First Oil Change at 2,200 Miles - Did I Wait Too Long?

Singleminded · Feb 6, 2023

McSpazatron said: ↑

This is the type of typical stuff you’ll see on the filter after about 1000miles. And yes, those are tiny flakes.

The filter above is from our 2018 highlander, after the first 1000 miles. I also found a fair amount of sparklies in the bottom of the filter housing. I cleaned it all out before reinstalling. The second oil change on this highlander had about half the total sparklies as the first one. After that, I have seen very few sparklies, sometimes none.

I did my first oil change on the 4runner at about 1500miles. It was much cleaner than the highlangers first change. You could probably count the total number of flakes. Very little black sludge as well. The bottom of the filter housing was pretty clean. Subsequent oil changes on the runner have have almost no flakes or sludge at all.

I recently did the first oil change on my mom’s 2022 Highlander with 2000 miles (same engine as our 2018). It was much dirtier, both with sludge, 2 to 3 times the amount of flakes, and the bottom of the filter housing required a bit of cleaning as the sludge didnt really rinse out with oil.
Click to expand...

Good post. Really points out two things that most of us should know:

1. An oil change soon after the break in period is usually a good idea.

2. If any engine doesn’t care it’s the engine in our 4Rs!

tiap · Feb 6, 2023

McSpazatron said: ↑

This is the type of typical stuff you’ll see on the filter after about 1000miles. And yes, those are tiny flakes.

The filter above is from our 2018 highlander, after the first 1000 miles. I also found a fair amount of sparklies in the bottom of the filter housing. I cleaned it all out before reinstalling. The second oil change on this highlander had about half the total sparklies as the first one. After that, I have seen very few sparklies, sometimes none.

I did my first oil change on the 4runner at about 1500miles. It was much cleaner than the highlangers first change. You could probably count the total number of flakes. Very little black sludge as well. The bottom of the filter housing was pretty clean. Subsequent oil changes on the runner have have almost no flakes or sludge at all.

I recently did the first oil change on my mom’s 2022 Highlander with 2000 miles (same engine as our 2018). It was much dirtier, both with sludge, 2 to 3 times the amount of flakes, and the bottom of the filter housing required a bit of cleaning as the sludge didnt really rinse out with oil.
Click to expand...

And this is why I do the first filter and oil at 400 or less.
Using a magnetic drain plug is also a good idea. There will be metal fuzz on it forever.
There are reasons most tranny pans have magnets in them too.

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