Toyota's 2 yr maint. agreement confusing - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

craftydad · 03-28-2011, 06:50 PM

I got a 2yr or 25K mile free maintenance agreement with my new '11 HL. The booklet and card that explains it came in today. It states I get an oil change every 10K miles, and it says "synthetic" for oil type. This is strange because I have never used synthetic oils in my cars. I checked the Maintenance book that came with the car, and sure enough, it states an oil change every 10,000 miles and that 0W20 should be used. I had a coupon for a free oil change (from Toys for Tots drive) and I used it to get an oil chaange at 1500 miles to clear out the new oil. I don't know what oil they put in the car (paperwork does not state) but the oil cap says 0W20 on it.

Is 0W20 oil synthetic??

jeffs3820 · 03-28-2011, 08:34 PM

Yes, my understanding is the only way to get 0w20 is if it is synthetic.

craftydad · 03-28-2011, 08:48 PM

And it's normal to have oil changes at 10K miles with synthetic?

Not that I'm complianing... but Toyota should have given owners a choice... not decide for us that all 2011 HLs will use syntheic.

bingo883 · 03-28-2011, 09:04 PM

Here is an interesting read... enjoy!
http://www.smartsynthetics.com/articles/5w20oil.htm

Alpha Zero · 03-28-2011, 09:22 PM

While that article looks pretty convincing; I'm way too lazy to research it further.
It may very well be correct in everything that it claims and such, but ending an article with a link to purchase said motor oil which they claim is the BEST takes away from it's validity.

TECH 1 · 03-28-2011, 09:23 PM

If the vehicle has sythentic in it then you have to put sythentic in it. It can not be changed to conventional or a sythentic blend oil. The engine will blow up. However if you have conventional oil in a vehicle, you can use sythentic oil. Hope this is some help to you.

horent135 · 03-28-2011, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TECH 1

The engine will blow up.

LOL, engine will not blow up.. It just not recommended from going synthetic to conventional oil, mostly the engine won't run good as before.

vsansal · 03-29-2011, 06:49 AM

It is interesting because my 2010 has 5k mile oil change intervals. They must have changed it on 2011.

JMSinMD · 03-29-2011, 07:10 AM

If I were you I would switch to the 2008-2010 recommended "dino" blend and switch to 5k intervals.

The car is so new that switching won't hurt a thing. If you have a 1988 Toyota Tercel with 300k which you had been using dino oil and then switched to synthetic you might notice some oil leaks that were present but not as noticeable before.

***arabianobsession*** · 03-29-2011, 09:16 AM

Toyota is going to 0w-20 on ALL their models eventually. The 0w-20 is new for the 2011 Highlander, and is certified only as such. Toyota says if 0w-20 is not available, you may use 5w-20, but you MUST change the oil after 5,000 miles with 0w-20.

My 2011 Camry also uses 0w-20 exclusively. A tech friend of mine here at the dealership did an experiment, using 5w-20 and 0w-20, and he consistently got better gas mileage using 0w-20 vs. 5w-20.

Using 5w-20 in your new Highlander will not blow up your engine, but if it's all you use and you have a problem down the line more than likely Toyota will not honor any warranty.

***05Moose*** · 03-29-2011, 09:25 AM

10K miles is not a big deal using synthetic. Regular Oil is good for a minimum 7500 miles (our old '04 Sienna's maintenance schedule by Toyota was 7500 miles using conventional oil and even Calif tests show that regular oil lasts a minimum 7500 miles in all vehicles). If auto manufacturers are recommending 10K mile change intervals using synthetic oil, then it's probably good to a minimum of 15K miles. I do wonder though if their tests are showing that the oil filters are good for a minimum of 10K miles now?

Edit: I though there are only 2 Toyota models that have not yet switched to the 10K mile oil changes: Tundra and Tacoma, but based on arabianobsession's link below, I stand corrected: