First Oil Change...Wait 10K Miles?

10k is when I will change it. Owning Toyota products since 1989, I have never had an issue while following the reccomended factory service schedule. I like to think I am a fairly smart man, having said this, I am not a Toyota automobile engineer so I will trust Toyota's reccomendation on the service. For what its worth....

I will do at 10k just as the schedule says. I always change my othe cars at 10 that are synthetic as well. Never had any issues due to gunk or anything like that. People who change their synthetic oil at 3k are just throwing money down the drain. I know so many people that do this. I dont get it, why spend the extra money on it and still change at regular intervals? I guess they dont understand the properties of synthetic oil.

didn't want to read the whole 5 pages, but it might have been mentioned earlier in this thread.

If there were some some particulated large enough to do damage it would most likely be caught by the oil filter, so for those concerned for this you could just change the filter and top off the system with 0W-20.

The particulates that cause damage are not the ones that are caught in the filter, though they might before they get there.

The stuff that causes damage are those particles that are slightly smaller than bearing clearances and abrade surfaces while they are in the spin cycle. There are a lot more of these things in the first oil while the engine is being broken in.

Is it going to kill your motor? Not likely.

Is it going to make a measurable difference in the total life span of your car? Also not likely.

Is an earlier oil change going to rape the earth and cause puppies, kittens, and baby seals to fall out left and right. Only in the minds of some of the more dedicated environ-mental-ists.

Does it bug some people to have it in there when there are no good reasons not to get it out earlier then one might otherwise do? You betcha.

Do or don't, it's a personal choice.

I am at 9300 miles now and my engine has not yet self destructed. Still waiting though...

I waited the 10K. This is my first experience with synthetic oil and I LIKE it! Even with 6-7K on it, the oil was still like golden honey and not black sludge. My last car, using dino-oil, was changed at the 3K interval, which for me is every 6 weeks! Just had my 15K top-off and this oil will serve me well until my 20K service.

My C is at 10k miles now and this afternoon my dealer will change it and do the regular 10k maintenance routine which includes the oil change.

Here is what my oil looks like at 10,000 miles.

The best way to determine an oil change interval is to have the oil analized in a lab. Send in a sample at (say) 5,000 miles. Or maybe at 10,000. THere are several things they look for
1) Change is viscosity
2) Water mixed with the oil
3) Other contaminates like fuel or combustion products mixed with the oil
4) Metal particles, from engine wear
5) oxidation of the oil.

I think the US Army motor poole used to change oil on a schedule and now only changes oil if a lab anaalysis says it is time. Using this new method they can go a LONG time. The problem is that for a consumer who owns only one car the cost if the llab work is more than the cost to change oil. So get the lab work doen ones at 5 or 10k and go from there.

But really, you can just look at it. If it looks like new leave it in.

I agree with you CAlbertson, but since I am at 10k I am going to let Toyota change it for me. I'll bet the oil in these engines can go 15k, but since 10k is long enough for me emotionally, I go by the book.

That's what I've been doing for the past few years. Good ole Blackstone Labs rocks; inexpensive, virtually instant analysis report [via e-mail], and free sample kits upfront.