first oil change: report

My 1996 Taurus was the first car with one.

They aren't HEPA filters.
Judging by what I find on them, I think they are more for keeping the air box and vents from clogging with leaves and maple seeds.

 

My 2000 Tundra does not have one but the 2008 Corolla i owned had one.My engine air filter especially gets clogged with basic road dust.I realize they are not HEPA filters but restricting air flow to the engine is not optimal.

 

Well it's your money. If you rely on the dealership to tell you what needs doing, that's pretty much the same as having the proverbial fox guarding the hen house.

 

I was talking about cabin air filters. I find leaf chunks on mine.

Road dust will eventually clog the engine air filter, but the restriction most see before changing only has an impact at wide open throttle. Going back to the cities. It is a low speed environment; less road dust kicked up. Then diesels are cleaner, and the particulates coming out of a gas tail pipe are too small for the filters.

 

Great that they actually looked at the satisfaction survey. Dealers here in the US usually ignore that but if you call and complain to Toyota US, the dealer service manager sometimes responds.

I had a question on a recall that did not involve any problem with the dealer. Basically, right after I had the recall performed, Toyota extended it to another area of the car. Right after talking to Toyota, the dealer service manager called me. I ended up bringing the vehicle back in to them to get the issue corrected to my satisfaction even though they could not bill Toyota gagin for their work..

 

Engine air filters' lives can vary greatly so best just to check them every 6-months when you do an oil change. Mine normally are ready for changing every-other oil change, or once a year.
Cabin filters are the same and, in some of our cars, they are dirty after just 6-months but, generally, they last a year or more. I buy after-market carbon-activated ones MUCH cheaper than the Toyota brand so, as a minimum, they are changed yearly. (The charcoal activation only lasts that long once you open the plastic container.)

 

Hey there, I would stick with 0W-16 for your viscosity as modern cars have very tight tolerances on gaps and such, if the manufacturer tells you to use 0w-16, you should stick with 0w-16. Then again, some people believe that thicker oil will prolong the oil but my take is that, if you stick with the manufacturer oil and you change it every 3-5k miles, you will last alot longer than those who change every 10k. As for your oil level, they did add a little too much, will it be detrimental to your engine? No, but just keep in mind, next time please do check your level AFTER the engine is warm and if it’s not in the middle or within max line, tell the dealer to redo it. Fuel additives are perfectly fine, it works the best when your tank is almost empty since it will be mixed properly once you fill up, I add it once 2-3 months into my car, does it actually clean out your injectors? Not sure since it’s such a controversial topic, but I believe in it and extra 10 dollars for a peace of mind isn’t so bad. And for your filters, both engine and cabin, I replace mine every 10k miles or year, and for the battery filter, I replace it every 20k miles. Cabin and engine filter won’t cost you over 30 dollars, replacing the engine filter frequently has more benefits than you think, the debris that goes into your engine is one of the main factors that will damage your engine in a long run so I wouldn’t skip on the engine filter myself. Take all my words as a grain of salt but it’s my take. Cheers!

 

My 2025 Camry Hybrid has the same engine as the 2024 Camry Hybrid but they changed the oil recommendation from 0w-16 to 0w-8, Many people think the lower viscosity is just for slightly greater fuel efficiency while shortening the engine's useful life. YMMV.

 

Hey there, yea I believe that, that is a pretty big jump for your engine, but as for the Prius engine, the viscosity between 16 and 20 is so minimal, i’ll trust toyota engineers. But i know plenty of people that will choose 20 everytime which I’m not against, very interesting though. I do think the EU regulations are also contributing to the oil viscosity they’re using, I believe they mandate manufacturers to thin the oil every so often to comply with their environmental bs. Cheers!

 

Same engine doesn't mean Toyota stuck with all the same parts.

The 8 is also pretty close to the 16 and 20. Japan started with these viscosities to conserve the use of resources(fuel).

 

The statement that SAE 0W-8, SAE 0W-16, and SAE 0W-20 are very close is absolutely false.

SAE 0W-20 is very close to SAE 5W-30, yes, but ILSAC has separated the viscosity classes in GF-6 as GF-6A (all except SAE 0W-16) and GF-6B (SAE 0W-16) so that people would not accidentally put SAE 0W-16 in cars requiring SAE 0W-20 or thicker.

SAE 0W-8 and SAE 0W-12 are not even in ILSAC yet. They are only part of JASO GLV-1. It looks like even the upcoming ILSAC GF-7 does not have them.

Regarding differences in viscosity, even a small difference in HTHS viscosity could make a huge difference by lowering the minimum oil-film thickness (MOFT) to the point that you get metal–metal contact in the bearings or cylinders, causing exponentially increasing wear.

 

Hey there, yea you probably know alot more on this topic than me for sure, i personally don’t think 20 and 16 are big enough difference that your car will break down significantly faster if using 20, real world performance probably won’t get affected by much, that’s my personal opinion but I do believe in what you say. Cheers!

 

If the manufacturer OK’s it, it’s fine, but otherwise, it may not be worth taking the risk. The oil in hybrids do not get very hot (therefore, very thin) when they are driven gently, as the engine would be off half the time; so, it’s less of a concern in that case.