Bad info

Love my truck, I feel like the service department has lied to me. They say that the oil is good for 10000 miles. I have 18000 now I’ve had 2 oil changes and my oil seem dirty after service. They also told me I don’t have to change my transmission fluid ever. I disagree with everything. I think Toyota wants me to ware out my truck so I’ll buy another one. Whatever.

 

Hahahahahahahaha

 

First of all, some newer tundras are spec’d for 10k oil change intervals.

the transmission fluid...well, he’s not necessary wrong. You could probably run the truck into the ground without ever changing the transmission fluid, but it is recommended to change it around 100k miles.

also, why would they want your truck to break? If my truck broke, I don’t think I’d buy another one.

 

my 18 camry first oil change was 10K and 5K after so this is the new trend.

 

Welcome from Colorado

 

Yeah well glad to have you on the forum!! Welcome!b

 

There are many labs you can send an oil sample to that will do an analysis for you and tell you how much life is left. I change mine every 7-8k, but have run to 10k and was told I could easily push that out to 15k. The synthetic oils nowadays are very good.

 

This. No need to wonder. I plan on using synthetic oil, a TRD pro filter (or equivalent) and send in a sample at 8k miles. Just because oil is dirty looking doesn’t mean it’s no good and not doing it’s job. Coloration does not tell you the story, unless it’s signs of moisture, coolant, fuels, etc.

 

You're probably right, the people I know who run out and buy the same brand that fails are "big 3" owners......over and over again!

 

Welcome from NY.

Maybe they didn't change the oil filter and that's why it's dirty.
Some mechanics don't like removing the skid plate. My first oil change they didn't! Then it was all changed again with a filter and fresh oil.

 

Welcome from TEXAS

 

RTFM.

 

Welcome from Ohio.

 

I was thinking they may not have changed the filter too. 10 k seems to me to be too long, I wrenched on automobiles for years, it was always 3k on oil. Now it’s 5 to 6. And Toyota says 10. Oils have come a long way. However I’m gonna do it a little sooner. Thanks for all the reply’s. Great truck a real 4x4 , got some mountain pin striping already. Really handles the off road and hills with no problem. I have a 2019 limited T R D I’m in love with him.

 

@MikeyO another thing to consider is whether or not your truck is FFV. If not FFV, maintenance schedule recommends every 10,000. If FFV, it recommends every 5,000. A LOT of dealerships don't know that FFV has a 5,000 mi interval. Mine didn't. I had to "teach" them.

 

Yeah, my truck is regular unleaded gas. They told me about some vehicles having a different kind of fuel needing sooner oil changes.

 

Flex fuel.

welcome from SoCal!

 

Oops. Double post.

 

Welcome! I wouldn’t worry about the oil changes. If you want to know whether it needs more frequent changes, change it out at 7500 miles the first time and send the sample to Blackstone for an analysis. The famous million mile Tundra (oil field delivery vehicle) followed the 10K interval and used only Toyota oil and filters and the engine internals were still great when the engineers took the motor apart and inspected the components.

 

I change mine every 6 to 8 months. Honestly I drive so little it would be 3 years before I hit 15,000 miles so I do it based on time not mileage. After the next oil change I’ll probably send a sample off just for giggles and curiosity.

 

I like the way you try to have your truck services more than it needed. I am sure your truck will hit 300k-400k miles easily. I used to use mobil1 synthetic extended life which is good for 15,000 miles and I changed out the oil every 10,000 miles. Recently, I am using mobil1 ultimate full synthetic which is good for 1 year or 20,000 miles and I do oil change every 15,000 miles. All my vehicles never had any problems with the oil, few of them are over 200,000 miles and I sell them but engines are still running like new. If your dealer are is using synthetic oil, you only need to change the oil every 10,000 miles. I still remember I used do oil change every 3,000 miles.

 

Our 4 runner only gets driven about 6,000ish miles a year. The dealer recommended (and the manual confirms) to change it out at 12 months. I’ve been following that schedule. Will be interested to see your analysis. I never think much about it - but it’ll be reassuring to see yours come back fine.

 

Time does almost nothing to new synthetic oils, it's all about mileage/run time. I do less than 1k miles in one of my vehicles and I sent oil samples at 1 and 2 year increments and am now doing 3 year oil changes because that's when I hit the 3,000 mile oil change interval.

 

I believe the biggest problem with not putting a lot of miles on a vehicle is the runs that are too short to bring the engine up to full heat, short cold runs will allow crankcase gasses to become acidic and I've seen crankshafts were the journals were gray from bearing deposits on them, kind of like electro plating. I always strive to get the engine up to running temps even if I travel just a short distance.

 

I changed my oil at 1.5k after breaking it in. I have free oil charges up to 24k. I am going tol still do 5k intervals. Fill and drain alternating dealer oil change.

I have a top sider oil extractor, I do not have to crawl under the truck to drain the oil. I'll let the dealer take care of the oil filter replacement.

My transmission on my 05 was the first gen without a dip stick. They did say it does not have to be serviced. I only tapped it off when I developed a leak at the rear seal due to center carrier bearing failure after 200k if I remember correctly. I had 255/265k when I traded it in.

 

welcome from So Cal