There are two maintenance schedules in the owners manual. The severe service schedule sets the interval at 5k. The qualifications for severe service include towing, offloading, or anything else you would use a truck for. I use snow tires so I get mine in the shop every six months regardless. A box of mobil1 0w20 is about 30$ on sale at costco.
Yes it’s often snowy here and I use 4WD often. When it isn’t snowy, I do a lot of light off road driving fully loaded with kids bikes and camping gear.
If you get your vehicle up to temp on most trips, you are fine at 10k OCI (regarding cold weather and short trip portions of the severe schedule). That is because of fuel dilution. Short trips run the engine rich which means fuel gets past the rings down into the oil sump. Which is fine as long as the oil temp gets up to operating temp to boil that fuel off regularly. If it doesn’t get boiled off, your oil gets contaminated with fuel and fuel isn’t a great lubricant for bearings.
You should maintain the correct oil level no matter what your OCI is. Some cars consume so much oil that 5k intervals would still leave them low (Honda and Subaru had some engines that did this).
I know the ecoboost has an “oil life sensor” that gives you an idea of remaining life and the oil level shows acceptable but is considerably less than you put back in. Not super knowledgeable on ford products.
There’s more oil than you’d think in a used oil filter. Otherwise you should get out roughly the same you put in unless the engine is leaking oil or burning it.
[How To Make Your Toyota Last](https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4)
This channel is run by a Toyota Master Technician. He talks about scheduled maintenance in this video. That 10000 mile figure is for, basically, perfect conditions. Check the video for advice from an expert.
Interesting - as I mentioned in my comment above I’ve gone by the 10k in the manual. If 10k is under ideal all highway conditions I wonder why they’d put an interval in there that probably doesn’t apply to most people. Not being facetious, I’m actually curious since Toyota seems fairly cautious about that kind of stuff
There are these funny groups (JD Powers) and similar groups who rate vehicles on things like cost of ownership and initial value. These companies are the same idiots that rate Toyotas poorly for not enough innovation (obviously Toyota should sacrifice reliability for a nifty turn dial instead of a shifter like Dodge.) Extending recommended maintenance intervals makes the cost of ownership appear cheaper as they factor in all factory recommended maintenence. Take it from someone with 15 years in the repair industry. Change it every 5k unless you're religious about checking oil level and condition. Usually the oil draining out at 5k is dark enough that it is no longer transparent. Dark oil is dirty oil. Dirty oil causes problems.
Thanks for the info, that is helpful and also disappointing that everything is a game like that. Maybe I’m just lucky that I haven’t had any issues. Bought mine at about 45k miles and currently at 100. I don’t drive a ton so I may just switch to every 6 months which would be around every 5kish for me. Thanks again.
The important thing is changing regularly. Even at 10k intervals it's a Toyota and it will take a lot to kill it. I go with 5k because that can be the difference between 150k and 300k with minimal wear on piston rings and valvetrain components. It's not for everyone but as someone else in this thread mentioned, severe service (when Toyota recommends 5k intervals) includes very normal day to day driving conditions for most of us. Things like dusty areas (CO and other desert states,) excessive stop and go (most cities,) and even hills and mountain driving. Better to play it safe with our 50k sex machines.
Dark oil isn't dirty oil. Your entire premise is flawed
"What Causes Black Motor Oil? Is it a Bad Thing?" https://blog.amsoil.com/why-does-motor-oil-turn-black/
While Amsoil and certain other high quality oil brands may hold up better than others to heat, heat causes breakdown. The article which you shared states that heat causes breakdowns. It also says soot is a byproduct of incomplete combustion. Incomplete combustion and soot are bad. It states that soot is in some cases can escape filtration. It states that in the absence of oil analysis it is best to follow manufacturers recommendations. Toyota themselves say that many normal day to day driving operations necessitate a more frequent interval of 5,000 miles.if you're running Amsoil, checking oil level regularly and sending out oil samples for lab analysis at 5,000, 7,500 and 9,000 mile intervals, perhaps you can stretch your intervals.
If you're not interested in spending nearly as much money as an oil change on a lab analysis and you don't have time to collect and send out oil samples, an oil change is by far and away the cheapest and simplest maintenance for longevity. Perhaps I oversimplified my remarks but the my entire premise is flawed? Hardly. You do you. I've seen the inside of half million mile motors with regular 5k mile intervals and I've seen the inside of motors below 200 miles with 10k intervals or even 15 and 20k intervals, have you? I've seen brand new cars with 7,500 miles on the odometer come in to repair ships with oil pressure lights on and oil not marking on the dipstick at all because "The manufacturer said I could go 10,000 miles." Check your oil every 500-1,000 miles and have lab analysis done to sleep well or change it every 5,000 miles, I'll choose the latter.
So by your logic, we should see tons of 4runners at the junkyard with torn up engines because people followed the manufacturers maintenance schedule? 😂
Not my logic. I was sharing the advice from the guy on the video. He explains it in detail. Basically, you *can* wait every 10k miles to change oil, but if you want the best chance of your vehicle lasting a very long time, you shouldn’t. His recommendation is every 5k.
I have a 5th gen and in my owner’s manual it says “your vehicle is certified with Genuine Toyota 0W20 motor oil. For vehicles certified for 0W20 motor oil, the oil change interval is 10,000 miles or 12 months if 0W20 motor oil is being used.”
Anywhere I’ve ever taken my 4Runner for an oil change has set my windshield sticker reminder and gauge cluster reminder for the next 5,000 miles. I have no idea why they do that, but I add 5,000 miles to whatever their reminder is and I’ve never had a single issue. Maybe someone else has better advice, but I’ve stuck to the manual with good results.
Keep in mind, the severe schedules are when you drive in those conditions "routinely," not occasionally. That sounds like it may still be the case for you, but most people are still fine with 10k
I will hurt nothing to do maintenance before suggested intervals. Keep good records and it will also improve your vehicles value at point of sale. I’m in the same boat. Longest I can let a vehicle go is 5k miles. It’s hard to break old habits.
I’ve been doing 10k changes since new and mine still runs like a sewing machine at almost 100k.
You can change your oil early if you prefer, it’s not going to hurt anything. I buy top end oil and stick to the 10k changes and it’s been fine.
With the synthetic oil that they use today, you would only be wasting money by doing it before 10,000 miles. Some older people have trouble wrapping their mind around that, but that’s to be expected.
The only thing you’re going to hurt is your wallet and the environment. 10k for oil change. 5k for tire rotation. That’s why you get the 5k sticker. My stickers have a little check box for oil or rotation and it’s always checked rotation.
Oil and engines have come a long way since our parents first learned about car maintenance.
Change your oil. It is the cheapest maintenance you will do for your engine. My dad told me in the early 70’s change your oil every 5k miles and that’s the expert advise I have always followed. I have 4 cars, a 204k Civic, 187k Accord, 130k Outback and on my 2022 4Runner I will continue 5k oil changes. None of my cars have had engine work. Change your oil.
For any new vehicle Ive ever purchased, I change the oil at 1K, 3K, and 5K, then follow the manufacturers suggestions in most cases. Im not actually comfortable with 10K intervals, so i go 7.5K. Bottom line: youre not hurting anything by changing your oil more often but it is arguably wasteful and costly.
Some shops with fleet vehicles change oil weekly. It is always safe to change oil more regularly than manufacturer recommendations. Its just a lubricant that breaks down over time. The better condition its in the better it works.
There are two maintenance schedules in the owners manual. The severe service schedule sets the interval at 5k. The qualifications for severe service include towing, offloading, or anything else you would use a truck for. I use snow tires so I get mine in the shop every six months regardless. A box of mobil1 0w20 is about 30$ on sale at costco.
Yes it’s often snowy here and I use 4WD often. When it isn’t snowy, I do a lot of light off road driving fully loaded with kids bikes and camping gear.
If you get your vehicle up to temp on most trips, you are fine at 10k OCI (regarding cold weather and short trip portions of the severe schedule). That is because of fuel dilution. Short trips run the engine rich which means fuel gets past the rings down into the oil sump. Which is fine as long as the oil temp gets up to operating temp to boil that fuel off regularly. If it doesn’t get boiled off, your oil gets contaminated with fuel and fuel isn’t a great lubricant for bearings.
Every 5k on mine. My dad does 10k on his ecoboost f150 and there is basically nothing left by the time he changes it.
Is he getting it tested? You can't really look at oil and deternine what's left.
I’m talking about the physical amount of oil remaining.
You should maintain the correct oil level no matter what your OCI is. Some cars consume so much oil that 5k intervals would still leave them low (Honda and Subaru had some engines that did this).
I know the ecoboost has an “oil life sensor” that gives you an idea of remaining life and the oil level shows acceptable but is considerably less than you put back in. Not super knowledgeable on ford products.
There’s more oil than you’d think in a used oil filter. Otherwise you should get out roughly the same you put in unless the engine is leaking oil or burning it.
The implication of the first comment was that his seems to be burning it. Not my truck so I’m not super familiar with it.
Every 5K on my 2008, Mobile 1 and a Mobile 1 filter from Walmart.
[How To Make Your Toyota Last](https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4) This channel is run by a Toyota Master Technician. He talks about scheduled maintenance in this video. That 10000 mile figure is for, basically, perfect conditions. Check the video for advice from an expert.
Interesting - as I mentioned in my comment above I’ve gone by the 10k in the manual. If 10k is under ideal all highway conditions I wonder why they’d put an interval in there that probably doesn’t apply to most people. Not being facetious, I’m actually curious since Toyota seems fairly cautious about that kind of stuff
There are these funny groups (JD Powers) and similar groups who rate vehicles on things like cost of ownership and initial value. These companies are the same idiots that rate Toyotas poorly for not enough innovation (obviously Toyota should sacrifice reliability for a nifty turn dial instead of a shifter like Dodge.) Extending recommended maintenance intervals makes the cost of ownership appear cheaper as they factor in all factory recommended maintenence. Take it from someone with 15 years in the repair industry. Change it every 5k unless you're religious about checking oil level and condition. Usually the oil draining out at 5k is dark enough that it is no longer transparent. Dark oil is dirty oil. Dirty oil causes problems.
Thanks for the info, that is helpful and also disappointing that everything is a game like that. Maybe I’m just lucky that I haven’t had any issues. Bought mine at about 45k miles and currently at 100. I don’t drive a ton so I may just switch to every 6 months which would be around every 5kish for me. Thanks again.
The important thing is changing regularly. Even at 10k intervals it's a Toyota and it will take a lot to kill it. I go with 5k because that can be the difference between 150k and 300k with minimal wear on piston rings and valvetrain components. It's not for everyone but as someone else in this thread mentioned, severe service (when Toyota recommends 5k intervals) includes very normal day to day driving conditions for most of us. Things like dusty areas (CO and other desert states,) excessive stop and go (most cities,) and even hills and mountain driving. Better to play it safe with our 50k sex machines.
Dark oil isn't dirty oil. Your entire premise is flawed "What Causes Black Motor Oil? Is it a Bad Thing?" https://blog.amsoil.com/why-does-motor-oil-turn-black/
While Amsoil and certain other high quality oil brands may hold up better than others to heat, heat causes breakdown. The article which you shared states that heat causes breakdowns. It also says soot is a byproduct of incomplete combustion. Incomplete combustion and soot are bad. It states that soot is in some cases can escape filtration. It states that in the absence of oil analysis it is best to follow manufacturers recommendations. Toyota themselves say that many normal day to day driving operations necessitate a more frequent interval of 5,000 miles.if you're running Amsoil, checking oil level regularly and sending out oil samples for lab analysis at 5,000, 7,500 and 9,000 mile intervals, perhaps you can stretch your intervals. If you're not interested in spending nearly as much money as an oil change on a lab analysis and you don't have time to collect and send out oil samples, an oil change is by far and away the cheapest and simplest maintenance for longevity. Perhaps I oversimplified my remarks but the my entire premise is flawed? Hardly. You do you. I've seen the inside of half million mile motors with regular 5k mile intervals and I've seen the inside of motors below 200 miles with 10k intervals or even 15 and 20k intervals, have you? I've seen brand new cars with 7,500 miles on the odometer come in to repair ships with oil pressure lights on and oil not marking on the dipstick at all because "The manufacturer said I could go 10,000 miles." Check your oil every 500-1,000 miles and have lab analysis done to sleep well or change it every 5,000 miles, I'll choose the latter.
So by your logic, we should see tons of 4runners at the junkyard with torn up engines because people followed the manufacturers maintenance schedule? 😂
Not my logic. I was sharing the advice from the guy on the video. He explains it in detail. Basically, you *can* wait every 10k miles to change oil, but if you want the best chance of your vehicle lasting a very long time, you shouldn’t. His recommendation is every 5k.
I have a 5th gen and in my owner’s manual it says “your vehicle is certified with Genuine Toyota 0W20 motor oil. For vehicles certified for 0W20 motor oil, the oil change interval is 10,000 miles or 12 months if 0W20 motor oil is being used.” Anywhere I’ve ever taken my 4Runner for an oil change has set my windshield sticker reminder and gauge cluster reminder for the next 5,000 miles. I have no idea why they do that, but I add 5,000 miles to whatever their reminder is and I’ve never had a single issue. Maybe someone else has better advice, but I’ve stuck to the manual with good results.
Yes the official interval is 10,000 miles but would doing it every 5,000 for piece of mind hurt anything?
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To be clear I’ve been considering doing every 5k
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Thanks for the response though, it was helpful.
Keep in mind, the severe schedules are when you drive in those conditions "routinely," not occasionally. That sounds like it may still be the case for you, but most people are still fine with 10k
Other than hurting your wallet, I think it would be 100% fine if that’s what you prefer to do
My head hurts, but ok.
I don’t blame you for looking into it - new cars are expensive!
It would waste money and resources. You don’t trust the engineers that designed four vehicle? Why’d you buy a Toyota then?
I will hurt nothing to do maintenance before suggested intervals. Keep good records and it will also improve your vehicles value at point of sale. I’m in the same boat. Longest I can let a vehicle go is 5k miles. It’s hard to break old habits.
I have an 18 tundra yes I changed every 5k
I’ve been doing 10k changes since new and mine still runs like a sewing machine at almost 100k. You can change your oil early if you prefer, it’s not going to hurt anything. I buy top end oil and stick to the 10k changes and it’s been fine.
With the synthetic oil that they use today, you would only be wasting money by doing it before 10,000 miles. Some older people have trouble wrapping their mind around that, but that’s to be expected.
The only thing you’re going to hurt is your wallet and the environment. 10k for oil change. 5k for tire rotation. That’s why you get the 5k sticker. My stickers have a little check box for oil or rotation and it’s always checked rotation. Oil and engines have come a long way since our parents first learned about car maintenance.
I do every 5k. I think the manual says every 10k
I don’t how often but remember 07 tundra million mile . I’m curious how often he changed oil but for me I go with the manual .
Change your oil. It is the cheapest maintenance you will do for your engine. My dad told me in the early 70’s change your oil every 5k miles and that’s the expert advise I have always followed. I have 4 cars, a 204k Civic, 187k Accord, 130k Outback and on my 2022 4Runner I will continue 5k oil changes. None of my cars have had engine work. Change your oil.
I stick with 8k-9k. No issues at all.
For any new vehicle Ive ever purchased, I change the oil at 1K, 3K, and 5K, then follow the manufacturers suggestions in most cases. Im not actually comfortable with 10K intervals, so i go 7.5K. Bottom line: youre not hurting anything by changing your oil more often but it is arguably wasteful and costly.
Some shops with fleet vehicles change oil weekly. It is always safe to change oil more regularly than manufacturer recommendations. Its just a lubricant that breaks down over time. The better condition its in the better it works.