Who Actually Follows 10,000 mile oil change schedule?

[BlacknTan]

I am a senior machinery engineer for ExxonMobil, we have oil systems that are under tremendous stress and we never change the oil unless the quarterly analysis says we have an issue...

BUT that is not how I run my stuff...in 1990 I was at one of our labs when a BMW engine that had 1 million miles with Mobil1 was disassembled and it was within original tolerance. If I am not mistaken, the oil change interval was above 10,000 miles.

I am a firm believer in Mobil1, the best oil made period. I am going to change the oil in my 2015 TP every 5000 miles like I do in all of my vehicles with the exception of my 1996 T100, I go 10,000 with it, as it is a my daily commuter. When I jump on the interstate, I drive 30 miles before I hit the first traffic light, so it is well warmed and basically all highway driving.

So my plan is at every 5000 miles, Mobil1 0W20, Toyota OEM filter, crush gasket on the oil drain plug. My truck is 2 months old and has 1500 miles on it. Air filter will be changed with the oil along with the cabin filter. I know it sounds excessive, overly excessive, but this is minor money compared to the investment.

77

I've used Mobil 1, in it's various iterations, in all my vehicles since 1988. I've been a huge believer in it's performance, but I have no empirical data to back that up, because I've never torn one of these engines down to check specs. The engines could have gone forever, unfortunately the bodies in the infamous Northeast, not so much!
Buuuut, I will be dumping the original oil in the 4R at 3K (+ or -) and then going to a 7500 or 10,000 mile interval, really haven't decided yet, using the Toyota Synthetic, like the factory fill.

 

[1engineer]

I've used Mobil 1, in it's various iterations, in all my vehicles since 1988. I've been a huge believer in it's performance, but I have no empirical data to back that up, because I've never torn one of these engines down to check specs. The engines could have gone forever, unfortunately the bodies in the infamous Northeast, not so much!
Buuuut, I will be dumping the original oil in the 4R at 3K (+ or -) and then going to a 7500 or 10,000 mile interval, really haven't decided yet, using the Toyota Synthetic, like the factory fill.

That's not the original oil. It was run, drained, flushed and refilled before it ever left Japan.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Just wondering in the 5th gen did they do away with the dual schedule for highway vs offroad?

I think it falls more under severe duty schedule.

If you drive off road in dusty conditions, do lots of short trips or idle for extended periods of time (think cop car or taxi or Boston/LA/NYC commuter) I think you can safely say you are severe duty.

I buy my vehicles to keep them, I take very, very good care of them and want them around for the long haul so realistically I am more than willing to error on the side of caution where maintenance is concerned.

 

[willbgood]

I think it falls more under severe duty schedule.

If you drive off road in dusty conditions, do lots of short trips or idle for extended periods of time (think cop car or taxi or Boston/LA/NYC commuter) I think you can safely say you are severe duty.

I buy my vehicles to keep them, I take very, very good care of them and want them around for the long haul so realistically I am more than willing to error on the side of caution where maintenance is concerned.

I tend to err on the side of caution as well. Back in the day, the rule of thumb with any toy was change the oil, and it will run nearly forever. By mid 80's we had 70 toys with mileage that was on heard of in most cars of the period. It did not matter if they leaked oil, because we changed it so much it could not get low.

The third Gens have a sever duty schedule, and I always to this to mean dirt road driving. Oil is cheap, so I change when I am doing a lot of dirt, or know that I am getting dirty gas. But I also think with the new syns, 7500 to 10,000 miles of highway driving is reasonable.

But even if they don't call for in the 5th gen, I personally would still do 3000 mile changes if I was running in the desert sand. Oil is Cheap...

By the way I was stunned to find out my new ford engine was pre-broke in and the first oil is on ford at 5000 miles...

 

[sleazy_4runner]

I plan to do my oil changes every 5k.. I only have 6xx now. I know i get 2 free the dealer told me i can use them earlier if i wanted too.

 

[Rock_Rat]

10000 miles Mobil 1 and an OEM filter. I let the dealer do it. It's worth it to me. 320k and still going strong.

 

[Jeremy556]

TL/DR. I would fall in the extreme duty scenario of the manual, but I still do 10K oil changes. Will do the 130K change in the next week or two.

ETA: I sent a sample to Blackstone on oil change #10 or #11 when I was doing a bunch of other stuff - coolant flush, ATF replacement, etc. and they said all was well, keep doing what you're doing.

 

[willbgood]

10000 miles Mobil 1 and an OEM filter. I let the dealer do it. It's worth it to me. 320k and still going strong.

Just wondering, why don't you use the mobile 1 filter? Back in the day it was OEM for sure as they had the best filter on the market. I still use them in my sons first and second gen, mostly out of habit, but mobile 1 in my third. Mobile 1 was recommended to me for my 3rd gen by a Toyota mechanic. Is there something I don't know?

 

[Jeremy556]

Just wondering, why don't you use the mobile 1 filter? Back in the day it was OEM for sure as they had the best filter on the market. I still use them in my sons first and second gen, mostly out of habit, but mobile 1 in my third. Mobile 1 was recommended to me for my 3rd gen by a Toyota mechanic. Is there something I don't know?

OEM filters are very cheap, no compelling reason to use anything else. On the 5th gen, oil changes are a PITA, regardless.

 

[willbgood]

OEM filters are very cheap, no compelling reason to use anything else. On the 5th gen, oil changes are a PITA, regardless.

And they are very good, my second choice for sure...

 

[stir_fry_boy]

OEM filters are very cheap, no compelling reason to use anything else. On the 5th gen, oil changes are a PITA, regardless.

I think the 3rd gens are worse to change the oil in.

 

[77Bronc]

I am with you 100% on that. NOTHING goes into my vehicles, lawn mower, snow blower or anything unless it comes out of a gray bottle.

The Mobil1 oil filters historically have also scored at the top of the charts (Purolator also makes a very good oil filter). Fram sucks.

The only thing I do not use Mobil1 in is my 1999 Honda Foreman ATV. It is 16 years old with 150 hours and it does not shift good with Mobil1. I have even tried the Mobil1 for motor cycles. So this bike gets Honda oil, which I am told is made by Mobil (actually ExxonMobil). Everything else in the garage gets Mobil1

77

 

[77Bronc]

Just wondering, why don't you use the mobile 1 filter? Back in the day it was OEM for sure as they had the best filter on the market. I still use them in my sons first and second gen, mostly out of habit, but mobile 1 in my third. Mobile 1 was recommended to me for my 3rd gen by a Toyota mechanic. Is there something I don't know?

As strict of a Mobil1 user as I am, I have never used our filters...I have always used the OEM, never Fram or the likes...I am not sure who makes the filters for us? I need to ask our lubrication engineers this question. I will let you know what they say...

BTW, the best deal for Mobil1 is Walmart, but I am sure we all know that.

77

 

[77Bronc]

Synthetic Oil states yearly oil changes or 10k miles for us, not every 6 months. If you're not driving 10k year I'd suggest to do a yearly oil change.

My mom and dad have a two Toyotas, a 2008 Tacoma with 42,000 miles and a 2009 Corolla with 31,000 miles, dad changes the oil twice a year, I bring him jugs of oil and he does the rest.

He and I both know this is very excessive, but he enjoys doing this. He also went through 5 or 6 of the cheap oil filter sockets before I bought him a $60 one from Toyota...he is hard headed.

77

 

[Dalko43]

Toyota's recommended Oil Change Frequency

There seems to be some misinformation out there on this issue.

Note: People are of course expected to use some discretion when figuring out oil change interviews (harder driving would likely benefit from more frequent oil changes).

Toyota's Warranty and Maintenance Manual says that the oil and filter should be changed every 10k miles unless:
a) you do extensive low-speed driving or idling.
or
b) you do repeated trips of less than 5 minutes in cold weather.

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms/T-MMS-124Runner/pdf/2012_Toyota_%204Runner_WMG.pdf

Now people can argue whether or not Toyota's guidelines make sense, but that is their recommendation on the issue.

IMO, as long as you aren't driving like a maniac and/or putting the engine through its paces on a daily basis, changing the oil (synthetic) at 10k should be perfectly fine.

 

[Flighht2k]

This is an interesting read. It seems as if the Toyota filter has the most filter media square inch

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyota-oil-filter-made-in-thailand-vs-the-competition.123608/

 

[ST1FLER]

With today's oils you could go much longer than 10k miles but for $30 every 6 months why wouldn't you?

 

[willbgood]

As strict of a Mobil1 user as I am, I have never used our filters...I have always used the OEM, never Fram or the likes...I am not sure who makes the filters for us? I need to ask our lubrication engineers this question. I will let you know what they say...

BTW, the best deal for Mobil1 is Walmart, but I am sure we all know that.

77

I always check your website and then buy while you have rebates from WALMART.

I can't wait to read your report on you filters, I may go back to the OEM.

 

[Rock_Rat]

Just wondering, why don't you use the mobile 1 filter? Back in the day it was OEM for sure as they had the best filter on the market. I still use them in my sons first and second gen, mostly out of habit, but mobile 1 in my third. Mobile 1 was recommended to me for my 3rd gen by a Toyota mechanic. Is there something I don't know?

No reason to swap out OEM. Unless someone could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that another filter is far superior than OEM I'm not going to change. Plus I get a good discount at the dealer. Just swing by the parts department when the sales coupon comes in the mail. I buy my Mobil 1 at Baxter Auto because it's much cheaper for me with my company discount.

 

[willbgood]

This is an interesting read. It seems as if the Toyota filter has the most filter media square inch

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/toyota-oil-filter-made-in-thailand-vs-the-competition.123608/

Well, one cup of coffee and a good read, and now I feel like a dunderhead. Unless I see evidence to the contrary, I will begin using the OEM again after I use the 2 mobile 1's I have on the shelf.

My 94 always had OEM, and in fact, I drove 100 miles to get them and always bought 6. On my farm I did an oil change every 3 months, need it or not, because of the duty, water crossing, and an overly careful maintenance schedule. My son is driving the 94 through College in Northern NV, which includes commuting to a mine site where he is an intern.

I switched based upon my knowledge of my Harleys, and the fact that the Mobile 1 filter is better, by all accounts, then the Harley OEM...It being better for the Toyota, was clearly a bad assumption on my part.

Thanks for sharing this important information.

Oil is the life blood of any Toyota, and as someone, somewhere, noted, "the price of regular oil changes, is often the difference between 200,000 and 500,000 miles..."