Hello ladies and gentlemen. Quick question, does this oil look fresh for having a few hundred miles on it? Dealer just did an oil change. Level a bit high too.

I can’t say for certain, but I have seen right after doing an oil change on a customers car, the oil is clean like honey until I start the engine and it mixes in with a bit of dirty oil left inside taking away the newish color if that makes sense.

Yes.. I would say they did an oil change .... only way to get clean honey like oil is to do an engine oil flush with the old oil filter thrown on ... and then before you throw in the new clean oil replace with new oil filter . Simple... or do oil changes more frequently.. I do them every 4K or so

That's almost as dark as my oil when I change it at 5000 miles so I would say no, it does not look fresh.

I just went out and checked mine. Here's what it looks like with 742 miles on the oil (28000 miles on my T4R). It's still almost as clean as fresh oil from the bottle. For reference it is Genuine Toyota 0W-20 oil.



ETA: The dark spot at the lower left is where I wiped much of the length of the dipstick so it picked up whatever crud was on it.

It is hard to say. This is Mobil1 0w-20 after about 1,000 miles in my truck (~10,500 total miles on it).

Something else to note, is that I find it difficult to get a good oil reading after pulling the dipstick a few times. More than any other car I've had, the 4Runner seems to drag oil up into the dipstick tube and it smears on the dipstick as you put it in/out. After a few checks, it makes it hard to see where the true level is until the oil drips down out of the tube. I find my best reading is on the first or second check. After that it's kinda smeared all over the dipstick. This can cause the oil level to look higher than it really is.

To me it looks like they only added some oil....

That said, only an oil analysis will tell you if it is fresh or not...in your place I would drain a little out and send it in to be analyzed.

Oil changes are not something shops and ESPECIALLY dealerships just don’t do or “top up” there’s no point and really not much to gain to save a few dollars.. I would never say a shop didn’t do an oil change or they just “topped up” if a car comes in for service it’s literally one easily accessible drain plug for the oil ... the filter takes a little more effort but still very easy... so I would say yes.. they did your oil change.. but maybe they didn’t replace filter? Which would also not make sense? Or they didn’t drain out the oil completely and the new oil mixed making it look like that.. anyways good practise is to do them more frequently .. like 3/4 times a year instead of 2, say every 3 months ?

take it back and watch them do the oil change. They didnt change it!

That does make sense, thank you. I am hoping that is the case.


Gotcha. Thanks. The 4R has less than 5k miles on it and this was its first (and unexpected) oil change. And I just double checked, only put 100 miles on that oil in the picture.



Oh man. Thanks a ton for taking a photo for me. Very kind of you. The oil in my picture has 100 miles on it. My 4R has less than 5k miles.



Thank you for a photo. I appreciate it. Gives me another good frame of reference.

I actually checked the level after it sat overnight and noticed exactly what you are saying. First couple were relatively clean to read, but after that it was all over the place.


Thanks for the input. I hope it doesn't have to come to that. Frustrating. Thank you.


Thanks. Yeah I don't want to doubt it either, but seems dark for fresh oil. I actually got this done with less than

Unfortunately, technician areas aren't visible for customers. I assume there are liability concerns.

Thanks everyone for your input. I will bring my concerns up with my advisor when I get a chance. I was a bit curious as to the oil situation since my 4Runner only has about 5k miles on it. I was trying to get oil changes a bit more frequently from new and now I left myself wondering if it was done haha Thanks again all!

Does your receipt say that they changed the oil and filter? The normal oil change interval is 10k miles according to Toyota. If you took it in at 5k miles as part of your free ToyotaCare service then I would bet they just checked it and did not actually change it.

There's no way they drained the oil completely, changed the filter, and refilled with new oil for it to look that dirty after 100 miles.

How long have you had your 4Runner? Under the 'Free' 2 year 25k maintenance plan, they usually won't change the oil for 'Free', until you reach 1 year in service, or 10k miles.

At 5k miles and less then a year, they very likely didn't change it for 'Free'.


I note 'Free', as it's not really free. We pay for the 2 year 25k maintenance plan in the price of the vehicle.

Do you still have 4 skid plate bolts...if so, they surely didn't change the oil. Alternately, you can check the oil filter canister. If its too tight to remove, you can be sure the oil was changed.

Added: oil at 2,000 miles on engine with 70,000

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Changed oil but not filter?

It's tough to tell with oil smears on a paper towel. I'm no oil expert but when I changed my oil recently the old oil was black. As mentioned before you never get all the used oil out so they new will mix with the old and discolor pretty quickly. If you have the space to do so I would recommend you change your own oil. You know what parts are used, which manufacturer and grade of oil used, and oil level. Plus you can monitor any issues if you see any differences. Lots of videos on YouTube on how to change your oil. The only pain is having to drive a container of used oil someplace to recycle it. Good luck!