How often engine oil should be replaced ? for Toyota synthetic motor oil

[vitz]

1 minute ago, Sadeepa Dilhara said:

Do you use this below oil?

Is it full synthetic?

I serviced my car today at Toyota Lanka andchanged engine oil after 6000km. The guy who changed the engine oil told me existing oil is not in good condition. (Cannot go up to 7500km). I changed oil last time using exact same oil in this photo. I'm using the car in normal Kurunegala traffic. Why he said that? Is he correct or is he doesn't know about oil?

 

 

 

I too used the same oil. Perhaps you may have to do bit of maths. Our CHR is used for long trips in almost without traffic. 

Our other vehicle (EC) does the school trip of 10 km in the morning in Kandy traffic and it takes 2 hrs 15 minutes. CHR has gone 85 kms during that 2 hrs time. I will never wait for 7500 km to oil change for the vehicle run in Kandy but for CHR - Yes.

 

 

 

[Sadeepa Dilhara]

19 minutes ago, vitz said:

I too used the same oil. Perhaps you may have to do bit of maths. Our CHR is used for long trips in almost without traffic. 

Our other vehicle (EC) does the school trip of 10 km in the morning in Kandy traffic and it takes 2 hrs 15 minutes. CHR has gone 85 kms during that 2 hrs time. I will never wait for 7500 km to oil change for the vehicle run in Kandy but for CHR - Yes.

 

 

 

@iRage said "Hmmm...5000km does seem rather short for fully synthetic oils...usually even for severe usage the recommendation is about 7500-8000km whilst normal ranges from 10,000-15,000km."

He said - "severe usage the recommendation is about 7500-8000km"?????

What is your opinion about that?

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Edited August 17, 2020 by Sadeepa Dilhara

[gayanath]

8 hours ago, vitz said:

I too used the same oil. Perhaps you may have to do bit of maths. Our CHR is used for long trips in almost without traffic. 

Our other vehicle (EC) does the school trip of 10 km in the morning in Kandy traffic and it takes 2 hrs 15 minutes. CHR has gone 85 kms during that 2 hrs time. I will never wait for 7500 km to oil change for the vehicle run in Kandy but for CHR - Yes.

Very correct...

@Sadeepa Dilhara  I have been using this Toyota 0W20 synthetic oil for my Aqua for about 5 years (in fact this synthetic came about 3 years ago. There was a mineral one before that). Normally I do about 8,000-9,000 km in six months so my oil change interval is almost 8,000-9,000 km. There is nothing wrong with the quality of the oil at the time of draining (by visual inspection only - as far as is known there is no other way to test in Sri Lanka). 

[iRage]

8 hours ago, Sadeepa Dilhara said:

@iRage said "Hmmm...5000km does seem rather short for fully synthetic oils...usually even for severe usage the recommendation is about 7500-8000km whilst normal ranges from 10,000-15,000km."

He said - "severe usage the recommendation is about 7500-8000km"?????

What is your opinion about that?

•  

Well..if your oil gets dirty (black with carbon and other impurities being absorbed) after just using 5000-6000km with synthetic oil under normal driving conditions..and your car is not that old...then you need to pay a little bit of attention to if everything in your car is okay. Synthetic oil will last for anything from 7500-10000km ranging from harsh to normal usage. So why would the the oil get so deteriorates in such a short amount of time ?

Having said that....the oil turning black does not necessarily mean that the oil has gotten dirty to a point that it is unusable. Most oils do get darker in color as it absorbs impurities...it just means your oil is actually working.

Also...for some reason your oil IS un-use-ably dirty after short time period....do you need to use synthetic oils ? Would a mineral work ? Remember...a good mineral oil is always better than a substandard synthetic oil

[gayanath]

@iRage, @Sadeepa Dilhara

Below is one visual test I did a few years ago. (Since I did not have a test tube at home that day, I used two bottles of vanilla with different colored caps). Hope below images are self explanatory. Many things that are said by color are false. It is not easy to tell you anything by the color until it critically degraded. (Although the two samples were 10W30 and 0W20, both were mineral oils). 

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by gayanath

[tbird]

In my Ford Focus, the agent recommends to change oil in 7500km or 6 months. I need to use 5W 20 fully synthetic oil 4.6l and it is pretty expensive. It costs me around 15000 for 5 liters of oil and the cost of the oil filter is around 3700/-

I feel it can run 1 year if I do not reach 7500 km. However I need to change the oil and filter in every 6 months to maintain the warranty.

 

[tbird]

16 hours ago, vitz said:

Perhaps other mechanisms of targeting fuel efficiency and less emissions may require high octane.....

Yeah...region based recommendations of Octane number for CHR is puzzling to me!!!

Yeah, it could be the emission regulation. My car is designed for Euro 6 emission standard similar to new Eclipses \CHRs are designed to Europe

[iRage]

@gayanath..that is what I said...oil turning black does not mean that the oil is dirty to a point it has reached its end-of-life. So it is hard to say how or why the person changing the oil said that the oil cannot be used anymore. 

[iRage]

18 hours ago, gayanath said:

@iRage, @Sadeepa Dilhara

Below is one visual test I did a few years ago. (Since I did not have a test tube at home that day, I used two bottles of vanilla with different colored caps). Hope below images are self explanatory. Many things that are said by color are false. It is not easy to tell you anything by the color until it critically degraded. (Although the two samples were 10W30 and 0W20, both were mineral oils). 

Uhh...you did 9308 km in 2 months and 10 days ?

[gayanath]

On 8/19/2020 at 5:17 AM, iRage said:

Uhh...you did 9308 km in 2 months and 10 days ?

My Brother-in-law. He was doing 60,000 km per year those days for daily office commuting from Matara to Hambanthota. Now bit less. Sample 1 took at the service but 2 taken from the dipstick line after keeping some time on start. 

We bought both cars together in December 2014 as 0 millage. Axio has 194,000+ km on the clock now. 

Trust me, we have its first (first and only) spark plug replacement (so-called tune-up) at 180,000+ km. There were no carbon deposits, and the pugs were in excellent condition. But it was replaced because the manufacturer's recommendation was less than that. We are still using 0W20 without harm. 

Edited September 5, 2020 by gayanath
Axio millage corrected - It's 194,000 km not 200,000+ as I mentioned by oversight

[iRage]

14 minutes ago, gayanath said:

Trust me, we have its first (first and only) spark plug replacement (so-called tune-up) at 180,000+ km. There were no carbon deposits, and the pugs were in excellent condition. But it was replaced because the manufacturer's recommendation was less than that. We are still using 0W20 without harm. 

..and that is another thing mechanics these days freak out about....if the tip of the spark plug is burnt black (you kno the ash color) they say it is spoilt and throw it off and put new ones...came across a few people who were freaked out that their cars were broken because the mechanics replaced the iridium spark plugs after just 20-40K (now of course I am assuming that these are nor meter rolled back cars...two of them I am certain are genuine as I know the cars).

[gayanath]

Another example that color has nothing to say, 

After completing 5 years I replaced my aqua transmission oil for the first time (Mileage 78, XXX km). Although the color was dark, after 12 hours there was nothing visible to the naked eye on the paper. (Anyway, I don't know if there were micro or nano scale particles ... ??)

[iRage]

With CVTs..that is the the problem...the micro particles and then the subsequent slight change (above the range) in viscocity that might result from it that messes up the stuff inside...

[kush]

8 hours ago, iRage said:

..and that is another thing mechanics these days freak out about....if the tip of the spark plug is burnt black (you kno the ash color) they say it is spoilt and throw it off and put new ones...came across a few people who were freaked out that their cars were broken because the mechanics replaced the iridium spark plugs after just 20-40K (now of course I am assuming that these are nor meter rolled back cars...two of them I am certain are genuine as I know the cars).

My perfectly ok plugs were replaced by the agent @ 21K km as per the recommended major service @ 4 years. 

[iRage]

3 minutes ago, kush said:

My perfectly ok plugs were replaced by the agent @ 21K km as per the recommended major service @ 4 years. 

Almost all cars these days have a 80-100K replacement interval for spark plugs because almost all cars come with iridium plugs. All the service schedules I have seen here and in some other countries have had the same indicated in the scheduled maintenance guides. The only exception was the Fortuner, Innova, etc..which came with standard had short life cycles) copper plugs ...those had a 40-50K replacement scheduled (like in old cars which . For the Fortuner....I was given the option to replace the standard plugs with iridium plugs and use them longer (which I believe is something they would do for any old car).  I never got to do the service as I had to pretty much abandon the car and evacuate back to Japan thanks to COVID-19 (well..I did sell off the car....but it was like shoving it at the first person who made an offer kind of thing).

 

[Davy]

On 8/19/2020 at 3:58 PM, gayanath said:

After completing 5 years I replaced my aqua transmission oil for the first time (Mileage 78, XXX km). Although the color was dark, after 12 hours there was nothing visible to the naked eye on the paper. (Anyway, I don't know if there were micro or nano scale particles ... ??)

Transmission oil is intentionally made the translucent red using a dye that fades over time. This is so that visual inspection can be done against a gauge to determine if the fluid needs replacement. Just by looking at how dark (almost black) the fluid is, one can easily tell that it's well past its usable life. 

Unless there's excessive wear in the transmission, you're not going to find any visible particles in the fluid. But this doesn't mean the fluid has lost it's viscosity or heat absorption properties.

If you leave a half empty can of engine oil on a shelf and inspect the colour after 10 years, it would look exactly the same as the day the can was first opened. But the oil would have degraded (due to contact with moisture and general breakdown) well past its usable condition.