Toyota May be Changing Oil Change Intervals Soon.
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Toyota May be Changing Oil Change Intervals Soon.
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Toyota always "late to the game"? Yeah, because the Prius was a copy cat of everyone elses 50 mpg hybrid that had been out for years.
And it's about time Toyota caught up with everyone in terms of the recent quality improvements across the auto landscape. They certainly couldn't go on building unreliable crap.
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I don't know if you knew about the sludge issues that Toyota had in the early-mid 90's.
Partially because of it, it was necessary for Toyota to promote frequent oil change intervals (because most people procrastinate and push it) to prevent issues (moreso that what they had to deal with already). It didn't involve all cars, but you have to have uniformity within the brand.
No need for a flame suit. It's true. But it isn't the whole picture...
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. Just because Toyota's reliability and quality standards are above most other automakers, doesn't mean they're "late to the game", it means they take their time and have patience to make sure their quality goals are met.
And it's about time Toyota caught up with everyone in terms of the recent quality improvements across the auto landscape. They certainly couldn't go on building unreliable crap.
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Even in the 3.0L V6, If you changed the oil at decent intervals (say, every 3-5 months), you generally had little or no problem. The problem came because this engine, due to the design of its oil passages, was NOT forgiving of extended drain intervals, so, if you let it go to only once a year and 8000-10,000 miles like some people do, you would up with a block full of brown Jell-O and a seized-up motor. I've seen a number of ruined 3.0L bocks myself in the service departments.
There was a class-action suit on this matter, and Toyota came up with a settlement that gave owners a new or rebuilt engine if a proof-of-oil-change, with the correct oil/filter, could be shown at least once in the last 12 months. That, IMO was too lienient......once a year, IMO, is engine abuse on the part of the owners, but the company agreed to it.
Partially because of it, it was necessary for Toyota to promote frequent oil change intervals (because most people procrastinate and push it) to prevent issues (moreso that what they had to deal with already). It didn't involve all cars, but you have to have uniformity within the brand.
Last edited by mmarshall; Sep 17, 2009 at 11:16 AM.
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I've been using 5w-30 Mobil 1 full synthetic w/ Nippon Denso filter since oil change #1 in my wife's 05 4runner... 7500-8000 mile intervals, though.
It's worth noting that they seemingly never fully fixed the sludge issue in the old 3.0/3.3L V6s... if owners tried to run synthetic oil for 10k miles in those engines they might have been asking for trouble. So while some may say they're late to the game, I might say they really weren't capable of extending their intervals until they got rid of that problematic engine which I think was last to be seen in the recently discontinued previous gen RX450h.
It's worth noting that they seemingly never fully fixed the sludge issue in the old 3.0/3.3L V6s... if owners tried to run synthetic oil for 10k miles in those engines they might have been asking for trouble. So while some may say they're late to the game, I might say they really weren't capable of extending their intervals until they got rid of that problematic engine which I think was last to be seen in the recently discontinued previous gen RX450h.
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You need to work on your research a bit more. The Prius came to market initially in Japan in 1997, and that was years before the Insight, which only came to market in 1999. The Prius was the first mass-produced hybrid.
Enthusiasts are grossly misinformed on this because lazy automotive media personnel always talk about how the Insight came out a few months before the Prius *in the US*, but they almost never mention when the Prius originally debuted.
Enthusiasts are grossly misinformed on this because lazy automotive media personnel always talk about how the Insight came out a few months before the Prius *in the US*, but they almost never mention when the Prius originally debuted.