2010 Highlander LTD - Oil Change Interval with Synthetic Oil

[mb466]

Got my first oil change yesterday with synthetic oil at 5000 miles. Service rep tells me with synthetic oil, I can go 10k miles between changes. I ask him, "Are you sure?" He checks under the hood and says yes - and mumbles soomething about 2010 engines.

Anyone else have experience with this?

[rupert08]

The MFD seems to go on at 5,000 miles regardless of oil type. I wouldn't wait until 10,000 miles but I have no problem going 7-8,000 miles. Previous cars I had would go that long until the oil light came on. I like to change my oil every 6 months, once is the spring and one of the fall. I would change to light weight oil in the winter and heavier in the summer but the Highlander use lighter weight oil all year so the oil weight is not an issue. I drive it about 12K miles per year so I only go about 6K miles per change. I only use synthetic.

I'm not expert on this subject, just sharing my experiences with you. If you are really concerned about it you can send you oil into a lab to be tested at certain internals and this would be the best why to determine the effectiveness of the oil as you use it. Maybe somebody has done with the this motor already and can share their results.

I am not aware of any differences between the 2010 motor vs. the 2008 so I have no idea what the mumble could have been.

[mb466]

Sounded fishy to me. I'm not about to go 10,000 miles w/o an oil change unless I can get a real documentation that it won't void my warranty.

[91TB78]

IT comes down to lots of things:

Driving style
Driving conditions
IF your vehicle has any defects from the factory, etc.


and the big one is what type of synthetic you use. If you go with a higher end synthentic, Group IV base stocks, etc like Amsoil, Motul, etc then you should easily run 10K miles. I wouldn't suggest doing this on a high horsepower turbocharged car or something similar, but on the HL, it shouldn't be a problem.

Another good method is to perform used oil analysis (UOA) every oil change to see if there is anyy unusual wear in your engine. If not, then there is no reason you can't extend your interval and NO, this won't void your warranty. The only way a MFG can void a warranty is if a problem happens and they can link the problem back to something the user did/didn't do. In the case of 8-10K mile oil changes the likelihood of that happening is slim.

[PhotonDreams]

I was just in the dealer today and happened to ask service guy about running Mobile 1 beyond the 5000 mile change. I once ran an engine up to 800,000 on Mobile One and it always look clean on the inside. I have no doubts about it's ability to safely go beyond the 5,000 mile change. The problem is that the service guy said you would void your warranty if you don't change the filter and oil each time you hit 5,000.

[jeffs3820]

Warranty repair will not be covered IF the failure occurred due to excessive metal wear due to lack of oil changes. The dealer has to prove that. If you have a failure in the oiled sections of the drivetrain then the dealer has a case, otherwise there is nothing to worry about.

Wear metal analysis, available from many companies such as Blackstone at http://www.blackstone-labs.com/, is the only sure way to determine if the change interval can be extended with synthetic oil. Send them oil samples from a few 5,000 oil changes as a baseline. Then extend to 7,500 or 10,000 and see if there is a difference. Then one will know for sure.

[91TB78]

Yup, jeffs ^^ is correct. No dealer can "automatically void" a warranty claim unless they can show that the owner's actions caused the failure.

Use synthetic and go longer intervals. I started at 5,000 and now at 7500, but will probably jump to 10,000

[kraky]

Before I got my highlander I had a new 2007 honda pilot. I "thought" I could run maybe 7-8000 mile intervals with mobil 1. I sent an oil sample to blackstone labs and found that at 7200 miles my oil had too much fuel dilution and was slightly over on other metallics.
But, in all honesty the driving I did during that period was probably an average of 30 mph.
I would say figure out your average speed during a change period and don't go over 200 hours time before changing with syn oil. If you commute and average 50 mph you may be ok going 10k miles. If you do alot of in town driving you're only good to the normal 5- 6k.
Bottom line is even if your oil is in great shape as far as "lubricity" goes it still isn't good if it's contaminated with fuel and metallics.

[dirtraven1]

I personally have mine changed every 5k. My first change was at 2500 when it was new and I was switching to Mobil 1. My dealer charges me $17 to change my Mobil 1 and filter. I buy my oil from Walmart when they do the rollback pricing ($21 for 5 qt) x2 for the year. So for a total of $38 for syn oil, not too bad.

BTW, my dealer charges $89 to do a Mobil 1 oil change if they provide the Mobile.

[nov0798]

Well since 1990, I have been an Amsoil dealer, and have always run a minimum of 20 thousand miles on an oil change. I have NEVER had an engine failure, and my engines have always run fine. When I sold my 1991 Acura, it had over 400k on the clock with the original engine, and ran fine. I know I will get a ton of arguments against it, but its what I do. You can safely run 10k on synthetic oil, as long as you stick to the brand names. Castrol, Mobil 1, Amsoil, etc. Amsoil offers a warranty that if your engine fails due to lubrication issues, they will replace the engine. I do however change the filter every 8-10k. I think alot of folks misunderstand lubrication, which is why the every 3k philosophy is still alive and well. In my opinion Toyota simply does the 5k thing to cover their butts after the whole oil gelling thing many years ago. My Mercedes recommended every 12k on a supercharged engine, and they recommended Mobil1.

I have also changed my differentials and tranny over to Amsoil and will probably never change the diff fluid again, and the tranny fluid at 100k.

Synthetics RULE!

[summerwind]

Originally Posted by kraky

Before I got my highlander I had a new 2007 honda pilot. I "thought" I could run maybe 7-8000 mile intervals with mobil 1. I sent an oil sample to blackstone labs and found that at 7200 miles my oil had too much fuel dilution and was slightly over on other metallics.

+1

If you are going to run long intervals between changes you do not have a clue what condition your oil is in unless you get it analyzed.

[sidneyj]

You can go 10k just fine, if you wanted to. I have a BMW and they recommend every 15k for the synthetic oil change. However, I feel that's to long. I would change it out like some have said around 7-8k.

[roadkillrob]

If you want to figure it out and feel comfortable about it, just run some Mobil 1 for 5000 miles then send it out for oil analysis (to blackstone labs or other), then start extending the milage and having it checked by blackstone. 5000 should really not need checked, so maybe your first change your run it to 6500 and see how it looks, then 7500 etc to get a feel for how the oil is behaving. Just remember if you drive 7500 miles in bumper to bumper traffic, the oil may be pretty much done, but if you drive across the country and back, 7500 miles of nice highway driving should leave the oil in decent condition.