20K Svc Exp...

So now that the 5G's newly-minted door repair paint has stopped off-gassing enough to rid a small house of termites... decided on the dealer to do the 20K svc, as were almost 700 mi over. Very glad it had a few weeks free of that defo on-last-legs oil and the water it'd absorbed in these Thanksgiving-in-Seattle maelstroms going on almost 3 wks at the time I'd changed it... so whilst they could've kept the oil in, glad it was new and filled to max w/ whatever device they use to make swaps faster (heard about these in WA... but tbh, not sure this dealer wouldn't contract the swap out, given how many other things it does)...

But to their credit... got the car 0715, saw it back in the lot 0835 -- for what was supposed to be a 2 hr minimum job (hardly had time to eat my morning salad in the wait room). If everything was done correctly, good job team Last comp'd svc, so got keys, signed line, and drove off.

First thing noticed... was a more immediately response to the go pedal in Eco, which I drove it in, set to. This could be the battery being disconnected and the PCU shedding short-term memory... so just carried on -- toodling around town (needed to run a couple of errands) should immediately show some diffs, once the ICE actually stays on long enough to reach op temp.

So... whilst not a comprehensive test (which next week's commute should be)... were getting 70 - 72 mpg on the highest-mpg sortie in my routine, prior to the 20K. Just did the same stretch across town... and got 79.9. That's not a trivial amt different... which could be down to some common reasons:

• tire rotation -- just getting back tires on front, which haven't been beveled on the outside as all FWD Mac-strutted cars do and putting a thrust on the dbl-row ball bearings in the hubs... may account for a bit of that recovery (one of the reasons I like to run 36 or 37 in front, as the rounder profile during cornering won't wear the shoulder as much, but sacrifices full mechanical grip. Minted for hypermiling, not cornering in the wet... but this 5G has surprised me with it's old-school-Honda-like behavour mid-corner on these penalty-box-sized 17" LE Toyos

• less curb weight -- since the car had to live a week at the body shop, took out all my 'non-negotiables' from the car, which weighed a not-insignificant 49 lbs total. Managed to whittle that down to 31 lbs being a bit more realistic and less paranoid, which isn't a small ask as being paranoid about what I tote in my vehicles has always been worth it on mainland. Even so, the car made that mileage, less 30+ lbs of my junk, which is going back in

• new air filter -- one thing made sure to be swapped around here more often than Toyota interval, is the engine air filter. With more and more farmers tilling huge clouds of red dirt right across the highway, replacing these $40 non-cleanable media is a must, and defo impacts mpg in an Atkinson-cycle ICE more than a non-performance-cam-timed Otto-cycle motor (due to the about-face intake charge must take in order to keep the effective intake stroke shorter than the combustion stroke, which is what makes the Prius ICEs efficient -- if the piston moving down feels more resistance to intake vacuum due to filter restriction, the dry charge's movement won't be timed correctly, resulting in less O2 per full 4-stroke cycle, and parasitic drag on the crank's momentum causing the other cylinders to also perform below full potential)

• new oil -- listed last, because probably least involved. My oil swap was about 3 wks and change in the pan... but did drive thru some of the worst of the non-flooding downpours, which meant every time the ICE came on, it was ingesting heavily-moisture-laden air every other crank rev (which also displaces O2 in the intake charge, which is why my 63 mpg in dry times crashed and burned down to low-60s in this ordeal). Still would've driven with oil I'd swapped until my interval came... but fresh and to proper level, on a clear sunny day... full oil reset, and whatever small gains could be made

As am not familiar with what the 20K svc entails (and not clearly described on the RO)... perhaps some Toyota-only dealer-diag proc / electronic fettle caused some kind of gain. But new tech can't do much about the effects of the above, so trusting those as reason for that 8 - 9 mpg gain on the sortie, post-svc

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Epilogue: asked after the new rear door latch recall for 5Gs... and says on the RO, checked for recalls, none available. So guess things have to filter thru Toyota Corporate to Toyota Hawaii, which as mentioned before is effectively not Toyota-proper, doing their own thing, when they choose (no use arguing the facts, as until this dealer gets swap parts in-hand, nothing can happen anyway, notice of not).

As nothing Toyota or Lexus which applies on mainland seems to apply here in excuses and PD (plausible deniability) pivoted to as usual... probably won't be getting it done until official notices arrive in mail -- which is actually good in my case, as allows more time for door paint from the repair to dry longer and stronger, before being taken apart by this dealer -- again