quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
There is no question that an early oil change is desirable. None. And, do it yourself. Slowly. Enjoy the process.

You make it sound like an event after which I must find a leather chair, a nice bourbon, and perhaps a cigar.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
Buy your viscosity grade, from a major oil company, and enjoy the DIY process. Keep records for your Toyota, in case a warranty claim is required.

Yessir, will do that.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
But, you're a SF member. You are special. You are different. You, sir, deserve the best for your vehicle. Change as often as you want.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
As a 4MUL8R (formulator) of lubricants

You're one of the people whose input I looked forward to when I started the discussion. Thank you for chiming in.

quote:

Originally posted by John Steed:
I would do the first oil and filter change at 1,400, (where you are now) then let the dealer change it at 5,000 assuming the latter is free under ToyotaCare. Otherwise do that yourself too.

[snip]

put anti seize compound on the bolts to keep them from rusting up.

ToyotaCare will take care of some of them in the future, for sure. Gives a chance to have a solid look underneath, by people trained to spot things I might overlook. And they won't cost me anything.
I'll do some of the changes on my own, too, for the convenience (time, mostly -- my Toyota dealer doesn't have Saturday service hours) and as P250UA5 said, the peace of mind. Thank you for pointing out the skid plate bolt / anti-seize topic.

I forgot to say that I would do some research on oil filters (BITOG, Oil Geek, Project Farm, and elsewhere) and get one that's highly recommended. Don't go cheap on the filter.

Filter cost isn't a huge thing, thankfully.
NAPA Gold is roughly 8 bucks, and even the Toyota original filter can be had for about 7.

Toyota's OEM filters are probably "ok" but I think there are better options.

I've used NAPA Gold, and now NAPA Platinum is supposed to be their best. I hear good things about Purolator Boss, so I will try those. A few extra dollars is money well spent.

I'm sure there's lots of great filters available.

oil is cheap. For new cars, I usually do a break-in oil change at 1500 miles. I used to send samples to Blackstone but decided with my short OCI's, it was fine.

I still get my oil from FCP Euro and use their return program for store credit to make oil changes much cheaper.

quote:

Originally posted by Chowser:
FCP Euro

Thank you for that mention. I'll bookmark them for future VW parts purchases.

Fram Endurance is probably be best mass-seller filter you can buy. Wire backing, silicon valve, synthetic media and now, it's good for either 25 or 30k miles.

Royal Purple or the Amsoil filter are similar.

I had an old stash of Fram Ultras that had wire backing and I used my last one. Now, I'm using the Fram Endurance. I doubt there's a better filter on the market. The micron rating is very high.

I think you meant low micron rating. Or not. One of Fram’s lower priced filters is rated 95% at 20 microns and the Endurance is 99% at 20 microns.

WIX makes a MUCH Better filter...Friends don't let friends buy Fram!

quote:

Originally posted by vthoky:
Thank you for that mention. I'll bookmark them for future VW parts purchases.

And it's not just oil. I ordered some front brake pads awhile back but didn't know BMW covered brakes at the time so I had front pads sitting around. Free maintenance finally went away and I needed front pads again. Took me 30 mins to swap them out and I asked FCP if I bought new pads, can I send the old ones back for store credit. So now I have another set of pads ready to go. Shame these pads only last 25k miles. The rears made it to 50k.

quote:

Originally posted by pbslinger:

quote:

Your drive train is under warranty for 5 years/60000 miles so why would Toyota recommend oil change intervals that might possible cause damage to the engine that would require they repair/replace on their dime??????

Because they don't care if it goes beyond 60K miles, which it probably would without any changes.

My father-in-law had a Toyota Tercel which he drove for more than 125,000 miles without an oil change. He was trying to make it die because he hated the car. He bought a pickup and passed the car down to my wife. She drove it for a few more years until the head gasket needed to be replaced.

quote:

ToyotaCare will take care of some of them in the future, for sure. Gives a chance to have a solid look underneath, by people trained to spot things I might overlook.

When I bought my 2003 Silverado new, I got 3 free oil changes included. I took it in for one mainly because I hadn't learned how to check all the other lube points yet such as T case, and diffs. When I got home I looked at the fill plugs on diffs and T case and they hadn't been touched. The crankcase had been touched and was leaking, it was finger tight. The only plug they touched they didn't tighten.

I used only one other of the free oil changes, drove home from the dealer and changed it again. I used their change as a flush.

Learn to do oil changes yourself. I guarantee you it’s going to be cheaper and faster than taking it anywhere else. Also, 100% assurance it’s done correct. Most shops, use their youngest, least experienced employees to do oil changes. I bet half of them, don’t give anMost shops, use their youngest, least experienced employees to do oil changes. I bet half of them, don’t give a crap about doing a quality job either. Oil changes are the cheapest easiest thing you can do to maintain your vehicle. Does a break-in oil change do any good? Who cares… It certainly not gonna hurt anything and you’re out may be 60 bucks and 45 minutes of your time.

If you plan on long term owning...consider an external transmission cooler. Also fluids for trans, differentials, power steering, brake system. You'd be surprised how many skip those details!

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
external transmission cooler.

Interesting! I don't tow much heavy stuff -- a pair of motorcycles at most, currently -- but that's surely a product I should learn more about.

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
Also fluids for trans, differentials, power steering, brake system. You'd be surprised how many skip those details!

Subaru dealer service departments are infamous for screwing up the transmission and front differential servicing on the manual transmission vehicles. For some reason they end up putting in automatic transmission fluid, and the front differential shares that casing. So it pretty much trashes the gearbox and differential.

And it is really simple to do the servicing at home. The owner's manual says to check the fluids at something like 30k miles, but if you do that you're most of the way to just replacing the fluids anyway.

I've had some really bad experiences with dealership mechanics over the years and don't trust them with anything I can do myself.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:

quote:

Originally posted by TRIO:
Also fluids for trans, differentials, power steering, brake system. You'd be surprised how many skip those details!

Subaru dealer service departments are infamous for screwing up the transmission and front differential servicing on the manual transmission vehicles. For some reason they end up putting in automatic transmission fluid, and the front differential shares that casing. So it pretty much trashes the gearbox and differential.

And it is really simple to do the servicing at home. The owner's manual says to check the fluids at something like 30k miles, but if you do that you're most of the way to just replacing the fluids anyway.

I've had some really bad experiences with dealership mechanics over the years and don't trust them with anything I can do myself.

I'm in the same camp. The limiting factor for me is access...For transmissions and transfer cases, I simply cannot crawl under the vehicle to access these. If only I could find a lift - that would make it easy for me to service all the compartments on my vehicle. And the few small lifts suitable for home garages I do not have confidence in to go crawling around under the vehicle. I would pay a fair sum to be able to rent a commercial lift, but no one offers this, presumably due to liability reasons.

An early break-in oil change ?

Absolutely. If my new Kawasaki V-twin lawn tractor engine needed it, why wouldn't you do it for a brand new vehicle ? Of course you should do it. Very cheap insurance for a significant purchase like a new Toyota.

Recommended interval for regular street driving:

Full Synthetic every 5k is as good as it gets. If you do that religiously your engine will last forever (if you also refresh all fluids, including the transmission, on short schedules)

Someone mentioned a Blackstone test for the oil from the first break in period drain:

Why an oil analysis on a BRAND NEW engine? Doesn't make sense as far as I know about the purposes of oil analyses. If you want to do more than one break in oil change, why mess with a Blackstone test ? Just change it early a few times and you'll be gtg. What kind of engine are we talking about ? A turbocharged Corvette ? It's a Toyota engine for goodness sake.

Letting the "Pros" do it ?

There's nothing Pro about an oil change. None, nada. The "Pros" at Dealerships aren't changing any oil at all, they're doing the high-dollar jobs that require professional experience. There's no level of experience needed for oil changes because there is no difference in the end result between doing it yourself or letting a Pro do it. The Dealership will change you for their Pro to do it, but their Pro won't be changing your oil. So why pay for it ? If the high school guy accidentally shorts your engine a whole or half quart of oil, then what ?

Hey, I'm going to twist this for a moment, now that synthetic oils have been mentioned a number of times.

Twenty years or so ago, in my old 2002, the advice about switching from "dino juice" to synthetic said that I should wait until about 30k miles before the switch. I'm not sure which type of oil is in this Toyota from the factory (dino or synthetic), but a lot of the current advice is to go ahead and go synthetic.

In my 2002, I've really liked the synthetic. An oil change is roughly twice as expensive as one with dino oil, but I only have to change half as often. (It sees light duty these days, so I don't really worry about a 6k or 7k change interval, where its original materials use the old 3k-mile "standard."). To me, that's a simple time savings, which is certainly worthwhile.

I'm totally happy to go synthetic with the new ride. I don't mind a bit. But if it's got regular oil in it from the factory, and previous advice was to wait much longer before switching, my natural questions are "why," and "what's changed?"

Yes, it's good to go in new engines. A couple reasons:

Tolerances have changed (i.e. gotten tigher) in engines. One of the reasons you're seeing 0W motor oils.

It performs better over a wider range of temperatures. It flows faster in cold weather and breaks down less in hot weather or towing. All of this results in less engine wear which helps keep those tight tolerances.

Some premium vehicles come from the factory with full synthetic. For example, Porsche vehicles are filled at the factory with Mobil 1.

---

Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.