Recommended maintenance outside of dealer recs

[lubasf]

After a stupidly long wait, I finally got my LC about a week ago. I went ahead and got it's first oil change right away as many recommended and am wondering what other maintenance I should be doing ahead of the dealer recommendations to keep it in it's best shape.

I got my cargo light and have covers coming for the cargo area for all the rescue/foster/my own dogs I cart around along with open house signs. Probably all the extras that I need for the time being. Sadly no time for major off-roading these days, but I'd like to keep it in its best shape so when the time does come down the road, she'll still be a reliable and won't leave me stranded on a trail.

Would love to hear feedback from anyone willing to share.

 

[SD_Driver]

My recommendation for any vehicle is just follow the maintenance schedule included provided by the manufacturer. This has worked well for me. I keep my vehicles a long time with many going over 250k miles before I sold them.

Dealers will often require more services, or more frequent services, than the manufacturer. Don’t do any of this. The dealers do this to get more money since they make most of their money in the service department.

Not sure why you got your oil changed right away after taking delivery. That seems like a waste, but already done so no harm.

 

[D-Train]

After I saw what came out after my first oil change at ~500 miles, not a waste of money IMHO.... AND that was stuff not captured in the filter still floating around in the crankcase. Certainly, no harm done and could only be a benefit down the road.

 

[ATbuckhunter]

IMO I still don't trust 10K mile oil changes. I would do 5K at the absolute most (i'm going to be doing it every 3-5K). To me its cheaper to not take the risk and just change the oil quickly. I buy full synthetic costco oil, so its not even expensive for me. I also won't be trusting the lifetime transmission fluid. Every 30k miles I'll drain and fill the tranny fluid. Id go longer on the tranny fluid, but I'll be changing the differential fluid at that time anyway, so might as well do it all at once.

 

[SD_Driver]

IMO I still don't trust 10K mile oil changes. I would do 5K at the absolute most (i'm going to be doing it every 3-5K). To me its cheaper to not take the risk and just change the oil quickly. I buy full synthetic costco oil, so its not even expensive for me. I also won't be trusting the lifetime transmission fluid. Every 30k miles I'll drain and fill the tranny fluid. Id go longer on the tranny fluid, but I'll be changing the differential fluid at that time anyway, so might as well do it all at once.

Why would you not trust the recommended intervals from the manufacturer, especially with how good synthetic oils are today?

My old Honda Accord had the old recommended oil change of every 3,000 miles. But that was before synthetics. As I started using synthetic, I went to 10,000 miles between oil changes with no issues at over 250,000 miles.

For years, it was beat into us that oil must be changed every 3,000 miles. It’s hard to give that up when it was preached forever. Oils and engine manufacturing have improved so much now that manufacturers have increased their recommendations.

I get that some people will always want to change early. No harm in doing this.

 

[jcdeng]

A quick glance of the owner's manual Toyota recommends 5000 miles or 6 month interval for oil change, whichever comes first. I think I will be following the 6 month interval because I only drive the car about 5000 miles in a year (according to my previous daily which I owned for 9 years, 45000 miles).

 

[ATbuckhunter]

Why would you not trust the recommended intervals from the manufacturer, especially with how good synthetic oils are today?

My old Honda Accord had the old recommended oil change of every 3,000 miles. But that was before synthetics. As I started using synthetic, I went to 10,000 miles between oil changes with no issues at over 250,000 miles.

For years, it was beat into us that oil must be changed every 3,000 miles. It’s hard to give that up when it was preached forever. Oils and engine manufacturing have improved so much now that manufacturers have increased their recommendations.

I get that some people will always want to change early. No harm in doing this.

Well humans are creatures of habit and its not always easy to beat it. My family always did 5k and we got out toyotas to 250K+ miles that way. Turbo charged engines usually are a little harsher on oil than a naturally aspirated engine. Also a few engineers/mechanics (car care nut, automotive engineer's and a couple more) who are very well respected, don't recommend going 10k.

All that combined makes me not want to risk it. I paid 72k (after taxes) for this car, so I'm ok with changing fluids/oils quicker than I have to. Changing them quicker can't hurt anything, so why not? An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure is how I think of it. Maybe in 5 years after I see how peoples cars are doing with 10k oil changes, ill change to 10K changes. Until then im in the 3-5k boat.

 

[ATbuckhunter]

A quick glance of the owner's manual Toyota recommends 5000 miles or 6 month interval for oil change, whichever comes first. I think I will be following the 6 month interval because I only drive the car about 5000 miles in a year (according to my previous daily which I owned for 9 years, 45000 miles).

Where did you see that? Mine said 10k for normal driving. I think the manual stated different oil change intervals depending on use (off-roading means quicker interval changes)

 

[uraniumrich]

IMO I still don't trust 10K mile oil changes. I would do 5K at the absolute most (i'm going to be doing it every 3-5K). To me its cheaper to not take the risk and just change the oil quickly. I buy full synthetic costco oil, so its not even expensive for me. I also won't be trusting the lifetime transmission fluid. Every 30k miles I'll drain and fill the tranny fluid. Id go longer on the tranny fluid, but I'll be changing the differential fluid at that time anyway, so might as well do it all at once.

If you see enough engine tear downs, you understand that 10K mile oil changes are a bad idea. I'm with you on changing the transmission and diff fluid every 30K.

If anyone is interested, I Do Cars is a YouTube channel with at least one engine tear down every week.

 

[SD_Driver]

Well humans are creatures of habit and its not always easy to beat it. My family always did 5k and we got out toyotas to 250K+ miles that way. Turbo charged engines usually are a little harsher on oil than a naturally aspirated engine. Also a few engineers/mechanics (car care nut, automotive engineer's and a couple more) who are very well respected, don't recommend going 10k.

All that combined makes me not want to risk it. I paid 72k (after taxes) for this car, so I'm ok with changing fluids/oils quicker than I have to. Changing them quicker can't hurt anything, so why not? An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure is how I think of it. Maybe in 5 years after I see how peoples cars are doing with 10k oil changes, ill change to 10K changes. Until then im in the 3-5k boat.

I understand the creature of habit answer. What I don't get is we buy a $70k vehicle and then don't read or follow the manual. But we know some well respected engineers and car enthusiasts who clearly know better than Toyota engineers who designed and tested the engine.

As an engineer myself, I'm going to trust Toyota's recommendations.

 

[jcdeng]

Where did you see that? Mine said 10k for normal driving. I think the manual stated different oil change intervals depending on use (off-roading means quicker interval changes)

Ah, my mistake, it saids "Toyota recommends obtaining scheduled maintenance..." Maintenance, not oil change, but to me, I am old school, maintenance equals at least the engine oil change and plus other stuff depending on mileage. Brake fluid, AT fluid, pads, tires, but the most basic maintenance to me is an oil and oil filter change.

 

[jcdeng]

I understand the creature of habit answer. What I don't get is we buy a $70k vehicle and then don't read or follow the manual. But we know some well respected engineers and car enthusiasts who clearly know better than Toyota engineers who designed and tested the engine.

As an engineer myself, I'm going to trust Toyota's recommendations.

Are you saying that doing more often/sooner oil changes can somehow be bad for the car because the manual say only to do it every 10k miles? This is what I don't get, not trying to argue, I genuinely want to know if there is harm when doing more frequent up keep on a car.

 

[SD_Driver]

Are you saying that doing more often/sooner oil changes can somehow be bad for the car because the manual say only to do it every 10k miles? This is what I don't get, not trying to argue, I genuinely want to know if there is harm when doing more frequent up keep on a car.

No, not saying that all. There's nothing wrong with changing it early and won't cause any harm.

It will cost more money than you need to pay since you're doing it more often. It's also not good for the environment since you're doing it more often and putting more waste oil into the waste stream. And unless you're doing it yourself, you do run more risk of a poorly trained person doing the oil change and causing a problem.

 

[Stage7]

A quick glance of the owner's manual Toyota recommends 5000 miles or 6 month interval for oil change, whichever comes first. I think I will be following the 6 month interval because I only drive the car about 5000 miles in a year (according to my previous daily which I owned for 9 years, 45000 miles).

Wow, I already have 15k on mine and I've only had it for 8 months.

 

[uraniumrich]

No, not saying that all. There's nothing wrong with changing it early and won't cause any harm.

It will cost more money than you need to pay since you're doing it more often. It's also not good for the environment since you're doing it more often and putting more waste oil into the waste stream. And unless you're doing it yourself, you do run more risk of a poorly trained person doing the oil change and causing a problem.

Blindly following Toyota's recommended oil change interval has a significantly greater chance of creating engine problems down the line. BMW used to recommend 10K mile oil changes, and those would lead to the early destruction of the engine. After watching hundreds of engine tear downs and seeing the damage caused by extended oil changes (10K miles or more), I'm going to go with the empirical evidence over the Toyota manual (which probably wasn't strictly written by engineers.) The best way to figure out the necessary interval would be to conduct oil testing frequently to obtain data on the performance of the oil versus the wear of the engine components. But, it can cost almost as much for oil analysis as it does to change the oil. Changing the oil more frequently doesn't guarantee that your engine will last longer, but it does significantly improve the odds that it'll last longer.

As a side note - a lot of us have posted oil analysis on this forum. I wonder if anyone out there has done an oil analysis after 10K mile interval changes?

 

[ATbuckhunter]

I understand the creature of habit answer. What I don't get is we buy a $70k vehicle and then don't read or follow the manual. But we know some well respected engineers and car enthusiasts who clearly know better than Toyota engineers who designed and tested the engine.

As an engineer myself, I'm going to trust Toyota's recommendations.

I read the manual, I just don't want to risk it. When you change what has been the norm for quite some time, you become some what of a test subject. There's only so much you can R&D with a limited sample set. The rest is worked out after the release. That's where the improvements come with each generation of a vehicle.

The question becomes what is Toyotas goal is. My goal is to have a trouble free (as much as possible) 10+ years with this car. Does Toyota want me to have this car for the next 15 years? I would hope so, but I can also see where they are planning for 5-8 years instead of 10+. Average guy only keeps a car for 5 years, so 10 year reliability doesnt really come into play for a lot of people. I put a lot of miles on due to all the hunting and fishing I do (12k+ miles a year). I see nothing wrong with shortening the maintenance schedule. Lengthening it would justify the comment above, not shortening it

 

[robsurfskate]

1 year in on my 1958. 4,500 miles. I got my first oil change at 1000 miles. I'll follow the manual for maintenance. Weekend driver only.

 

[kmershly]

IMO I still don't trust 10K mile oil changes. I would do 5K at the absolute most (i'm going to be doing it every 3-5K). To me its cheaper to not take the risk and just change the oil quickly. I buy full synthetic costco oil, so its not even expensive for me. I also won't be trusting the lifetime transmission fluid. Every 30k miles I'll drain and fill the tranny fluid. Id go longer on the tranny fluid, but I'll be changing the differential fluid at that time anyway, so might as well do it all at once.

I was planning on changing the transmission and diff oil at 30k miles, but I am not sure if I should do a spill and fill or a fluid exchange (with a machine) for the transmission.

A spill and fill I can do at home, a fluid exchange would require going to a shop because I do not have a machine that is capable of doing that.

Also, I have not checked, but, is there a transmission dipstick or is there a process to check the fluid level that uses a scan tool and getting the trans the right temp?

 

[katekebo]

I created my own schedule which is a bit more aggressive than Toyota's / dealer schedule, but not exaggeratedly overboard. The rationale for shortening some of the recommended intervals is:

• off-roading is dusty - replace air filter more frequently
• replacing coolant helps to prevent water pump seal wear

The other are self-explanatory. Things like alignment or brakes are condition-based, so perform as needed based on inspection.

Replace engine oil and filter	5,000	Repeat every 5,000 miles
Lubricate propeller shaft	5,000	Repeat every 5,000 miles
Replace cabin air filter (87139-30110 or 87139- 60030)	10,000	Repeat every 10,000 miles
Replace engine air filter (17801-31180)	20,000	Repeat every 20,000 miles
Replace transfer case, front differential and rear differential fluids	30,000	Repeat every 30,000 miles
Replace spark plugs (NGK DILZKAR8E7H / 90919-A1008)	40,000	Repeat every 40,000 miles
Replace brake fluid	40,000	Repeat every 40,000 miles
Replace transmission fluid (including K0 motor / clutch unit)	60,000	Repeat every 60,000 miles
Inspect drive belt, replace if necessary	60,000	Repeat every 15,000 miles afterwards
Replace engine and inverter coolants	80,000	Repeat every 40,000 miles afterwards
Replace vacuum pump	120,000	Repeat every 120,000 miles

 

[jcdeng]

I don't know if you guys watch "the car care nut" on Youtube, he is a Toyota mechanic specializes in Toyota/Lexus cars. Iirc, in one of his videos he mentioned not to follow Toyota recommended intervals and do oil changes more frequent, especially on these newer generation turbo engines.

I am just skeptical when they keep on extending the recommended oil change intervals. Back in the days it was 3000 miles then it went up to 5000, new we are at 10k miles...

I am also suspicious of why some of the modern car engine components are made of hard plastic, which are guaranteed to crack/fail in 5 or 6 years due to the hot environments of the modern turbo engines, coincidentally, also is when the factory warranty ends. When the same part were used to be metal.

I think we can all come to the same conclusion as to why. Car companies make more money when you need more repairs, or when customers are sick of their always leaking, always problematic car and trade it in for a new one. Heck, this is the exact reason why I got rid of my audi and buying a more reliable Toyota.