Thanks! I'm not sure they can require you to go to the dealer for oil changes to validate your warranty... Just
Save your receipts and keep records!

I don't know the law though- anyone know for sure?

Tell you what ANTMAN, if you fly out to Vegas I'll put you and your misses up at my place for a long weekend if you do my oil change for me.

Great post and even your pictures were good too WTF!

In the US, the Magnuson-Moss Act protects us from the misuse of warranty representation. A dealer can not require you to have any work performed specifically with them in order to retain you warranty. You don't even need specific documentation to say you've done your own oil change. It is, however, highly recommended.

If a "certified" technician that works at a "certified" dealer and owns a Toyota does not have to have his oil change done at the dealer. He is perfectly capable and can do it himself. He should probably keep the receipts of everything he's done just to protect himself.

In reality, Toyota would need to prove that you did not change your oil at the required intervals. They would need to prove that the lift kit that was installed directly affected your A/C system that is now not working. They would need to prove that the GOBI roof rack made your oil pan leak, etc.

At the same time, dealerships can REFUSE warranty work on modified vehicles. Not because your warranty has been voided by any and all aftermarket accessories, but because they can choose who their clients are. For example, they may not want to deal with aftermarket wheels that their technicians can mess up. Or they don't want to have to climb up and down because they're afraid of scratching the fenders or aftermarket bumpers...etc. I had a local Ford dealer refuse to work on a vehicle because it was lifted 8", had 22's and sitting on 38s. It had a huge front bumper with HIDs mounted to it. It needed to have the cylinder head studs installed (Ford 6.0L). They did not want to lift the body off the frame (required to do the head studs). But another dealer locally was comfortable doing it and did. It's kind of a no shoes, no shirt, no service mentality.

With that said, I have no idea how other countries deal with warranties.

Why is this thread NOT a sticky????

I'm stuck in the house at this moment......
I know I know I know......but for brevity sake.....what's the interval you're using for oil Change? 5k, 7.5k,10k miles ???? And is there a service interval schedule list for these vehicles??? From Toyota ?

Johnny Utah posted the owners manual.......thanks man!!
And thanks a bunch to Antman. Great write up!!

Wait......10k miles for first oil change??? Was looking at OM and first says 5k miles or 6 months whichever comes first.....but first oil change at 10k ??? Is that because of "2 years free maintenance" deal ? I hope not.....I had this same kinda deal w/my BMW....free maintenance when they say so.....at 15k mile intervals......oh boy.....here it goes again.....

Just use common sense. If you're constantly in stop & go traffic, your daily commute is less than 5 miles, or you do a lot of offroading, you might benefit from a 5k mile oil change.

For most people, the 10k mile oil change will more than suffice.

THIS^^^^ Sooooooooo this,....

Secondly, thanks to the OP for the very detailed, step by step instructions. Very cool.

I've been changing my own oil in my vehicles ever since I can remember the first time my father teaching me how to do it about 30 years ago. The 4th gen Sport I had was so easy,...took me 15-20 mins to do an oil and filter change. Beautiful stuff. I love my 5th gen, but this whole oil filter element,.....holy F'ing moly. I think it just sucks. I'm not sure what benefit you get, if any at all,.....is it over engineering for the sake of over engineering? Is it engineered that way to keep you coming back to the dealer for oil changes? (I'm thinkin this is the case).

Bottomline -- I think it's just a terrible design.

I just had my first oil change done by the dealer for my 10K service a couple of weeks ago on my '11 LE. After my 2 year "free" maintenance plan is up I'll be attempting to do the oil and filter element changes myself. At that time I'll set aside at least a couple of hours to time during the day to complete it as it looks like a complete pain in the ass.

Great detailed DIY, thanks for sharing.

Looks like removing skid plate is mandatory. This makes oil change labor intensive

It seems 4th Gen are much easier when it comes to oil changes. Easy access of oil filter and spin-on sealed type oil filter.

Great write up!! Looks like this might be an excuse to purchase a Budbuilt front skid with the oil change access door. Wonder how much easier that would make things.

Thanks for the write up. Too bad it is such a cluster to change the filter. Going to dealer for my final "free" oil change tomorrow. (2nd one.)

Will also attempt to get tires balanced again and check the drive shaft thunk.

I believe it's more of an environmental impact thing. You're throwing just the actual filter medium in the landfill vs. a whole metal canister.

I am all for the canister oil filter thing, it actually makes a lot of sense by not wasting steel and reduces the cost of the filter too.

I just don't understand why they could not have made it more accessible, either by providing an easy to remove panel in the skid plate like they have for the drain plug or locating the filter up in the engine bay so it could be serviced from above.

I'm with you there. I may just be slow but it seems to take me forever to change my oil. It would have been nice to have the oil filter on top of the engine where it's easy to get to.