3500km On The Clock..time For An Oil Change?

[Lashie]

..so there's plenty of opinions out there..and reading the posting about VVTi and V-Tec motors makes me want to err on the side of caution..

..is it worth getting an oil and filter change even though its only done 3500 km and is less than a month old ? There's a suggestion to do so in the log book...just because its a new motor and someone may have dropped peanuts in the sump by mistake at the factory (check the other story on the forum)..

..seems that lovely clean oil is what keeps all the fiddly bits on the VVTi happy...mind you the colour of the oil is still very clear and nothing like what my old Fiat Uno used to run on....

regards

David

[Bosnjo]

Mine has 8600 km now. I was wondering about the same question and after a lot of thinking, just gave up. I couldn't find out what Toyota puts in the new engine, but many of top manufacturers put special type of oil in new engines, that helps all engine parts to fit right in first +/- 10.000 km. So, if Toyota does the same thing, you will do great mistake changing the oil. I've decided to live mine, as they say, up to 15.000km. Before I've always owned VW cars and been told that VW doesn't let changing the oil before first 15.000 km, just because of reason mentioned above.

Now, it's up to you.

[Avensis wagon]

I would do it -- did with my present Toyota and the last new one which drove well until I changed car at 70,000 km, so at least it didn't mean instant death. It's recommended between the first 1,000 and 3,000 km, so Toyota seems to think sooner rather than later.

I'm told the oil in the new car contains cleaning agents and it's maybe not as good in some respects as the normal oil that follows. At least that's the way Toyota pitched it, so I follow their recommendation for their car. It's good to give the engine a good clean, little metal bits creating hotspots and all, and get rid. I have a paranoia about waiting 15,000 km with that in my engine. Besides, this first minor service thrown in when I bought the car, so it only cost me time.

The engine's just starting to loosen up nicely at 4,000 km.

[Lashie]

....rang Toyota in UK and they said don't bother...that's a complete first, I garage turning down work...

...these things were so much easier when I had 15 year old car...the more work you did on it the happier it was.... :D

..I'll take it down the south coast this weekend and mull over it a bit, what a fuss!

[Black Knight]

Bosnjo, It's just regular Texaco 5W30 oil

[silverarrow]

better to change at 5000 miles and use sj spec at 5w 30 need this spec to stop tappet wear also use semi synth for first 2 or 3 changes then when a little wear on the block use fully synth

what matters more is the number of cold starts and also keeping the oil level to the max and do not over fill this does a lot of harm to oil seals and cats

garages like too much oil in that things break and need to be fixed

[Black Knight]

Would only cause damage if you overfilled it by many litres though. Don't worry about a few milimetres over on the dipstick

[silverarrow]

i am aware of a warranty company that refused to deal with a blown rear oil seal as they said the oil was too high ie above maxi by 7 mm in the end toyota had to pay because on the invoice it stated the number of litres they had put in and also the old invoices stated the same ie always been over filled typical

we pay more to do damage ie engine and cat

i would advice keep to maximum and use good spec oil ie sj or sh the make does not matter just the spec afaik toyota advise 5w30 which at £12.00 for 5 litres of semi syn is good value a lot cheaper than main agents

[Black Knight]

On a ZZ engine 7mm over max causing a problem is absolute nonsense. Sounds like the warranty company trying to weasel out of a claim to me