Oil Change Question

[ltzSupra]

Now I'm kind of skeptical about what my dealer told me when I went in at 5k for an oil change when the maintenance light came on. They told me it wasn't neccesary @ 5k because the motor has synthetic oil and they're good for 10k miles. Can anyone confirm this? My T4R isn't my everyday car so I'm not in a rush to find the answer to this. Or is the dealer trying to cheap out on a free oil change and lying?...for a 2011 Limited.

 

[Froggy]

Don't think you'll find oil and filter due at 5,000 miles under normal operating conditions. Maintenance isn't limited to oil and filter changes.

 

[Renegad44]

I believe I was told the same thing, synthetic oil change at 10k miles. Hell, I've got a long way to go, 1 month, and only 1k miles so far. :shrug:

 

[KCcarguy]

I was wondering the same thing. I know 4runners use synthetic oil which allows for greater oil-change intervals, but I still expected the first oil change to be a shorter interval.

I worry this may be a compromise between what's actually good for the vehicle, and cost-cutting/ marketing with the free maintenance Toyota now offers. I know this is an issue on the BMW forums as well. Many feel the official maintenance schedule is what's good for the bottom line, not the car long-term. The general consensus is the car will be fine using the factory maintenance schedule if you only plan on keeping it for 5-7 years and 100k miles. if you plan on keeping it longer than the average person, you may want to be more aggressive with maintenance.......what exactly that would entail on a 4runner I don't know. I think I'll pay out of pocket to have the oil changed for the first time at 5000mi, then go either 7500 or 10000 mile intervals.