This is why you need to change engine oil !!!

[samo Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close samo]

many years ago a mate of mine who was very lazy with oil changes let his 5lt commodore go about 30th over, it started to tick so we pulled the rocker cover of and yep it was sludged up, towed to a mates W/S and he poured some diesel into the motor, run it for a while, dropped the old and did this a few times and the old girl came back from the edge, funny thing was it went a hell of a lot better after its near death experience

[Matty80 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Matty80]

I just like how we always blame it on the wife and how she never looks after the cars we 'let' them drive!

[Derb Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Derb]

Hi Fellas. My brother has a garage in Auckland where he services many Jap imports for the dealers. The BMW shown is a fairly common example of what he has to deal with. Usual fix is to drop off the sump and rocker cover and steam clean from both ends followed by strainer clean and full flush. He doesnt offer any guarantee with this sort of work. Cheers.

[peril Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peril]

Which brings me to my question on oil change intervals.

I have always owned 4x4 Diesels (yes all Toyotas too). I have also always serviced my cars @ 5000km (changed oil) and changed Genuine Toyota filters @ 10000km. I have just brought a 2008 Prado D4D with a 3 year 'as new' Toyota warranty.

My quandary is Toyota only change oil every 10000km now according to the book, should I continue the practice that has served me so well for 35 years of changing my oil @ 5000km? Is Mr Toyota guna get upset if I change his oil more often and void my 3 year warranty?

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Peril, my hilux was done every 4 to 5 and filter as well, dont see the point of putting new oil in without new filter as well, sold it with 300thou on it and still going strong (not sure the new owner is padantic as I was) then when I had my 01 1KZ prado did that every 5 and filter as well. Sold it with 107k on it but did do the head. The petrol 120 I have now, I do every 10k and still clean when I change it just slightly discoloured. If you want to keep doing it make sure you use genuine filter, try and find out what oil there using just so your not mixing the two different types (not a major issue but could be if you have an issue within side the engine and they do tests ??) unless you tell them they will never know !!. I have done it with other vehicles and never had any problems but again they didnt need to test oil or anything..Cheers Steve

[peril Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peril]

Steve, seems you enjoy helping guys here, thanks for the reply.

Glad to see I'm not the only pedantic Prado (Toyota) owner here, your advise was what I had in mind, although in the past with the older large oil canister type (1HZ) I had more faith it was good for 5000km. The new filter in the D4D is tiny, I am yet to price one but hopefully they are cheaper than the past $48.00 for the 1HZ. I also now live in Sydney, closest dealer is used to dealing with housewives in their city tractors. Every time I pop in for a filter I get strange looks, they have to often go looking for one and always ask if I'm a dealer, heheh. Last time I checked Toyota in Brisbane used Caltex Synthetic which was very pricey, but it's worth it to use the same as Toyota I agree.

I wonder how the counter chick will react in Sydney City Toyota if I ask 'what oil they use'

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

Well Peril you could put it this way, morning love how are you ?? (providing its female lol) I just checked my oil and noticed its down a tad and I always get my prado serviced by you (not complaining) but would really love to know what brand of oil your using as firstly its down just a tad but also doing a long trip soon and want to get the service done by Toyota while Im away in what ever town Im in at the time and would love to know what brand of oil you use so I can purchase the same brand and carry it with me so Im not mixing different brands untill I get back and you do the next required service as I always do ?? Reckon that should get you the brand they use.............I cought Holden out when we bought a new commodore years ago we upgraded the wheels from 16 inch to 17 and were suppose to be genuine HSV rims, wasnt till I filled it chockers with fuel that the rear tyres were scuffing the rear guards, holden put a part number on everything, I took wheels off no part number so I new then they were copys, they had a Bob Jane next to them, rang them and told them that I wanted the same spare for my boot, are they the suppliers to the deaer ship ?? yes sir we fit heaps of those clubsport rims, thanks for coming I said and boy didnt the dealer ship get a mouthfull (spent all day there with my feet on the new car sales mans desk (I kid you not) and told him Im not leaving and Im gunna whistle in his jumbo size ears till he replaces all 4 rims with the genuine wheels and I dont give a shit how much out of pocket hes gunna be as I paid extra for genuine HSV wheels as per contract, by the end of the day he had ordered the new rims and I had them fitted up 2 days later when they come from Melbourne, pricks thought I would give up, same as my mums new toyota, all she ordered was a new camry, alloys,rear bob tail, after a week kept telling her they were waiting on an aircon kit, bullshit, I worked for toyota at the time and did a stock check even though she didnt buy if from down here she bought up the coast and there heaps of aircons for that model in stock, I said I bet its been damaged, rang the dealership and asked what smash repairs do they recomend as Ive had a dingle in my corolla (didnt even own one) yes sir we use such and such, thankyou. I jumped in my car and drove from here to there (hour & 1/2 away) had the stock number with me and sure as shit there it was sitting in the repairers getting the two side doors repaired where it had been hit in the yard when some one else was moving one of the other cars, lying pricks, told them they better order a new one and told them no aircon no nothing, she picked it up I fitted the genuine air myself (as I was pre del manager) and saved her a smll fortune in the meantime..........Tell them nothing they can use against you in case theirs any issues and you need warranty, same as people using chips and things to upgrade the power output etc, some dealers will tell you they will know if a chips been fitted or not, bullshit they wouldnt have a clue if theres no telltales signs, as these days there all plug an play, no splicing of wires etc on most models not all Cheers Steve

[peril Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peril]

Yep, that's what I think too..

But I was more pointing out that their on floor service sales staff in the 'city' wouldn't even know what 'oil' was, let alone what type. You walk into the service department and it resembles a coffee shop (am I in the right place?). Bet I could even get my hair done and my wife's nails cut in their easier than I could get the oil filter

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

LOL your probably right, would imagine the most popular vehicles in there would be the lexus's unless they have there own special service department ?? Cheers Steve

[Esses Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Esses]

Back in the early 80's when I was a Commonwealth Courier I had a replacement Corolla 1 day while mine was being serviced (old 1.3 rear-drive jobs). I started it up & the oil light flickered. I drove off & it flickered. I stopped & it flickered etc etc etc. I went straight round to the pumps & checked the oil..................what oil? I managed to get a blob of sticky black crud on the end of the dipstick. I put 4 litres of oil into that old Toyota. Damn thing was running fine though.
I later came across a Commonwealth Datsun 200B in exactly the same condition.:cry:

[Brett1979 Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Brett1979]

I've got a friend with an early 2000 model Ford Laser which he's owned for a bit over 4 years. He never had it service at all while he owned it. He asked me to help him out with an oil change, and after finding out it hadn't been serviced in 4 years and 130,000km I was not looking forward to what I was going to find. His only motivation to change the oil was because his car was beginning to run a little rough and use more fuel than it used to. I took him to Supercheap Auto and we bought oil, an oil filter, an air filter, new spark plugs and replacement powersteering fluid to start with. After getting home we removed the sump bolt and no oil came out initially. I was starting to wonder if anything would come out. I stuck my fnger in the hole and scooped out the first glob of oil which spurred it to come out in globs at a time. It was thick and resembled the sandwich spread Nutella. We left the sump bolt out for 2 hrs because it was coming out at a glob every 10 seconds about. When I looked in the filler hole you could see lumps of sludge just inside. It was very bad and probably the worst I'll ever see. His air filter was virtually completely blocked with crud & sludge and it was blacker than the inside of a coffin on a moonless night. I was trying to work out how his engine was able to breath all this time. I then got under the car and had a look around the sides of the motor for leaks and the gaskets were gone on 3 sides bar the front. Thick sludge was caked on everywhere on these 3 sides. The spark plugs were a complete mongrel to remove and I was worried I'd break one. His p'steering fluid was black and thick as to be expected. I had nice, new clean bright red fluid in it after a short while which was a satisfying feeling and he commented his steering felt a little lighter to turn.

I told him to get me around to replace the oil and oil filter every 500km for the next 5 changes to try and clean the motor of some more of the sludge but he wasn't interested due to the cost..... I then suggested I show him how to change the transmission fluid, or the front diff oil, or even the coolant or brake fluid and that I had the tools for him to borrow at any time.... Nope! He still wasn't all that interested. I couldn't believe it. He'd sooner save a few hundred dollars by not doing what needs to be done when the innevitable will happen and the motor will seize in the not too distant future. Absolute madness behavioh. I'm the complete opposite and take great pride in keeping an engine well serviced and replacing old lubricants and grease during the specified intervals like clockwork.

Sent from my 3 yr old Toshiba laptop using the keyboard.

[peril Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peril]

I thought I better mention this trick for cleaning old petrol engines from black oil deposits. It was passed onto me by a country mechanic 20 years ago as a way to clean petrol engines of black tar deposits.

Simply use a change of 'diesel' oil in your old gunked petrol engine for a 1000km run, diesel oil has a high detergent content and will clean the gunk off the inside of your old petrol engine.

Never had to use this myself, I've only owned Diesels, but there is logic in this.