View Poll Results: How often do you change your oil?
I change the oil every 3,000 miles or eariler. 308 24.33%
I change the oil every 3,000 miles or eariler.
308 24.33%
I change the oil every 5,000 miles, good balance. 685 54.11%
I change the oil every 5,000 miles, good balance.
685 54.11%
I change the oil every 7,500 miles as recommended by the manual. 164 12.95%
I change the oil every 7,500 miles as recommended by the manual.
164 12.95%
I change the oil every 10,000 to 15,000, or when ever. 92 7.27%
I change the oil every 10,000 to 15,000, or when ever.
92 7.27%
I never change the oil, it's just a communist plot. 17 1.34%
I never change the oil, it's just a communist plot.
17 1.34%
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Old 04-12-2004, 04:51 PM #31
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Interesting discussion. I have run all of my Toyota's on a 10k change schedule and I got 212,000 miles out of my 87 4Runner and so far my 1991 4x4 Extended Cab has about 132,000 without any oil related problems.

I truely believe that a good engine will not pollute the oil as quickly has a loosely/poor tolerance motor.

This is just my 2 cents. I run regular Castrol 10w-30 and change it every 10k. I don't really believe that I am risking anything with a good Toyota motor. Past history with my other vehicles has proven it to me.

I do believe that we are wasting resources with 3k changes.
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Old 06-26-2004, 10:24 AM #32
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What do you guys make of Castrols warranty that if you change your oil/filter using Castrol GTX every 4K miles they will warrant your engine agains't any lube failure for 400K miles (got to sign-up and start before you hit 35K miles on your car) If you do this with their Castrol Syntec (synthetic) they will warrant you for 600K miles. Sounds to me like Castrol thinks that 4K miles is the magic number for oil changes. What do you think???
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Old 06-26-2004, 01:28 PM #33
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Quote:
... change your oil/filter using Castrol GTX every 4K miles they will warrant your engine agains't any lube failure ...

Sounds to me like Castrol thinks that 4K miles is the magic number for oil changes. What do you think???
Nah, just sounds like a marketing gimmick to me. What does lube failure mean? With any modern oil you could go 10,000 miles between changes without any fear of the lubricant failing. 10,000 mile intervals wouldn't be good for wear on the engine but the lubricant wouldn't fail.
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Old 06-26-2004, 03:20 PM #34
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Quote:
Originally posted by Pitbull
What do you guys make of Castrols warranty that if you change your oil/filter using Castrol GTX every 4K miles they will warrant your engine agains't any lube failure for 400K miles (got to sign-up and start before you hit 35K miles on your car) If you do this with their Castrol Syntec (synthetic) they will warrant you for 600K miles. Sounds to me like Castrol thinks that 4K miles is the magic number for oil changes. What do you think???
2 things come to mind when I read that, 1 is an oil company is not gonna say 10k changes cause noone else is advertising 10k changes so they obviously want more money from the customer for as long as possible and 2, 4k on dino is fine but they did not even extend it to 6k or 8k for the syntec, so they have me believing that in order to actually offer a warranty for that many miles the oil has to be good, they aslo probably figure who is really gonna keep their vehicles for that many miles and why do they start at 35k, what if the thing never had an oil change and then you start with the castrol, you have a worn out engine holding on by a thread.

I was reading on Bob the oil guy and several people have had the Castrol GTX dino analyzed and with 6-7k on the oil it was still good but suggested it be changed soon, they had V6 Tacomas
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Old 06-26-2004, 05:10 PM #35
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Edge, I hear you. I guess the smart thing to do is let my dealer do the Castrol GTX for $28, which includes a 21 pt. inspection and top off of all fluids (covers all the warranty crap). Figure if I do it every 4K miles it will be good enough, plus the dealer charges something like $68 to do the samething with the Castrol Syntec, they must think that syntec is made of gold??? I think the GTX is about as good as the syntec, based on used oil analysis on BITOG. Plus I don't tow anything and I live in the country so it takes me 12-15 miles to get to any place I am going so no short trips or rush hour traffic. If it gets too cold out or too hot I stay at home and the 4runner stays in the garage. Dino Castrol GTX should do the trick for me, what do you think???
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Old 06-28-2004, 11:27 PM #36
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I think you will be more then fine with 4k changes, I like the Castrol GTX more then any oil I have ever used, only reason I bought Mobil Drive Clean cause they had it in BJ's and where out of Castrol so I bought 10 cases but Im slowly using it up.

In my 2000 Pathfinder with the 3.3L V6 on highway trips running 75mph I got 24-26mpg and doing 90 could get 18-20, maybe the truck was extra special but the only thing I did was change the oil and put Castrol GTX in it
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Old 06-29-2004, 12:31 AM #37
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3k Oil Changes too frequent

If you look at a couple of oil related websites, they are saying that 3k oil changes are actually more harmful - not enough time for oil to break in. 4k is getting pretty close to that.

Don't shoot me, I'm just the messenger!
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Old 06-29-2004, 06:31 PM #38
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Quote:
Originally posted by EDGE
I think you will be more then fine with 4k changes, I like the Castrol GTX more then any oil I have ever used, only reason I bought Mobil Drive Clean cause they had it in BJ's and where out of Castrol so I bought 10 cases but Im slowly using it up.

In my 2000 Pathfinder with the 3.3L V6 on highway trips running 75mph I got 24-26mpg and doing 90 could get 18-20, maybe the truck was extra special but the only thing I did was change the oil and put Castrol GTX in it
The Nissan dealer uses the Mobil drive clean, I do a 3000 mile OCI on the 350Z. I figure that since the 4.7 Toyota engine is really easy on oil per all of the UOA's on BITOG site that I will be great with the 4000 mile OCI with the 4runner. I think that Castrol GTX is one of the best dino's and the Nissan site for owners of the VQ35DE engine I have in my Z recommend Mobil drive clean for that engine.

TeryT, I've read the same thing about the 3K mile oil change on BITOG site, but it does not sound logical. I don't believe things that are not logical. JMHO
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Old 06-29-2004, 07:33 PM #39
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3k Oil Changes

Pitbull - I've actually read that on another site a while back, but forget where it was. Maybe it was citing the same study.

If synthetics don't wear out, provide a lower level of engine wear, and suspend contaminants better, why would you change it at 3K? Really seems a waste of time, money & resources.
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Old 06-29-2004, 07:42 PM #40
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Re: 3k Oil Changes

Quote:
Originally posted by TeryT
Pitbull - I've actually read that on another site a while back, but forget where it was. Maybe it was citing the same study.

If synthetics don't wear out, provide a lower level of engine wear, and suspend contaminants better, why would you change it at 3K? Really seems a waste of time, money & resources.
The Z can go to 7500 and still be within warranty, the 4runner's manual calls for 5K mile changes, so synthetic seems like a waste at that interval. So I will do 4K with the Castrol GTX. I might go to 7500 with Mobil 1 5w30 on the Z after a few more miles. The Z does not recommend synthetic but a lot of owners use it. Guess part of the 3K mile changes are lazyness on my part. Dealer only uses dino so for the Z I won't go more than 3K on dino and if I go to synthetic I have to go to the independant garage and supply them with the filter and Mobil 1 and the cost ends up being close to the same over the OCI.
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Old 06-29-2004, 08:05 PM #41
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Yeah, I see yer point if yer still in warranty phase. Once out, I would go synth - at least a blend.

Did I read on here that Toyota is using some type of special synth blend in the new 4R? Not sure if this was engine or drivetrain, or both.
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Old 06-29-2004, 10:54 PM #42
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Pitbull
What does OCI mean and what does UOA mean, I pretty sure I know what they mean from reading the site but don't know actually what they stand for, please inform me

As for the VQ, I don't know what Nissan sites you visit the VQ site you mention is that the VQpower or something like that their are tons of Nissan sites, has to be among the biggest online communities next to Mustang and Camaro sites anyways I know from the few Nissan sites I go to that most of the VQ guys favor the M1, same opinions read on this board are on those board but those VQ guys really get emotional when it come to running premium

The VQ is a solid engine and I know Nissan recommends 3750 or 7500 changes, where Toyota recommends 5000 and 7500, what makes them come up with certain numbers, Toy dealers say change every 3k but the Lex dealer says every 5k cause thats what the manual says, when I asked them why not 3k they replied with we do what the manurfacture says but at Toyota it's like asking a bunch of 1st graders their all over the place, the Nissan dealer always said 3750 so I never questioned it and just changed my oil every 5k

I have 16000 miles on the 4.7 and I think that thing is hard on oil, I need to read more on Bob the oil Guy cause right now I would say 5k with mobil drive clean is not the route to go 3k might be it's limit, I drain my oil then pour it into a t-shirt and after 5k with drive clean their was more metal particles then I wanted to see, I mean it was like bread crumbs on the bottom of the pan ( this was when I changed the oil at 15k after 5000 miles), maybe they never came out with the 1st few changes, I just changed my oil with a 1000 miles on the drive clean and their was tiny shavings am I looking to close cause these things freak me out, Im gonna see if the M1 makes big improvement on the amount of metal coming out of my engine, maybe I drive to hard, pedal to the floor and it hits redline often.

To give you an idea of the size, it would be like if you broke the tip off a pencil, but think like 20 broken tips, what is it are the cams to soft, I've seen Camaros with so much power they eat throught the cams like corn on the cob.

I've never abused my engines infact I always thought I changed the oil to often, never burned oil or blew smoke, maybe I look into things to much cause my friends never change their oil and put 100k or more on their cars no problem, maybe it's cause they don't care
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Old 06-29-2004, 11:57 PM #43
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Edge - Yer comments on the 4.7L are scaring me! I plan to tow with mine, and I don't know if I like the sound of that. Where else are people talking about the 4.7 this way? Hasn't it been in Toyota SUVs & trucks for some time now?
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Old 06-30-2004, 12:26 AM #44
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UOA - Used oil analysis OCI-Oil change interval, My Toyota owners manual states OCI at 5K miles nothing else. Where do you read 5K-7.5K? I guess a benefit of having the dealer do the oil changes is I don't freakout seeing chunks of metal in my oil. I bet your wife beats you as$ when she does your laundry and sees all that oil on your T-shirt.
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Old 06-30-2004, 12:13 PM #45
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Edge, sounds like you should get a UOA done right away. There should never be any visible particles in your oil.

The 2UZFE engine is not hard on oil. We tore one apart with 300k miles in a Tundra that was used for towing, sometimes over the factory limits. The tear dow was prompted because the pickup was totaled in an accident and we wanted to look. It was a standard engine connected to a 4speed auto and received 5k oil changes with a good 5w-30 synthetic. It was interesting to see the inside, but, now I wish we would have left it alone. We reassembled it with gaskets, and seals, no new parts, no rings, no valves, nothing. It runs great. The main and rod bearing, camshaft showed no abnormal wear.

This mileage was put on in 2 years 7 months, about half the time towing 2 to 3 thousand pounds and about a 10 percent of the towing at 6k to 6.5k pounds and more. A couple of things that may have helped are that all mileage was in California, Arizona and Nevada with monthly trips between San Diego and Houston, Texas. In other words, mostly good weather and highways speeds with short runs on dirt roads, always with one of only three drivers.

If you have read this far I will relate some more details. The cooling system had a coolant filter that filters the fluid, has a sacrafical anode and add on chemicals built in (cost $129 + three filters at $12 each). The inside of what was left of the radiator looked absolutely brand new. Next, it used Mobil 1 M1-209 filters, changed every 5k miles. Last was an Oil Guard bypass filter (cost with install $200) with changes every 10k miles at $13 each). Last the oil was changed every 10k miles (cost about 7qts (oil guard takes about 1 qt) at $700/qt- Red Line Oil). The biggest mileage miss on oil changes was less than 500 miles, none right on the button with a usual gap of 200/300 miles early or late.

None of this stuff is scientific, mostly practical application by a customer that has other expensive rolling stock.

Good records were kept and the mileage was between 14 and 18 mpg, regular gas only. The day after the accident the owner bought a new Tundra.

Sorry about all the info, but I could not let a comment pass about the 4.7 engine being tender.

As a final note, this may help with the question of regular gas or not. This truck
pulled a 6k load up Moutain Springs Grade in east San Diego County on 100+ days from sea level to almost 4k feet in less than 5 miles. No problems, just foot to the floor all the way to the top, every trip.
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