Maintenance Schedule Inconsistencies and Dealer Recommendations

[Monkeymenno]

I purchased my first 4runner yesterday - a 2015 Trail in Manitoba Canada. We were running through the maintenance schedule and I was recommended oil changes every 5,000km (3000 miles) citing special operating conditions?!? My owners manual supplement recommends every 8,000km (5000 miles) and says nothing about special operating conditions affecting oil change intervals, only some additional inspections every 8000km, and changing the transmission fluid more often. The American owners manual supplement asks for 16,000km (10,000 mile) oil changes unless repeated trips of 5 miles or less are made in below freezing conditions, in which case it's back down to 8000kms or 5000 miles. We Canadians use the same 0w20 oil and really don't have an altogether different climate than Minnesota, North Dakota or Wisconsin.

I feel like Toyota Canada is trying to rip us off by not going with the same intervals, and that my dealer is just compounding the situation by making up their own schedule.

My thoughts are to follow the Toyota Canada recommended schedule through the warranty period, and depending on what oil looks like when it comes out, I may start extending the intervals until they match the American schedule.

Thoughts, comments, recommendations and similar stories are all welcome.

 

[Mooney]

Does Toyota Canada service your vehicle free for first 24k miles or 24 months?

 

[purplehippo]

That dealership is sketchy. The dealers here in Calgary follow what Toyota says with the 8k oil changes.

 

[bythehour]

Call Tony Marchant and see if he wants to do a class action against the dealership for you.

 

[Monkeymenno]

Does Toyota Canada service your vehicle free for first 24k miles or 24 months?

No free service in Canada unfortunately

Call Tony Marchant and see if he wants to do a class action against the dealership for you.

Fortunately, I haven't given them any money for service yet, so I don't really have any money to sue them for. Besides, we aren't real big on lawsuits up here. I wonder if letting Toyota Canada know my feelings might net a better response - they crack right down on dealers with any kind of poor review.

 

[1engineer]

Easy. Do EXACTLY what TOYOTA tells you to do for your warranty period. After that you can do whatever. Realistically these trucks do just fine on 10K mile oil changes. Many samples have been sent to Blackstone labs and came back with no issues at 10K intervals. Do what you want. If you care about warranty, do exactly what Toyota wants.

 

[Monkeymenno]

Easy. Do EXACTLY what TOYOTA tells you to do for your warranty period. After that you can do whatever. Realistically these trucks do just fine on 10K mile oil changes. Many samples have been sent to Blackstone labs and came back with no issues at 10K intervals. Do what you want. If you care about warranty, do exactly what Toyota wants.

I think I am right there with you, do what Toyota Canada wants me to do. The biggest frustration is why a dealer would think they know better than the people warrantying it.

 

[1engineer]

I think I am right there with you, do what Toyota Canada wants me to do. The biggest frustration is why a dealer would think they know better than the people warrantying it.

Google "upsell"

 

[JayceeP]

My maintenance schedule is 8,000km oil changes and that is what the dealer follows. I suggest you go by what Toyota Canada states for the 2015 model year.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Well, I lived in Winnipeg for four months in the winter for my job and I would most definitely consider Manitoba (at least in the winter) severe service duty.

But keep in mind that you are being given a recommended interval. To me that means you do it or have us do it, but this is what we recommend.

I remember when I was in Winnipeg many cars were just locked up and left running outside the bars on a Saturday night. That is severe service if I've ever heard it before.

 

[Monkeymenno]

Well, I lived in Winnipeg for four months in the winter for my job and I would most definitely consider Manitoba (at least in the winter) severe service duty.

But keep in mind that you are being given a recommended interval. To me that means you do it or have us do it, but this is what we recommend.

I remember when I was in Winnipeg many cars were just locked up and left running outside the bars on a Saturday night. That is severe service if I've ever heard it before.

Do you work for Toyota?

I was always told the worst thing you could do to an engine (barring running it with sand in place of oil or some other intentionally destructive thing) was start it and immediately pull something heavy up a hill in -40° weather. At least if the engines are idling they are warm and we don't have hills in Manitoba compared to Colorado.

I came from a 2007 Honda Ridgeline which had a 'Maintenance Minder' which took things like engine loading, rpms, temperatures, # of starts, etc. into consideration when coming up with oil change intervals. Prior to the maintenance minder, all Honda V6 engines had an OCI of 6000km in Canada. My average OCI in the Ridgeline was 15,500km. Not only that, but my oil always came out looking nice and clean, maybe half way to what I would consider dirty. The other thing I noticed was that summer or winter the OCI never really changed all that much, the only shorter intervals being when I towed or hauled significant weights, but I always warmed my truck up and kept the block heater plugged in under -10°C. I know it's a Honda so apples to oranges and all that.

Having spend time in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana in the winter the weather there isn't really significantly different. All that said, the American 4Runner gets nearly twice the oil change distance under normal operating conditions compared to my Canadian 4R, and my dealer is recommending 62.5% of that number. I am not saying I won't follow the Toyota Canada recommendations - I want to keep my warranty intact. I am saying it's probably overkill - inspection, testing and documentation will determine that. I am also saying the dealer is completely making up their own service recommendations and I can't see any justification for it considering the lightweight, synthetic oil used in the 4Runner engine. Really, the extra maintenance should go into suspension components in Winnipeg given the horrendous condition of the streets, but less than 1% of my miles are city driving anyway. I just feel like my dealer is scamming their clientele. And that Toyota Canada should probably take a look at some of the numbers South of the border.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Do you work for Toyota?

Nah bro. I do not.

And I am not agreeing or disagreeing with what you are saying.

I'm just saying that:

1) You Canucks that live in Winterpeg are a hardy bunch.
2) I would most definitely consider Winnipeg severe duty in the winter.

But that's just my .02. ;-)

Ultimately it's your truck and your call, but if it were me and I lived in Winnipeg and just dropped $40K on a new truck it would definitely be getting an oil change every 5K in the winter.

I also agree 100% with your undercarriage comment. I was amazed when I was up there how many 2-3 year old cars/trucks I saw that were beat to shit.

 

[TBrock]

My manual states every 10k smiles :tongue: --> 2014 SR5 Prem.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

My manual states every 10k smiles :tongue: --> 2014 SR5 Prem.

Yeah. He is in Canada (and a very cold part at that).... Different manual, different maintenance schedule.

 

[JayceeP]

Having spend time in Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana in the winter the weather there isn't really significantly different. All that said, the American 4Runner gets nearly twice the oil change distance under normal operating conditions compared to my Canadian 4R, and my dealer is recommending 62.5% of that number.

All of Canada ex Vancouver/Victoria, BC gets terrible winter weather every year. Not many Americans live in states like Montana, and the majority of their population experiences winters where it rarely snows or goes below freezing on a consistent basis for 4+ months of the year. They can probably "average" it out because much of the country is warmer, but if I lived in a northern state and knew the Canadian 4Runner calls for 8,000km oil changes, I'd be following that for sure.

 

[TBrock]

Yeah. He is in Canada (and a very cold part at that).... Different manual, different maintenance schedule.

Did not obviously think about that ..

.. and this is in the southern province!