I only drain the crankcase once each year. I could go further with oil analysis but I've got a thirty-year habit of swapping the oil and filter once each year.

So it goes!