Service Department won't follow Toyota's maintenance schedule

10k because full synthetic oil -they use synthetic oil most their product now. so its 10k oil change interval
5k convention oil

 

I took my 2019 in for a Toyotacare visit @ 6 months. They (say they) inspected everything and rotated the tires. When it came for my 1 year visit, and was up for an oil change, I couldn't do it. I'd had enough bad experiences with kids at Toyota dealerships working on my Tacoma in the past. I took it to a trusted mechanic who is 3 doors down from my workplace. I dropped it off on my way to work, walked in to the office, then walked back to pick it up. For a $50 labor charge on top of the price of the oil & filter, knowing it was done right, and didn't have to drive to the dealer and wait several hours, why would I get the "free" Toyotacare? It might be free moneywise, but costs in other ways, especially in peace of mind.

I personally am not interested in doing it myself anymore.

 

I maybe wrong but I believe it has to due with the maintenance section in your headunit (assuming the 2020 didn't change much inside the headunit). Can you find a screen like this?
You can set milage & dates to "remind" you. If one of ours goes off early; I just extend the milage or date to match the needed service.
Let us know what you find!
Thanks,
Ryan.

 

Thanks for the reminder. The 2020 has a different system, and I have a Limited which might mean additional differences. (eg it shows me the PSI in real time in each tire plus the spare) but I imagine there are similar controls in there somewhere. I've meant to poke around in it and see what I find. Will then post an update if any of it might be helpful.

I don't mind getting a reminder at 5K since I'll want whatever Toyota is willing to do then for free, and let them reset it. But after that I can keep track myself and will want to know how to turn off or reset the reminders myself.

 

I hear ya. In my case my dealer will pick up my truck from my house then bring it back when they're done. So I don't have to waste hours at the dealer etc. Or risk getting COVID there lol. But I have a good local mechanic that I'll turn to for things I can't or don't want to do myself, once the free services end. Espec so once I'm out of warranty.

 

@scottalot I'm bitching that you haven't mod the 4Runner more

 

Would 5000 mile interval be better suited to you? If yes, I would reset the service reminder, get the oil changed somewhere else and pay for it, Toyota oil is Mobil 1 Synthetic, grease to the prop. shaft consists of 6 grease fittings, you can do this in about 5 mins. ( I just did it on mine with 2000 miles on it) if you don't have a grease gun, invest! Buy a couple tubes of good quality grease and now your set for a couple of years. If you don't retorque or check the body mount bolts etc., have the place that does your oil change check them... I don't know the torque spec., but I bet someone on here does. As far as your dealership is concerned; they could be a little more informing, they seem to think they hold all the cards.. but they don't. If you want to avoid this type of conflict I would suggest getting it changed and let them do another at 10,000, then you would be on the 5,000 interval!

 

Bitch please

ive been modding the house instead as well as the kids stuff

 

Bitch that's overlanding for the mall crawlers

 

When I purchased new my 2010 FJ Cruiser, I believe that was the first year they started using the 0W20 synthetic oil with that engine. In fact, it was a bit difficult to find this oil aftermarket for the first 6 months. I had to purchase the oil from the Dealership. Maybe I was just looking in the wrong places LOL. But I remember the Service Manager told me my "Maintenance Required" light would come on every 5,000 miles, even though I only needed the oil changed every 10,000 (except for lots of towing and/or other hard driving conditions). He also mentioned that during 2010 some of the other Toyota Models still required standard oil changes every 5,000.

Hey 4Runner fun: The "white" TRD Off Road lettering looks really good against the black body paint. Did that come that way ?

Rick

 

Guilty as charged

 

The manual still recommends 5K for severe use, IE towing, off-roading, driving fast.. I do mine every 5K with tire rotations.

 

that's weird. our dealership here follows the schedule, AND threw in two extra services for free. kinda funny since the sales side of the dealership blows dead bears and we refuse to buy there.

 

they threw in service does not mean they change oil. Unless, they specifiy 2 oil chagne for free

 

Doing oil change /tire rotation is simple and You know its done properly
Unless physically unable to do it I see no reason to chance a dealer shit service vs a diy

 

Update: So I did finally poke around in my infotainment system. I see that I can set myself maintenance reminders. But I did not see any way to prevent the truck from displaying "Oil Maintenance Required" every 5K miles, whether I need an oil change or not. There didn't seem to be an option for changing either the frequency or content of that message.

Nor did I see a way to reset this reminder should I decide to do the service myself. That's what I'll be most interested in doing. I don't mind seeing "Oil Maintenance Required" every 5k miles, now that I understand it's really just a poorly worded idiot light that goes off every 5K miles no matter what.

SM

 

I am glad you found that maintenance section in the infotainment system.
Unless it changed from 2019 (I know new unit) you should be able to set everything from the date you wanted to be reminded to the milage you want also.
I had our oil light to go off right before winter so I could prepare it for winter. We are still under 9k miles & I did the first @ 5k. I just set the reminder for December 1st & gave myself another 2k miles & the dummy light went away.
You might want to consult your manual (I know!). Lol
Ryan.

 

"Manual"? What is this "Manual" of which you speak?

 

Can't believe no one else has pointed out the obvious here...

"Oil Maintenance Required" : Well, checking the oil would be considered "oil maintenance", no? Isn't that something they would do (and is prescribed under the official documentation) at the 5K service, regardless of actually changing the oil? A reminder stating "Oil Maintenance Required" popping up to remind me to check my oil doesn't ruffle any feathers over here...

 

Anyway, to further confuse folks, Southeast Toyota (SET), who imports all of the Toyota's in my region, basically determines how things are done around here. They're the ones that run the port, from what I understand, and are the ones who port-install accessories as add-on's that are then highly marked up by the dealer. One of the add-on's they offer is *additional* maintenance plans. So my 4Runner actually comes with 4 free oil changes.. two from Toyota and two from Southeast Toyota.

It definitely isn't simple, and these service plans definitely weren't put into place to help consumers, but rather earn more profits. All the Sheeple love Toyota and BMW because they "require no out of pocket maintenance!"; and Toyota loves all of you that don't use what you (already) paid for.

The next dealership negotiating tactic will be "OK OK so take off that free maintenance crap that I don't need and knock off another couple hundred dollars.." We can dream, right?

 

No because Oil Maintenance doesn't necessarily mean change the oil. I interpret it as check the damn oil. Which you should do more frequently but some don't bother checking between fill ups and when they finally check they are low (sometimes).

 

I just did this for my 5k service. Glad I did it myself. It’s kinda a pain in the ass to get those dowels to sit just right and I can see how some idiot tech in a rush would strip it out like many have indicated here.

 

you guys use oil extractor? I use it 2 years till now . Quick , less messy.

 

This is not specific to a 2020 so it could be different now, but this is how you reset the maintenance light for years and years across different Toyota models.

to reset the maintenance light, turn the car to accessory mode. once you're in accessory mode, use the odometer button to go to trip a. once trip a is selected, turn the vehicle off and hold down the odometer button while you turn the car to accessory mode. this will reset the maintenance data.

 

Same for my '19. It should say "resetting maintenance data" or something like that.

 

Why haven't I ever seen this message? All messages we have gotten (including wiper blades, were because I thought they were a 6-8 month items) were due to my settings in the infotainment system. If you don't set your reminders in the infotainment does it default to this?
I honestly did read the manual front to back upon delivery as I have to maintain and keep our new purchase in top shape in every way. This vehicle should last us 20 yrs if needed. I do all the routine maintenance... F Toyota care. I will eat the cost. Try a synthetic oil change on a 6.0 powerstroke that has 15 quarts of oil & a $30 filter. The 4Runner is cheap! Lol

 

This message only appears after you've reset the maintenance reminder and it's only there for a couple of seconds as things re-set.

 

It says that in the multi function display in the gauge cluster when you do the reset procedure.

I've never seen anything about wipers, though.

I agree about doing your own maintenance. It's not bad. If I didn't have a good place to work on it, I would probably use the dealer though.

 

What is an oil extractor?