Oil Spec

At 75, I no longer have the desire or ability to crawl under a car to do maintenance.

I've had some bad experience with local repair shops that use the least experienced to do oil changes.

There's a local shop where the owner does all the work. He had done some pretty technical repairs on my GF's Rav 4.

I'm sure he will use bulk oil so I need the Specs. I know it calls for 0w-20.

 

I no longer do my own oil change so I bring my oil and filter to the shop and they change it for me.

 

Thanks for your7± advise, but what is the oil spec?

 

I hear ya, and my time doing maintenance will come to a close some day. The shop where the owner, or experienced mechanics do the work, is the right place. I recently joined the 5th Gen community after the local dealership destroyed the rear differential in my aging 4th Gen.

0W-20 is the spec but there are options. I prefer High Mileage oils even in new/newer vehicles, for the extra anti-wear and seal conditioner additives. Shop bulk oil won’t be that variety.

My current go-to is Valvoline Extended Protection High Mileage. Hefty concentration of molybdenum additive and kept my 4th Gen 1GR engine valvetrain quiet. Same for my wife’s Jeep Pentastar. I just changed my ‘24 4Runner last weekend and time will tell.

So if the shop will let you bring your own oil & filter, I’d recommend that oil @ 7 quarts and a Toyota filter. If not, as long as they’re using a solid name brand it will be fine.

 

That's all the spec you need - 0W20. Don't need to know the API service level, Dexos number and other crap.

 

Me personally don't like the mess, effort and trouble of oil changes and recycling.

Here in Denver I go to Toyota/Lexus independent shop. From what I see from the front desk and per the bill they use Toyota Synthetic Oil 0w20. (I see those black Toyota bottles in the back / stores along with many other red&white boxes of toyota parts.)

• cost for oil - 62.34
• drain plug gasket - 1.13
• oil filter kit - 7.47
• labor - 13.20

To me personally would like to spend $84.14 at a shop vs my effort and time.

***The Toyota dealership that I used to go for service charge about the same amount. $120-125 for oil change + tire rotation.

 

You can get into the weeds but the bulk 0W-20 he uses will do, I guarantee it.

No need to get into anything specific until way down the road, if ever.

Heck, you can toss in 5W-20/30 if you wanted, but otherwise “0W-20” is all he needs to know and it says it on the cap anyway.

 

It's in the owners manual.

This. Synthetic 0w-20. Any brand that is recognized. That's all.

 

0w-20. Just don't use cheap garbage non synthetic non brand oil.

 

Is there even such thing as 0W-20 non-synthetic?

 

I have only seen blends, not fully conv.

 

What oil you use is less important than how often you change.

 

Nah,

 

Thanks everyone for responding.

 

How are they making any money at all for $13.20 for the labor on a 5G 4R oil change?

 

Could be a loss-leader or close to break-even, the oil cost is above par though that’s for sure.

Opportunity to sell a $30 cabin air filter too.

 

They’re not. They money is made on upsell strategies. Many dealers are putting a sales emphasis on technicians that puts the tech in a shitty pay position resulting in cut corners… like in some cases, you may not even get the filter changed. Most people will never know.

 

I must have gotten one of them Puerto Rican 4Runners, I use 5w-30 in south Florida. Thing runs like a raped ape. Fuel trims, timing, all the same with 0w-20 vs 5w-30 in live data on my autel

 

May be upchange for Toyota oil might be how they make money? I'm not sure.
(Used the maintenance book to cover personal info)


(This the price I see for Toyota oil search by my zip code on Toyota parts.)

 

Some local big box stores near me do carry old-school non-synthetic castrol 5w30. It ain’t cheap anymore! It was the same price or more expensive than synthetic.

I think all 0w20s are synthetic by definition though, so they were never made as conventional oil.

 

I get my bottle oil at my local dealer-cheap. I think less that $10 per quart.

 

Walmart often has 5 Qt. jugs of top brands full synthetic 0W-20 for $28 plus tax. Best oil prices around LA area.

 

Usually the oil changes are a loss leader for the shop to upsell on other parts and services (like fuel system douching). The shop is probably putting 100% markup on the bulk oil though.

The $13.20 labor is probably why the finnicky stock tinfoil skid plate gets its bolts cross-threaded

 

I don’t get you man. Your contributions to this forum are prolific, helpful, and almost always correct. And I appreciate that. But you never seem to miss an opportunity to get in a dig at Toyota. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a Toyota fanboy. But the degree of fundamental disappointment you express makes me wonder why you own a 4Runner.

 

All mechanics are like that. They tend to hate what they work on most.

They’re all pieces of shit. Every last one. Some are just shittier than others.

 

In late 2022, I was shopping for an expendable highway crawler that would handle the deep snow in our region. The choice came down between a used Tacoma and a used 4Runner. 4Runners depreciated faster so they were a better deal on the used market and slightly more plentiful. (Majority of used Tacomas for sale in my region were limo-length double cab long bed config, bad for zipping through traffic.)

I briefly considered a 2nd gen Frontier as they were reliable and depreciated even faster, but the straight-pull automatic shifter gate design and poor pedal positioning would've driven me nuts.