Simple question (oil related)

[drmwvr]

Am I ok with 10k oil change intervals using Mobil 1 fully synthetic (0W-20) and the TRD filter on a '10 200 with approx 75k miles? That's the interval on my mother's '15 LX.

Yes or no.

Thanks!

 

[mark71]

Driving conditions? Highway miles without a load or towing, then yes.

Owner personality? Anal and obsessive (like me), then no.

 

[T4Runner]

If not severe use or extreme conditions 10k is what Toyota recommends. Many on here are a bit OCD and tend to use shorter intervals. I do 5k intervals w Amsoil (which they claim is good for up to 25k) and either TRD or Amsoil filters (which I believe are comparable and good for 15k). I may extend to 7,500k just cuz I'm getting lazy and that's what I do on my 4Runner anyway...

 

[Willy beamin]

I shoot for every 3000-4000 miles.
Old habit I guess

 

[Narkhelek]

3000-4000 miles is probably just throwing good oil away. If anyone wants to actually figure out how long they can run their oil they should send in samples to Blackstone Laboratories. Their analysis will show how much oil additive remains (TBN test) which will gauge how much life is left in their oil. Additionally, the results will show whether or not there are excessive wear metals that would indicate the oil should be changed sooner (and that possible engine issues are developing). I'm guessing 10k miles is probably fine for most people.

 

[CLHickman]

Highly opinionated....

My answer is yes...You are good with synthetic and a quality filter for up to 10k. If you follow @Narkhelek's advise you could even go farther.

I know from running a large diesel truck that it is a good investment to send oil samples in. The cost of changing oil out every 5-10k is rather high. I've gone close to 18k between changes in the truck without incident. I was sending in samples every 5k to Blackston though.

 

[Narkhelek]

One thing that I found very interesting is that according to Blackstone they do not see any better wear with synthetic vs dino oil. Apparently as long as the oil is still slick and not full of wear metals it doesn't matter what you run according to them.

 

[linuxgod]

3000-4000 miles is probably just throwing good oil away. If anyone wants to actually figure out how long they can run their oil they should send in samples to Blackstone Laboratories. Their analysis will show how much oil additive remains (TBN test) which will gauge how much life is left in their oil. Additionally, the results will show whether or not there are excessive wear metals that would indicate the oil should be changed sooner (and that possible engine issues are developing). I'm guessing 10k miles is probably fine for most people.

Agreed. I had Blackstone do an oil analysis, and paid extra for the TBN test. I had 4600 miles and 6 months on my oil (60% stop and go city driving and a lot of idling, particularly during the winter, 20% highway trips to visit family, and 20% mixed city/suburb/highway while towing 5000#). Blackstone said my oil looked like a 6400 mile sample and still had a decent 2.9 TBM left (Toyota synthentic has a TBN of ~6.4 when new) and very low fuel dilution (which surprised me, given the number of short trips we do and the amount of idling we do in winter).

What have you done to your 200 Series this week?

Based on their analysis I will probably run 6-7k between oil changes for my driving. I agree with @mark71 - if you're mainly highway or light suburban driving then 10k is probably fine. If you tow I'd adjust that down somewhat, and even further if you also idle a lot of do a lot of short trips. In my case Blackstone implies that my city and towing-heavy driving is about 1.4x harder on the oil than average, so 6-7k between changes for me is roughly equal to 8.5-10k for you.

 

[studawg]

I think 10k is a little long for the M1 0W-20 and TRD filter. Im running about 8500 with M1 and TRD filter, but the oil is the Extended Preformance version and its 5w-20. Id run the 5w-20 in the hotter climates regardless.

 

[drmwvr]

Thanks to everyone for the input. I drive 50/50 city/highway and do pull my small boat once a month or so (3,000ish pounds with trailer, gear, etc.) during warmer weather. I think I will run to 7.5k and send to Blackstone to see what they say. I can always throttle back to 5k changes but if that is the case, it seems like I would be better off just using a high quality Dino oil.

 

[mark71]

Agreed. I had Blackstone do an oil analysis, and paid extra for the TBN test. I had 4600 miles and 6 months on my oil (60% stop and go city driving and a lot of idling, particularly during the winter, 20% highway trips to visit family, and 20% mixed city/suburb/highway while towing 5000#). Blackstone said my oil looked like a 6400 mile sample and still had a decent 2.9 TBM left (Toyota synthentic has a TBN of ~6.4 when new) and very low fuel dilution (which surprised me, given the number of short trips we do and the amount of idling we do in winter).

What have you done to your 200 Series this week?

Based on their analysis I will probably run 6-7k between oil changes for my driving. I agree with @mark71 - if you're mainly highway or light suburban driving then 10k is probably fine. If you tow I'd adjust that down somewhat, and even further if you also idle a lot of do a lot of short trips. In my case Blackstone implies that my city and towing-heavy driving is about 1.4x harder on the oil than average, so 6-7k between changes for me is roughly equal to 8.5-10k for you.

So long idling is bad? I feel stuck now. I now only work 2 miles from home so 5 days per week my LC is doing short trips. I've tried to compensate for this by allowing it to fully warm up in the morning, using the premise that getting the oil up to temp will help burn off the fuel in the oil.

I'm thinking of shortening my interval (currently at 5000 miles) to try to decrease the impact of this. Or maybe I should try this Blackstone company and see what they think. I've got so much time and money into building up this rig that I think I'd rather be changing oil than changing cruisers.

 

[studawg]

Well, short trips will cause condensation to form inside and will lead to a sludge or pastey substance; will often present itself as creamy white sludge inside the oil cap. If you do lots of short trips that don't allow the engine to fully heat up, I would shorten oil change interval, no matter what oil and filter you use. Idling is not the ideal way to warm up an engine.

 

[linuxgod]

So long idling is bad? I feel stuck now. I now only work 2 miles from home so 5 days per week my LC is doing short trips. I've tried to compensate for this by allowing it to fully warm up in the morning, using the premise that getting the oil up to temp will help burn off the fuel in the oil.

I'm thinking of shortening my interval (currently at 5000 miles) to try to decrease the impact of this. Or maybe I should try this Blackstone company and see what they think. I've got so much time and money into building up this rig that I think I'd rather be changing oil than changing cruisers.

Blackstone will send you a free kit (really just a jar within a jar to meet USPS rules for liquids). They charge $28 when you send in the sample at your next oil change, and another $8-10 if you want them to do a TBM analysis (which indicates whether you could use a longer oil change interval). I did it so I'll have a "new-ish" baseline of the vehicle to compare to years from now if I have questions. At $28 it's a bit steep to run every time IMO.

Blackstone Labs

FWIW I would consider my driving to be very severe. Anyone else routinely see 6.5-7.5 MPG in the winter? 1000 miles of towing at 70+mph, 3000-3500 miles of real city driving (stop signs every 300 yards, lots of short trips to the grocery store (4 blocks) or kids school (about 1/2 mile) where the vehicle never warms up, and if the vehicle does warm up it's mostly idling in a parking lot) about half of which was done in winter when daytime highs barely hit the teens. All that and based on the blackstone analysis the oil TBN and fuel dilution all pointed to being able to safely run another 50% longer on the oil.

I'll do my next change at 60k, which will be just over 6k on the oil. About 3500 of those miles will be towing, some on the highway at 75+ and some through the mountains (Yellowstone etc). I wasn't planning to run an oil analysis as I'm pretty sure the oil analysis will come back fine. Maybe I'll spend the $40 just for argument sake. I'm more concerned with changing the A/T, transfer case, and diff fluids at 60k, though after watching my gauges while towing, even through the mountains, I don't think towing 5000# with the LC causes significantly higher wear.