Oil change light: Based on miles or viscosity?

[Jer]

I'm relatively sure it's a simple odometer based warning but was curious if anyone knew for sure. I did an oil change 5k miles ago and the light is on again. I use synthetic oil so there's no reason to change it again at 5k miles so I plan to reset the check light and change it at the second one. Otherwise, I'm spending a LOT of money on longer lasting synthetic oil for nothing.

[9phil9]

The light comes on triggered by mileage only.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by 9phil9

The light comes on triggered by mileage only.

Pretty much what I had assumed but where were you able to find this information? I wasn't able to find it to confirm my assumption.

[mral1515]

Originally Posted by Jer

Pretty much what I had assumed but where were you able to find this information? I wasn't able to find it to confirm my assumption.

Mileage and from working on numerous Toyota's

[9phil9]

Feel free to ask anyone down at your local dealership.

Even the janitor will tell you that you are resetting the mileage in order to get the "Service Needed" light to go away.

If your system was based on usable oil life, there would be an indicator showing you the percentage left.

Toyota doesn't bother to print anything that obvious in your owners manual.
So it's a good thing you belong to this site and can get such important, and interesting information in print.

[Jer]

Thanks fellas. I was pretty sure that was the case but wanted someone to back it up for me. Resetting and forgetting for the next 5k miles.

[Marty358]

If you reset and forget for another 5000 miles, the Toyota dealer may tell you to forget about your engine warranty. Check your owner's manual for oil change intervals. If you exceed, kiss your warranty goodbye even with synthetic oil.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by Marty358

If you reset and forget for another 5000 miles, the Toyota dealer may tell you to forget about your engine warranty. Check your owner's manual for oil change intervals. If you exceed, kiss your warranty goodbye even with synthetic oil.

They would have to prove that any damage incurred is a direct result to user neglect and the viscosity of the engine oil would be tested first. Given standard use and synthetic oil there really is no reason your viscosity wouldn't be WELL within tolerances. I wouldn't have bothered asking this question unless I knew running 10k miles on my oil was safe. There's plenty of opinions but if you doubt mine, have your oil tested at 5k miles and 10k miles on full synthetic (naturally aspirated of course.. I wouldn't exceed 3k miles on a turbo charged vehicle) and you'll see that the numbers are just fine. If you pay for synthetic oil and change every 5k you're just wasting your money.

[Marty358]

My point exactly with the 5000 miles and synthetic, but make a claim and show 10,000 mile oil change intervals and you not the dealer will be paying for an engine. If you don't believe me , ask your dealer. I am only trying to help you avoid paying for an engine if you are within warranty. They always ask for maintenance records when you make a claim.

[Jer]

Originally Posted by Marty358

My point exactly with the 5000 miles and synthetic, but make a claim and show 10,000 mile oil change intervals and you not the dealer will be paying for an engine. If you don't believe me , ask your dealer. I am only trying to help you avoid paying for an engine if you are within warranty. They always ask for maintenance records when you make a claim.

*sighs*

I worked at dealerships before. I know how it works. Thanks for the concern.

[Marty358]

Since you have worked at a dealership, you know they will void your warranty because of the sludging problems and exceeding the 5000 mile limit. Why do you think they put that light there in the first place?

[yspert]

i've seen plenty of engines with sludge and they all have one thing
in common. lack of oil changes.
i've seen plenty of engines without sludge and they all have one thing
in common. a lot of oil changes.
i use syn in my tundra and i've got 12,000 miles on it and i've changed the
oil five times.
since you would probably never put used oil in your engine, if you changed
it today, when would you conceder the oil used?
ever heard of someone damaging their engine from changing the oil too much?
the reason for changing oil is to get the crap that gets into the oil out of
the engine.
sludge is a technical term for "build up of crap."
i always like the commercials for syn oil that says "the engineers that designed your engine don't know what the fudge they are doing."
why change it at all? why not wait till 10,500 miles? save the money.
who pays $30,000 for a vehicle and then not change the oil?

yspert

[Jer]

Originally Posted by Marty358

Since you have worked at a dealership, you know they will void your warranty because of the sludging problems and exceeding the 5000 mile limit. Why do you think they put that light there in the first place?

Listen champ, I'm not getting into a pissing match with someone on the internet who clearly doesn't know the first thing about what they speak of.

For starters, the dealership does NOT void warranties. They don't even authorize them for that matter. A rep for the manufacturer authorizes and denies them. Now, for a manufacturer to void a warranty (and get negative publicity) they better have a damn good reason to do so. If you neglected your car and the oil got bad enough that they can prove it directly caused some sort of a malfunction then they can (and should) void your warranty based on these findings. This sort of thing is VERY rare contrary to internet gossip however. You're about 15x more likely to find a manufacturer honor a warranty claim that was the cause of owner neglect then you are to find them to deny a claim because of this. It's just good business.

If your oil is sludge then it should have been changed anyway. I'm talking about not changing perfectly good oil here and not trying to run sludge through my engine for an extended period of time. Again, run your car on conventional oil to 5k miles and then for 10k miles on synthetic and then send them both off to be analyzed. Until then you're just talking about something you have no idea of obviously.

Why would you come back to a thread that had been dead for 5 days to throw in your two cents other than to start some sort of petty argument?

[Jer]

Originally Posted by yspert

i've seen plenty of engines with sludge and they all have one thing
in common. lack of oil changes.
i've seen plenty of engines without sludge and they all have one thing
in common. a lot of oil changes.
i use syn in my tundra and i've got 12,000 miles on it and i've changed the
oil five times.
since you would probably never put used oil in your engine, if you changed
it today, when would you conceder the oil used?
ever heard of someone damaging their engine from changing the oil too much?
the reason for changing oil is to get the crap that gets into the oil out of
the engine.
sludge is a technical term for "build up of crap".

No, sludge is a term used to describe the oil when it's viscosity breaks down after thousands of heat cycles. Synthetic has the ability to heat cycle roughly twice as many times as conventional oil and therefore can be ran longer than conventional motor oil. If you have 'crap' building up in your engine then you need a better oil filter because it's job is to filter out all the contaminates that are suspended within the oil. The oils job is to lubricate all of the parts of the motor that are metal on metal. Over time and after many many heat cycles the oil will start losing it's ability to lubricate these parts and friction begins to occur. The result is added heat which also speeds up the process of the oil turning to sludge.

Bottom line is if you're oil is still good then it's still good. Sure you can change your oil weekly if you like but you would be stupid and throwing money out the window. I have managed to get hundreds of thousands of miles out of numerous vehicles doing it my way and have yet to have an engine fail because I didn't change the oil often enough.

[yspert]

since i'm stupid, then i guess i just don't understand why one should
change their oil at all. why not just change the filter? yspert