I'm at about 17,000 miles and have had 1 ToyotaCare oil change completed so far. This is my first Toyota, and am testing how well Toyota cares about maintenance.
The Motor Oil Geek has spoken..
- Thread starter ultane
- Start date
I’m worried about this year with how little snow we got.
Well, if you do it like my son, it will cost you. My son has been following Toyota maintenance schedule (10k miles oil changes) in his Venza and now at 140k miles he is burning 1 quart every 1000 miles. My daughter has been changing oil every 5k miles in her RAV4, and her 120k miles engine still runs like new, very clean and zero oil consumption.
Oil changes are cheaper than new engine. But if you are OK with spending $20-30k on a new engine just to test Toyota's maintenance recommendations, be my guest.
I thought Toyota made strong engines in Japan especially on Land Cruisers but we'll all find out! Maybe we can get free ones installed, like some of those turbo V6s are getting compliments of Toyota. Doing the factory minimum maintenance while under warranty will expose any poor engineering and ticking time bombs under the hood rom Toyota.
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It's the same engine as in about half Toyota and Lexus models. There is nothing special about. It's a good engine that has been around for about 4 years and so far has been relatively trouble-free, unlike the V35A 6-cyl. But like any high-output turbo engine it needs careful maintenance.
No, you won't get a new engine from Toyota unless there is a SAFETY related issue. Toyota warranty ends at 60k miles and after that it's on your dime. Even extended warranty won't help you. They only extend to 125k miles, and problems don't start until around that age. BTW, oil consumption won't qualify for a warranty repair - Toyota says that 1 quart per 1000 miles is normal.
If you only plan to keep your LC for less than 100k miles, you'll most likely be OK. Just post the VIN here to warn other forum members to NOT buy your LC, lol.
- Dec 31, 2025
- 10
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- 2026 Land Cruiser; 2014 Fird Flex; 2003 4Runner; 1925 Ford Model T
When he does sampling for a test it matters where he gets it from. If he went into a turbo where the oil was cooking he’ll get different results than taking it out of the oil pan drain. But then there’s the reserve. He’s super technical but too simple.
What about the Geek changing the oil twice and not the filter= thought that defeats the purpose?
I don’t think anyone ever based their vehicle purchasing decision on the oil change interval, so the suggestion that Toyota recommends 10k changes to advertise lower cost of ownership seems bogus. The true driver of cost of ownership is reliability, which Toyota has based their entire brand on. I haven’t heard a good argument as to why Toyota would sacrifice that reputation in exchange for longer oil change intervals. Furthermore, 10k intervals and 0w20 have been the recommendation since as far back as 2009 with the previous generation of vehicles. The current generation of turbo engines haven’t been around long enough to draw any conclusions about their reliability compared to the previous generation engines. Any inherent weaknesses of a 4-cylinder turbo design can absolutely be mitigated by good engineering.
Hate to tell you but his knowledge base probably blows all of the Toyota techs out of the water. He developed DRIVEN, was the Gibbs Racing lubrication specialist, etc. The guy knows his sh!!, doesn't need all the numbers , but they are done to make ABSOLUTE certain he is speaking fact. He cuts thru all the anecdotal YOUTUBE BS with a knife.
I hadn't done break in oil changes for more years than I care to say, but his analysis of the data left NO doubt in my mind that I should do it on the LC. I was slow on 1st change (1300 miles because I just learned and figure a long highway drive would let the filter do its job). Did second change at ~4300miles. I am over 7K now and will do again before 10K. Toyota recommendations are for customer ease, not best results...........ZERO OVERKILL. We need more scientists out there to PROVE STUFF>I would love to see Oil Filter standards become much more rigorous.
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What's everyone's thoughts on Motor Oil Geek having his gear oil and transmission fluid changed at 5k miles as well? Has anyone else done that or plan to do that on their LC 250?
He believes they work better with use and don’t need to be changed as often. Personally, I would definitely change it with the break in oil change. My personal non-expert opinion, filters are cheap, you or someone else is under there, it’s getting changed. Geek is sometimes picking wings off flies, it’s an enjoyable rabbit hole to go to if you nerd out on stuff like this.
Iirc, UPS changes the oil in the vehicles, but not the filter every time.
Does an oil filter get less effective with time/age as well - for instance if I drove 5k miles in 18 months and changed my oil twice but not the filter - would that be cool or does filter material breakdown over time?
I'll take it to the dealer after one year and have them do full service. I know kind of off topic - but I'm really asking because I have vintage motorcycles & I change the oil every year but leave the filters and change them every two years +. Ride them each maybe 400 miles a year.
Oil and air filters become better at filtering and typically your best results on UOA result is when skipping the filter at 5k and then changing at 10k as long as the oil pressure remains normal this tends to get the best results but if you take it too far the pressure differential will put the filter into bypass which means no filtration is occuring.
Air filters should be taken to their mileage limit unless ran in a dusty environment, whether oil or air the filters, filter the least amount of particles when new, high flow=lower filter efficiency.
For gears IME all reputable brands of gear makers require the gear oil to be changed after 500 miles of break in to keep the warranty active, I've done two regears and this was the case for both. Every vehicle I've owned I've changed all the fluids early before or near the first 1000 miles and I've not removed a magnetic plug that wasn't full of fine particles which are near in appearance to molybdenum grease caked on the magnets with a nice sparkle to them, the 250 was not an exception the plugs were covered on the front, rear and center diff plugs (front diff being the worst of the 3). Also I've yet to do an auto trans fluid change that didn't have material on the pan magnets or in the filter, but I typically go to 15k before changing the trans on the first go around as it takes a bit longer for any significant wear to occur IME, likely due to different gear types.
It's cheap insurance that will likely lead to better longevity. Change coolant at 60k and brake fluid when it becomes discolored or at each brake change (whichever occurs first).
Service schedules today IMO are more to minimize cost of ownership, cost on the manufacturer for services covered under warranty and to get the vehicle through the warranty period without incident and to designed service life which sadly isn't what it used to be even for Toyota.
I can't remember were I saw it now, but there was a Toyota engineer speaking to what that designed service life is today for it's trucks and Land Cruisers and it's not even 500k where the target was just a few years ago. IIRC is was at or near 200k now (mainly due to society's view on cars as disposable now), it's getting harder to keep modern cars going long distance and time wise as the parts support doesn't remain active very long after significant model changes occur, so when the engine and trans are no longer being put into new vehicles the parts pools for those dry up rather quickly.
Thankfully Toyota Gazoo racing is bringing back some older NLA key parts to keep some of the aging Land Cruisers on the road as that has been the slow death of many an otherwise useable Land Cruiser. They wind up being sold for parts when a couple NLA ultra rare parts fail on one and it becomes so expensive and difficult to obtain the parts that is no longer worth keeping and parts value of the older ones is more than selling it whole in many cases.
Air filters should be taken to their mileage limit unless ran in a dusty environment, whether oil or air the filters, filter the least amount of particles when new, high flow=lower filter efficiency.
For gears IME all reputable brands of gear makers require the gear oil to be changed after 500 miles of break in to keep the warranty active, I've done two regears and this was the case for both. Every vehicle I've owned I've changed all the fluids early before or near the first 1000 miles and I've not removed a magnetic plug that wasn't full of fine particles which are near in appearance to molybdenum grease caked on the magnets with a nice sparkle to them, the 250 was not an exception the plugs were covered on the front, rear and center diff plugs (front diff being the worst of the 3). Also I've yet to do an auto trans fluid change that didn't have material on the pan magnets or in the filter, but I typically go to 15k before changing the trans on the first go around as it takes a bit longer for any significant wear to occur IME, likely due to different gear types.
It's cheap insurance that will likely lead to better longevity. Change coolant at 60k and brake fluid when it becomes discolored or at each brake change (whichever occurs first).
Service schedules today IMO are more to minimize cost of ownership, cost on the manufacturer for services covered under warranty and to get the vehicle through the warranty period without incident and to designed service life which sadly isn't what it used to be even for Toyota.
I can't remember were I saw it now, but there was a Toyota engineer speaking to what that designed service life is today for it's trucks and Land Cruisers and it's not even 500k where the target was just a few years ago. IIRC is was at or near 200k now (mainly due to society's view on cars as disposable now), it's getting harder to keep modern cars going long distance and time wise as the parts support doesn't remain active very long after significant model changes occur, so when the engine and trans are no longer being put into new vehicles the parts pools for those dry up rather quickly.
Thankfully Toyota Gazoo racing is bringing back some older NLA key parts to keep some of the aging Land Cruisers on the road as that has been the slow death of many an otherwise useable Land Cruiser. They wind up being sold for parts when a couple NLA ultra rare parts fail on one and it becomes so expensive and difficult to obtain the parts that is no longer worth keeping and parts value of the older ones is more than selling it whole in many cases.
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- #37
He talked about that in another video.. They filter better with age..
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Find it odd he is pushing the puralator filter on one hand. Yet doing oil changes and leaving the old filter in...
Makes little sense !
Makes little sense !
No idea on that one, other than filter performance is improved over time. The best filtration being towards the end of the filters life. I'm assuming the filters have no issue with 10,000-mile intervals, and it's the 0W-20 oil that's shearing out of grade, well before that point.
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