Yep, did the Toyota care 1x...idiots tightened the oil filter housing so tight, I had to use a breaker bar to remove it. Of course, housing cracked, but I was prepared from what I read here.

I put aluminum housings on both of mine at their first oil change with I did at 2000 miles.

IMHO Aluminum filter housing in contact with aluminum cylinder block may be not best as many people over-torqued housing, and eventually thread in block may be compromised. broken plastic housing cheaper to replace than block.

Oil filter housing does not thread directly into the engine block. It threads into an oil filter bracket, which is replaceable. The part number for my vehicle is 15671-31040. Camelback Toyota sells it for $107. Amazon sells it for $97.

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If you manage to strip the aluminum housing, you shouldn't be trusted with changing your own oil.

OK, well it comes to us in Toyota branded packaging. I am fully aware of who makes the oil. Just saying that is what we are required to use when we perform a Toyota Care service.

I think we all know that.

"Rebranded" What is the original "brand"?

"Low end"? Says who? Just what are those "ends" you speak of?

"Mobil oil"? Which one?

It sounds like you believe ExxonMobil is slapping a different label on their cheapest "synthetic" retail motor oil. Given that nobody has identified an available motor oil with the same composition, it is much more likely that Toyota outsourced their motor oil production to one of the biggest producers of synthetics, and spec'd a unique product. That's more like "custom" or "tailor-made" than "rebranded."

Respectfully, how would you (or any of us, for that matter) know what a nice additive package is? What are your qualifications to determine what is nice, better, or worse? I did well in the usual subjects (O-chem, physics, calculus), but that just helps me be literate in reading the pros' work. It does not put me in a position to advise them on their work.

Do they offer measurable operating benefit to the consumer? What data do you have that Toyota Genuine Motor Oil 0w-20 does not protect adequately for the realistic life of our cars? 300,000 miles or more? If an oil was twice as good in whatever specs bandied about on BITOG, but offered no measurable difference to the consumer, except a slimmer, low-drag pocketbook, how is that "superior"?

Somewhere, not on this forum, in the far reaches of Hell traffic of the bay area, is the fourth owner of a fifth generation with 240,000 miles on it who inherited from an aunt who got it from her brother who got it from his dad who doesn’t remember when was the last time they had the oil changed at Shitty Lube and it still is running fine.

Every dealer service bay I’ve ever seen pulls their oil from a 500 plus gallon drum of who knows what brand oil. I’ve yet to see a dealer use oil out of a Toyota branded bottle. It’s just whatever bulk oil they get. Maybe the dealer you work for is different, who knows.

Yeah they contract with a local distributor. You can usually tell from signage around the shop or the windshield sticker or even on their website. I would expect these distributors can also supply TGMO.

Flyers Energy Dist has taken over around here
Mobil Lubricants - Mobil Oil Products Distributor

Here’s what my local dealer’s webpage looks like.

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Well surely they must have changed the factory fill at 1000 miles, then the next one at 3000 miles, and the next at 5000 miles, and so on, otherwise the engine would have exploded by now.

That’s why the fifth owner is now doing a $35 UOA to monitor the “wear metals” and oil chemistry every 5000 miles.

We definitely have bulk oil, it is pumped through overhead reels and we have multiple grades available. However, for Toyota Care vehicles we have to use bottled "Toyota" oil.
I don't think it's any better than the bulk stuff we get from the local Mobil supplier but that is what we have to use per Toyota.

Did 5000k+ miles in 13 days out west wheeling and back to Florida and dialed in a Fantastic report. Had low octane gas for about 1300 miles and the engine ran poorly but it didn’t have any negative affects. I must say this report really surprised me; bad gas, a vicious head wind and loaded down with gear at elevation put some severe duty on the engine and transmission but all is good under the hood.

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What octane was used to make engine ran poorly?