Perhaps silly, but Synthetic Oil weight correlate exactly to convention oil weights ?

I think it was FJ who stated:

No silly questions, except unasked ones.

Yes. I mean, yes it is the appropriate weight; synth weight correlates to non-synth.

No warranty problem, no. Especially if the shop manager says they're fine.

-- A day without sunshine is like, well, night

If it helps, I believe what you are calling "weight" is actually "viscosity", or how non-runny the oil is. IOW, a portable unit.

Personally I'd wait til 10k before going to synthetic - guess I still believe there is some breakin on new engines and the friction is needed to seat rings. Ok to do yourself - just keep receipt for oil and filter and mark date and mileage on them. I cut out the oilfilter number and put on back and staple in the repair schedule in owners manual. I prefer to use OEM yota filters - I buy 5 or so at discount online. With synthetic you may want a filter designed for synthetic oil (usually more costly at about $9).

The oil viscosity, or "weight" is the same for conventional and synthetic oil.

If you keep the receipt for the oil and filters and mark the mileage when the oil was changed, that will suffice for warranty purposes. Depending on the "quality" of the shop doing the oil changed, that may even be better. A factory service rep probably would not consider a fast oil change place as a "quality" shop.

Have the tires rotated in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendation and have the brakes checked when the tires are rotated. There should be no additional cost to check the brakes during tire rotation. If there is, find another shop.

Mobil 1, 5W-30 works great on newer Toyota engines (if the engine accumulated a lot of miles before switching to synthetic, then I would recommend 10W-30 or higher viscosity). Just mark down on a sheet of paper the date of the oil change and odometer reading and attach the receipts for the oil and filter, and sign it indicating that you changed the oil. That will suffice as evidence that you changed the oil. If you have any receipts for an oil pan, filter wrench, car jack, etc, that would also help.

The odds of Toyota ever claiming there was a problem with oil changes on a car that used Mobil 1 on a regular change interval (7500 miles or less between changes) is infinitely small (assuming the oil filter or drain plug does not leak). They cannot deny a warranty claim unless they can show that the problem was caused by lack of adequate oil changes, so the issue oil changes will likely never come up during a warranty claim. If they do ask you about the oil changes, mention you use Mobil 1 and just say you have receipts at home (without mentioning you changed the oil yourself). If they ask for the receipts, then show them the items mentioned above.

No offence, but if Toyota recommends 5W-30, I would follow Toyota's recommendation over the recommendation of anyone else. Toyota is fairly knowledgeable about the vehicles they build ;-)

Just mark down on a sheet of paper

The receipts for the oil and filter, along with the date and odometer reading are necessary. A signature by the owner and receipts for the oil pan, filter wrench, jack, etc. are useless.

Using Mobil 1 for oil changes does not improve or diminish the chances that Toyota will approve or deny warranty coverage for an engine repair, and saying that you use Mobil 1 will not impress the district service manager (unless the DSM is new and doesn't know anything about cars). Changing the oil yourself does not diminish the chances that you will get warranty coverage on a defect. Toyota can deny a warranty claim for plenty of reasons other than the lack of adequate oil changes, although that is the most common reason that engines fail. Toyota will not deny warranty coverage for defects in material or workmanship but they not cover lack of proper maintenance, failure or damage caused by non-Toyota parts, abuse, or modifications that cause a failure.

Correct. However some dealers use 10W30. I wanted 5W30, and made the dealer change the oil a second time after they used 10W30 because that's all they had in the bulk tanks. I found it amusing that good independent shops will never use the incorrect oil because they are worried about liability, yet a dealer's service department will do what's cheaper. Same with newer Hondas that use 5W20. The good independent shops buy

5W20, even though it's expensive, while the Honda dealers (at least some of them) use 5W30 from the bulk tank.

Too early to switch to synthetic. If you're going to stick to 5K oil changes then there's no advantage for synthetic, but I guess that you're planning to extend the oil changes to longer intervals.

It definitely helps to have a legitimate receipt from a shop in case of any engine problems down the road, but it's probably sufficient to keep the oil and filter receipts (just don't stock up on oil so you always have a receipt that's dated close to when you do the change).

Why would you need a brake check at 5k?

Wow, this really surprises me. A different kind responder suggested

10K before going to synthetic. And now a suggestion for waiting until 15-20K.

My neighbor, the electrical engineer changed his oil to synthetic at One Thousand miles. I had planned to change to synthetic at 5K, on the good advice of Ray. Now I am looking at it again. Wow, 20K to break in an engine. Others concur ???

5K is fine. Others are just being paranoid. Some cars are now factory filled with synthetic because they require it.

Glad to see this documented once again. I have seen many, many people post their experiences about dealer oil changes on this forum that they use

10W-30 instead of the recommended 5W-30 for exactly the reason stated. My experience with Toyota dealer oil changes was exactly the same.

Unfortunately, Ray, who has a professional relationship with Toyota Motor Corp (or at least did at one time) is in complete denial about this subject.

If you want to switch to synthetic, wait until at least the 2nd oil change (10K). Any time after that is OK.

Complete denial? I do not recall ever saying that dealerships always use the correct oil. Better go back and read what I've posted.

More than 50% of the time dealers will use 10W-30 viscosity or higher, even on a very low mileage car that recommends 5W-30.

At the same time, you criticize someone for suggesting that maybe 10W-30 is appropriate (instead of 5W-30) for a high mileage car (having used conventional oil throughout its life) that has suffered some engine wear.

I can't confirm whether or not dealers use 10W-30 oil more than 50% of the time. I doubt if fast oil change chains are any different from dealers in their purchase of bulk oil, but if one assumes that your figures are correct, I see and understand your reasons for avoiding dealers.

As to my recommendation to stick to the factory recommended oil viscosity, I have not changed my mind.

10W-30 has no advantages over 5W-30 in a high mileage engine and actually provides less protection. If you want to compensate for engine wear, then use oil with a higher upper limit, i.e., 5W-40, keeping the lower number where it is.

The automakers are specifying the use of 5W-30 oil for one reason, and one reason alone - to squeeze another tenth of a MPG out of the EPA fuel mileage test cycle for their fleet overall numbers.

While 10W-30 isn't the "right" oil, it really isn't going to hurt anything. Unless you live in sub-freezing climates where you need the thinner stuff for cold starts without a block heater.

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Thanks, very interesting. I assume you mean that AT the second oil change one could change over to synthetic. In other words when changing the oil at 10K, one could change to synthetic to go on beyond

10k. ?

I checked Toyota's faq section at

and they say to wait until the first scheduled oil change before switching to synthetic, so I take back what I said about 10K and change it to 5K. Here is a link to the info:

Note that 10W30 is fine, except in very cold weather. This was the justification used by the dealer, though the reality was that they didn't want to have multiple bulk tanks of oil, and 10W30 was the closest to a one size fits all bulk oil. Yet upon my request, they went into the parts department and got six quarts of 5W30 off the shelf to use.

At least in my area, a lot of people take their vehicles up into the mountains in the winter, and it's better to use the 5W30 that is recommended in the manual. There are advantages to the 10W30 in warmer weather, as 10W30 has more base stock, and less viscosity modifiers than

5W30. Still, the dealer should at least ask if you want the 5W30 or 10W30.

I haven't been back to the dealer for an oil change since then, and this was about four years ago--maybe by now they have bulk 5W30, but I just don't trust the service department anymore. Similarly, another dealer was pushing the Bilstein Wallet Flush when the vehicle was only about one year old, and I'll never return to that service department either. I either do it myself, or take it to an independent mechanic that will do it for $20 with me providing a filter. It's kind of a pain on the

4Runner to do the oil change, as you have to remove the skid plates, so $20 is worth it unless I'm feeling bored.

I'm not sure who Ray is, and I don't know how widespread the practice of using 10W30 actually is, but it did happen to me.