Oil Change Interval: 5,000 miles or 10,000 miles?

The concept of deciding to err on the side of changing the oil too often rather than not often enough is perfectly understandable. I had a 2010 Tacoma TRD Sport that also had the 1GR-FE engine (single vvt version). It's manual called for 5K OCIs and that is what I did - but it also recommended 5W-30 oil that was not synthetic. I don't think 4Runners, or any other Toyota vehicle with the 1GR-FE engine, went to 10K OCIs until they changed to 0W-20 synthetic oil.

It is certainly not an argument - I'm not even sure it is really a discussion over differing points of view. I would be the first to agree that 5K OCIs would offer better protection to the engine than 10K OCIs. But "better" is subjective. Insignificantly better is better - but that better might not be worth the extra effort/cost. For some, the effort/cost is insignificant enough that they would rather follow the OCI recommendations for special operating conditions and not worry about it. Nothing wrong with that. To me the debate between 5K and 10K is not really a debate - its a choice - and the choice of either can be correct. I just tend to push back some when I see something that infers that 10K is not acceptable under any circumstances - or that Toyota knows 10K is no good but they push it because it reduces cost of ownership.

 

I split the difference and change between 7-7500k. 75/25 highway/street miles.
My friend also has a 2016 and has free oil changes for life from the dealer. 190k and 10k oil changes, everything is perfect still.

0w-20 full synthetic, cheapest filter I can find.
Zero issues.

 

That's a totally different topic. And, generally, the folks who will run premium are the same folks who are doing 3K oil changes.

 

Smell your oil.

If it smells like gas, drive on a two-hour round trip and see if it goes away.

Gas fumes (well, the gas that makes the fumes) degrade the oil. Short trips are severe driving. Engineers said 6k in worldwide literature. The EPA dictates MPG, oil use and tailpipe emissions. They make rules because the laws would never pass scrutiny.

 

AMEN! 5k here. it costs me $40 to do it with an OEM filter. Not breaking the bank and it gives me piece of mind

 

I run premium and do 5k intervals. I live at elevation and am constantly traversing mountain passes. When running premium, in my experience, there is a significant decrease in transmission gear hunting and kick down. The marginal increase in cost is worth not wanting to rip the transmission out every time I'm going up a grade.

 

Have you tried mid-grade?

I have heard of people experiencing a benefit in some circumstances. But, it usually isn't worth the cost.

Edit: I do 5K as well as it's recommended for the way I use my 4Runner.

 

Nah. The single VVT-i engine had ping issues so I ran 91 to avoid it and now run 91 in the Runner. It's 20 cents more per gallon for 91 (no 93) here in derpifornia.

 

So where are we on this train wreck? 7,500?

 

I run mid grade and my mileage per tank is about 5MPG higher vs regular sometimes…..

 

Some states use less ethonal on their higher grades and none in the top grades so you will see a MPG increase. Here in derpifornia, we get all the ethonal because climate change blah blah how dare you blah blah you stole my childhood blah blah.

 

There's a bigger jump from regular to mid-grade here. Currently it's about $0.40 more for mid-grade in my area, which is over $500/year with how much I drive.

8046.72 kilometers. Or, 16093.44 kilometers if you drive in the country.

5 MPG, just by running mid-grade?? I find that extremely difficult to believe. I'm sure there are more factors involved.

For example; I've seen a 5 MPG difference from one tank to the next (same day) just by driving differently.

 

Yup, everyone agreed!

 

Sorry, but I do NOT believe that you gain 5MPG by using Mid-Grade fuel.

 

This thread just keeps getting dumber.

 

Maybe you should try it

 

Try it

 

New there would be haters in here

 

I'm not a hater at all. Just stating that you are full of poop.

Seriously, 5MPG more by running 91 octane. Thats over 100 more miles per tankful. No way possible.

 

There are haters everywhere. Water off the duck's back, man.

 

* Other (please explain in thread)

I go by the book. It just so happened that for the first 30k, when I got free changes through ToyotaCare (or whatever its called), I was all interstate miles with no towing, short drives, or offroading. Since then, it's changed every 5k because that's the dealer maintenance schedule. Works out because now I typically do shorter drives and some offroading (when I find the time).

I've got 65k trouble free miles and have never had to take it in for warranty repair. I've also done a fair amount of modifications, mostly added weight.

Maybe I just got a good vehicle. Maybe the engine blows at 70k because I did 10k changes for the first 30k miles.

I try to take care of it per the manual and suspect it will last a long time. After nearly 14 years of being in service, if people followed the manual and were having catastrophic failures, this forum would look like the jeep forum.

I say stop worrying so much

 

I will buy 91 octane for the next year if you agree to buy for the next year when I don't get an extra 5mpg

 

my wife has put premium in my 4runner multiple times because her dipshit dad always told her it was better.

no. It doesn’t change shit.

 

I'd have to go from 16.5 avg to 21.5 avg. That's as good or better than I was getting before putting on the rack, bumper/winch, sliders, skids, lift, larger tires, etc. Just a purely bullshit, or dumbshit claim

 

If running 91 could actually improve fuel economy by 5 MPG, Toyota would have made that the recommended octane. There's no way they would have passed up on being able to advertise 21/24 MPG.

You say up to 5 MPG, sometimes. Have you done back to back tanks full of regular vs mid-grade in the same circumstances and gotten 5MPG better with mid-grade? Or, are you just comparing your worst fuel economy with regular against your best with mid-grade?

 

Mid-grade is my favorite grade of gasoline: not good enough for cars that require premium, and no benefits for cars that can run regular. Completely useless.

 

Oops per-tank……

 

Lol cmon man

 

Frankly, I’m not in a position to render an opinion based on experience with the gas mileage issue.
However, I have heard of other people saying that their gas mileage improved once they got out of California and got decent gas. But there never was a mention of how much of an improvement they had.
Now here in CALIFORNIA, the winter blend gas is out, and we can expect some decrease in mileage. Just what we don’t need with the rising gas prices.

 

And now the OCI thread morphs into MPGs.