Planning first oil change @ 500 or 1000mi

[schleppy]

As I've done with most of my new cars, I plan on changing the factory oil at 500 or 1000 miles. I feel that getting that break-in oil out asap is a good thing, and I find the motor gets quieter and feels nicer after that first change.

Can anyone give me a good reason not to change the oil that early? I'm assuming Toyota does not use some special break-in oil that I need to keep in there for the first 5000 miles.

I plan on using Toyota oil for the first change (I know, I know, price gouging), then switching to another brand after.

Thanks all!

[AlexNet0]

I believe it DOES have break-in oil with detergents to wear correctly during the first oil-change period.

there have been threads on this already

[schleppy]

Reading some of the existing threads, this seems to be a point of contention for a lot of people. I don't want to open a can of worms.

I guess my only real question is whether or not the oil in the car from the factory is special or not. If it is, I'll keep it, if it's not, I'm going to change it out. Cheap insurance in my mind.

[MadMax]

Read and follow your owner's manual...

[yaris-me]

Change the oil after 1000 miles. It shouldn't make any difference.:smile:

[YarisSedan]

I changed my oil after 500 miles. Then installed a magentic drain plug and powerful magnet on my oil filter. And changed it again in another 1000 miles. You wouldnt belive how heavy the oil filter was after 1k miles from all the metal wear particles trapped inside. And the magnet on the oil drain plug as well. If you have ever changed the transmission fluid on a honda that has a magnet on thier drain plug you know what i mean when i say it took several whipes of a rag to get it all off.

I think its a good way to extend the life of your oil pump. As well as cut down on engine wear. Little bit extra money but cheap insurance.

[andaconda]

On any car that I have purchased I have always changed the oil and filter at 500 miles, then again at 1500 miles, again at 3000 miles -- then kept them on 3000 mile intervals. Never changed oil without changing the filter too. I have never had any problem doing it that way over the years.

[jambo101]

On any car that I have purchased I have always changed the oil and filter at 500 miles, then again at 1500 miles, again at 3000 miles -- then kept them on 3000 mile intervals. Never changed oil without changing the filter too. I have never had any problem doing it that way over the years.

Dude those arabs should send you a plaque for generosity above and beyond the call of duty.Arent you glad you dont have to use Shell Helix oil at $80 a quart.

[Loren]

Oil preferences and oil changing habits are one of the "holy wars" of every automotive forum. You'll never get a concensus.

I doubt that the factory fill oil is anything special, just bulk oil of the correct spec. I also doubt that there's any benefit to changing it before 5k miles, but do it if it makes you happy.

I DO have an opinion on synthetic oil, however. Every engine needs to break in for optimal performance. If you switch to synthetic oil too soon, you stop or at least greatly hinder the break-in process (yes, synthetic oil is that good). If you're going to use synthetic oil, wait until after 5k miles to switch. Then (holy war point again), aside from the warranty requirement to change the oil at 5k, you can get away with 10k synthetic oil changes if you want.

[jambo101]

If the engineers who designed the engine say to change the oil at 6000 miles/10000kms thats good enough for me i'll presume they know more about the engine than i do .

[schleppy]

Oil preferences and oil changing habits are one of the "holy wars" of every automotive forum. You'll never get a concensus.

I doubt that the factory fill oil is anything special, just bulk oil of the correct spec. I also doubt that there's any benefit to changing it before 5k miles, but do it if it makes you happy.

I DO have an opinion on synthetic oil, however. Every engine needs to break in for optimal performance. If you switch to synthetic oil too soon, you stop or at least greatly hinder the break-in process (yes, synthetic oil is that good). If you're going to use synthetic oil, wait until after 5k miles to switch. Then (holy war point again), aside from the warranty requirement to change the oil at 5k, you can get away with 10k synthetic oil changes if you want.

I'm 100% with you on this one. I will do at least the first three oil changes using dino, then consider switching to synth.

[IllusionX]

If the engineers who designed the engine say to change the oil at 6000 miles/10000kms thats good enough for me i'll presume they know more about the engine than i do .

5000miles or 8000km. don't get people wrong here.

[andaconda]

Dude those arabs should send you a plaque for generosity above and beyond the call of duty.Arent you glad you dont have to use Shell Helix oil at $80 a quart.


I know, I know...
But I've always had good luck doing it this way.
As for oil brands --- each to his own. I think any name brand is ok.
I work in a fleet shop and have used the cheapest oil that is bid out.
We change at 3000 miles and most of our vehicles go 2 and 3 hundred thousand miles without any engine problems. Now that's on the least expensive 5w30 oil that we can find.:w00t:

[BLAZINBLUEVITZ]

changed oil at 1000 miles and installed header/crank pulley at same time....

[jambo101]

I know, I know...
But I've always had good luck doing it this way.
As for oil brands --- each to his own. I think any name brand is ok.
I work in a fleet shop and have used the cheapest oil that is bid out.
We change at 3000 miles and most of our vehicles go 2 and 3 hundred thousand miles without any engine problems. Now that's on the least expensive 5w30 oil that we can find.:w00t:

Double the oil change interval on one or two of your fleet vehicles and see if there is any noticeable difference after 250k.if no difference tell your boss you have a great way of saving the company some money and its also good for the environment.

[DerFlosser]

Dropped the oil at 1,000 miles and switched to synthetic. Changed again at 3,500. Now I will continue the synthetic regimen every 3,000 miles or 6 months (whichever comes first).

[andaconda]

Double the oil change interval on one or two of your fleet vehicles and see if there is any noticeable difference after 250k.if no difference tell your boss you have a great way of saving the company some money and its also good for the environment.
As a matter of fact -- Last year to save money, they changed the interval themselves to 5000 miles between. I disagreed with the policy, but it was not my call. We average about 6000 miles a month on each vehicle. We have had two blown engines, both Buick V6's, both at about 50,000 miles. Warranty covered both of them. One cam failure on a GMC diesel that was not covered. :iono: I personally would go back to 3000 changes myself.

[evil genius]

Read and follow your owner's manual...

Agree. My dealer had a new car buyer seminar and they stated any deviation from oil change recommendations can void lubricated parts warranty. For me, I'll be hitting 6 months with about 365 miles and I will be taking it in for scheduled maintenance.

[TheSilkySmooth]

I would leave the oil in at least 1500mi. It is good oil. You will have a hard time beating it. Mobil clean 5000 5-30 is near factory in operation. I have had MAJOR problems with the toyota 90915-yzzf2 filter causing chain and tappet noise and poor operation. Its NOT the filter that came on the car. I Just did my 20k mi oc and had a yzzf2 left over from a batch I bought in Dec. Used it for a few days and had to take it off . Car was not running correct. Chain noise, tappet noise + loss of power. Put on a Hastings and all was good. IDK whats up with these Thailand made Denso filters. Definitely a bad batch out there. I am a Master Engine Tech w/ NIASE cert. used to do a lot of FIAT race tuning on the 70's + 80's. HAd to beat those Datsun 510's!

[schleppy]

I ended up changing it at 1000 miles on the dot with Toyota 5w30 and an OEM filter. The oil that came out looked pretty good, and the oil change was EASY. I also installed a magnetic drain plug for good measure.

As a side note, the motor is a lot quieter with fresh oil in there, and feels really nice.

[Fenrizwolf]

I changed the oil at 5000 and then switched to synth. at 10,000 and chg every 5000.

[TheSilkySmooth]

How come I'm the only one having problems with the yzzf2 filters - do we have Chinese knockoffs in New Hampshire exclusively? Had SAME problems with the Denso filter on the Suzuki Aerio - 'zuki had a filter recall but too late for my motor ....:(

[09YarisNC]

If the engineers who designed the engine say to change the oil at 6000 miles/10000kms thats good enough for me i'll presume they know more about the engine than i do .

I could not agree with this statement more. Every 5000 miles is the last thing my serivce tech told me. Anything sooner is only making the oil barrons smile.:biggrin:

[R2D2]

TheSilkySmooth,

I'm not sure why you've had the bad luck with the Densos but I was concerned enough I was going to get the same supply in Maine that I ordered a bunch of Nippons. (Supposed to be like OE but made in Malaysia under Japanese management.)

I've always had good luck with Denso OE stuff in other apps.

[N9QGS]

I would go for 1,000 to 1,500 for the 1st change and then change again at 5,000 and then start your normal intervals. Ron

[RedRide]

If the engineers who designed the engine say to change the oil at 6000 miles/10000kms thats good enough for me i'll presume they know more about the engine than i do .

Engineers ? It's marketing that detreminens the published servive intervals.

[R2D2]

I would go for 1,000 to 1,500 for the 1st change and then change again at 5,000 and then start your normal intervals. Ron

This was my plan exactly. I drained the factory oil and changed the filter at 1032 mi. I was glad I did. The oil was severely fuel diluted and thin/watery looking. I may even do another short interval before I start 5k/6 months. With about 300 mi post oil change the oil was already reeking of gas again.

R2

[Tamago]

since we're on the subject, when are you guys changing your tranaxle (gear) oil for the first time ?

[schleppy]

I'm changing my gear oil at 10,000 miles. Not so much because I feel it will really need it, more to check on the fluid, see if there are any shavings, and put some nice Amsoil synthetic in there. I'll probably do 30k intervals after that.

My toyota mechanic friend said that people need to change their gear oil more than Toyota recommends (though he finds their other intervals to be fine, esp. if you do any sort of hard driving. It's not hard to do, and it's cheap. Why not?

[motoxxx3]

I have just bought a new Yaris 1.0 VVTi (U.K.) The oil changes are 1 year/10,000 miles with 0W-30 fully Synthetic (Very expensive), but I do mainly short runs and don't really want to leave oil in for 1 year! Any opinions on this?
My 91 Civic has done 180,000 with 6 month changes using cheaper semi synthetic 10W40

[Inspector14]

I changed my oil at 500mi, from dinosaur factory toyota oil, to synthetic-dino grp 3 Pennzoil. got the car in december, it is really cold in december and january in alaska. was not happy with the cold performance of the factory oil, OR the Pennzoil platinum (actually had parrafin come out of solution i think. had white bits in my oil)

We had the volcano erupt here. so i changed the air filter (more on that in a sec), and the oil again at 1500mi. apparently i didnt put the air filter in right so the airbox was opena little on the intake side, remedied that problem. but now need to change the oil again at 5000mi.

since the penn plat i have been using Castrol Edge. not happy with it, makes alot of valve train noise. i want to switch to Amsoil 5w-30, Royal Purple 5w-30, or German Castrol 0w-30.

i just have reservations about the GC 0w-30. from what i gather, it will have better cold flow performance (will be thinner?) but similar hot performance.

[R2D2]

Inspector,

Are you sure the "white bits" in your Pennzoil weren't just condensation-this is fairly common in extreme cold under the right conditions (and keep an eye on your coolant!).

All great oils you mentioned. The GC is rated a 0w-30 because it passes the cold crank testing necessary to be labeled a 0W. My concern about it in a Yaris is it's "operating" viscosity-12.1 cst @100C-almost a 40 wt!

My choice of the 3 would be the Amsoil 5W-30 (ASL). A little thinner at operating temperature and I can attest to it's impressive cold start capability down to minus -30F (that's the coldest experience I've had with it).

My first choice however would be a full syn 5W-20 which is allowed by Toyota in our 1NZ-FE engines via technical service bulletin (which is in the TSB collection on this site). After your warranty is up I would then go with 0W-20. Even dino Wal Mart Super Tech 5w-20 is pretty good in the cold weather start dept. IME.

Any of the above though, you really can't go wrong.

Just my .02! Enjoy the Yaris!

R2

PS How do you find the Yaris performs in the snow? TIA

[canuk]

shleppy:

I purchased a new 2009 yaris sedan in March. Being a believer in getting out the production swarf in the oil ASAP, I did my first oil & filter change at 600 km. I noticed that when I stirred the used oil in the drain pan, there was a significant amount of silvery coloured "swarf" (small metal particles) in it.

My next changed the oil & filter at 2000 km. The amount of silvery swarf was less than the first change, but still noticably present.

Next change was at 4000 km. Considerably less swarf.

At 6000 km, I changed the oil & filter again. This time there was hardly any of the swarf noticable. I'd say that it was not discernable from that from a fully broken in engine.

I am using 5w-30 Petro-Canada Supreme oil (a good quality hydrotreated oil available here in Canada), and a Denso oil filter from my Toyota dealer. In other words, just regular parts.

The original oil in the car looked clean on the dipstick, and felt good between the fingers, but the matal swarf in it, could only be seen in the drain pan.

There is now roughly 7000 km on the car, and it is running beautifully. No oil consumption that I can tell.

So, to answer your concern about wheather to change early and often or not, I say yes. I think it is better to help ensure the engines longevity by reducing the break-in swarf. I can't imagine anyone's logic in saying that leaving the metal swarf in for the normal engine oil change interval is just as harmless as keeping it cleared out during break-in. The engine is just like any other piece of mechanical equipment - treat it right during break-in, and it will likely return the favour to you later. At least, I'm convinced that no harm will be done to the engine if you do this, and you will have the knowledge that you did the best you could for it.

Hope this helps.

Canuk.

[Inspector14]

Inspector,

PS How do you find the Yaris performs in the snow? TIA

thanks for that info! i have been planning an Amsoil change, just got in touch with the dealer here (sold out of his home garage... :iono:) so i will go that route. just need to wait for my Blackstone labs test kit to arrive.

My car (09 lift back) was purchased in December of 2008. at that time the average temperature in the day time was about 15 degrees F, at night it was dipping to -10*F down to a max of -21*F ,the car started just fine. a little slow, but it did OK. switched to synthetic (even if a grp 3) and starting was great, smooth, and fast.

it gets icy and cold here, and we DO get snow, but in the last few winters the city has gotten better at clearing the roads and not much has built up. When i first picked up the car, it had the Bridgestones on it. Potenzas dont fair well on ice, and had some hairy moments in that first week. I got some General Altimax Arctic studded and siped snow tires, and that car is solid as a rock on the ice.

The ABS comes in handy in emergency situations, but you learn to anticipate things in the winter here. summer is only like 4 months long before we hit fall. everyone forgets how to handle snow and ice, and the first 3 weeks or so of winter, is a massacre on the roads.

i am wondering if the VSC and TCS standard items on the '10 yaris, if they are just ECU re-flash items, or if there is hardware associated.......

[talnlnky]

I'm 100% with you on this one. I will do at least the first three oil changes using dino, then consider switching to synth.

thats exactly what I did... first oil change at about 4200 miles... and since then average a change every 4500 miles. I switched to synthetic at 13,000 miles. No problems here, I don't use neo magnets like some people are.... only cause I don't really want to spend the money, I might get a drain plug magnet some day... not too concerned.

When I reach 80,000 miles and my warranty is up i'll be running an expensive synthetic (probably API V oil... tho use it for probably 15,000 with filter changes every 5,000 miles... will end up being cheaper... and just as good if not better than dino every 5,000)

[frog13]

Get the metal bits out!.....save your engine.:eek:

[ctrj]

I changed my oil for the first time at 1,500 miles. I immediately switch to Mobil 1 5w-30. As soon as I discovered Mobil 1 0w-30, I switched to that. I started the Amsoil 0w-30 SSO at 85k and drained at 95k. This time, I'm going for a 15k mile oil change interval. I started with Toyota oil filters and switched to Mobil 1 oil filters once I started the extended oil change intervals.

I changed my manual transmission fluid at 70k the first time. I actually forgot about doing it and then realized I should have done it way earlier. The synchros went at 90k and a new/used transmission was installed. Now I will change it every year and use Amsoil's 75w-90 gear oil.

[ChilliwackGuy]

I bought a Yaris 2010 HB - 5 DOOR on June 5 - I was told to bring it in every 8000KM for servicing - so my 1st oil change is due @ 8000KM. My sales ref personally guaranteed me better performance and mileage after the 1st oil change. Anyway - I will def report back as to what happens after that 1st oil change - am already 3/4 there.

[RedRide]

The extended oil change intervals (including the initial change) is dictated by marketing. They simply want to claim that their cars are just as/more maintanace free then the compitition.
Any engine builder will tell you that all engines experience initial wear and the metalic particles should be remove by changing the oil sooner than the regulare change interval.

Personally I changed my oil at 1,700 miles and they questiond "why so soon?
I replied that it was my car and I wont let marketing dictate how I maintain it. :smile:

[canuk]

Just thought I'd add an update to my Aug 09 post about how I changed the oil in my Yaris 4 times in the first 8000 km.

Since Nov. 09, I've been running German Castrol 0W-30. Changed it out in May at the 6month/6000 km point. The oil's appearance was still decent. (brown, slippery, not burnt or smelly). The engine runs great and has not burned any noticable amount of oil, ever.

I do a mix of city/highway driving and i'm now getting about 6.4l/100 (37 USMPG)