2024 tacoma oil service question

[93cruiser]

Due to highway ridiculousness, I now am taking the train. My commute was 23 miles one way, 15 miles highway and 8 back roads at 35 mph.

Now, I am doing 6 miles a day round-trip, 3 miles each way. I have mobil1 0w20 extended in it, changed at 3k. I'm now at 6k and 3 weeks into the short drive. I try to drive it over 20 miles highway speed on the weekend.

How rough is it on the turbo and engine with 3 mile trips 4 days a week? I do a full 1 minute warmup prior to driving it easily. It's a manual transmission and I keep the rpms low for the 3 miles but do not lug it.
Thanks

 

[Rand]

its not so rough on the engine but the oil will take a beating.

 

[edyvw]

Due to highway ridiculousness, I now am taking the train. My commute was 23 miles one way, 15 miles highway and 8 back roads at 35 mph.

Now, I am doing 6 miles a day round-trip, 3 miles each way. I have mobil1 0w20 extended in it, changed at 3k. I'm now at 6k and 3 weeks into the short drive. I try to drive it over 20 miles highway speed on the weekend.

How rough is it on the turbo and engine with 3 mile trips 4 days a week? I do a full 1 minute warmup prior to driving it easily. It's a manual transmission and I keep the rpms low for the 3 miles but do not lug it.
Thanks

Get the oil pressure up, and move.
I would move to Mobil1 ESP 0W20 X2.

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

With those short trips, the will will take a beating. You are certainly in what is considered to be severe service. This cuts your serviceable from the dealer recommended 10k down to 5K.

Personally, it was short trips, and the fact that I like to maintain vehicles and keep them as long as possible, I would be changing oil it closer to 3K.

Oil is cheap, turbos & engines aren’t

 

[Joba27n]

Of course it's not optimal engine operating conditions but even in this environment I would run 5K in the summer, 3K in the winter or 6 months. What ever comes first.

Long term wise, after a highway run or other spirited driving, it's a good idea to idle for a minute or two to allow the turbo to cool with oil/ coolant circulation before killing the engine.

 

[Delta]

If my eyes and nose are a good indicator, this engine might be rough on oil. I ran my last change about 4500 miles and the oil looked nasty and smelled horrible. Also looked to have "made oil" as well. My commute it 37 miles round trip through rural roads. Oil temp indicator does indicate it's getting to temp earlier on. I will say this is all speculation from me without a proper oil analysis. I will stick to 6mo changes which can range from 4-5k for me. I might bump the next change to a 5/0w30 oil.

The Camry in our fleet is sort of a short tripper. I change it every 6mo as well even if it only has 2500 miles on the change. Oil/filter is cheap, engine is not.

 

[Sienna dude]

Good decision on that 3k mile oil changes. If I was in your shoes I would let the filter stay and just suck the oil out. Not a bad deal if you spend just this much on your sophisticated engine every year. I can't imagine the cost of repairs on those things. "Oil is cheap, engines cost a fortune" is very true in your case. Good luck bud.

 

[93cruiser]

Thanks everyone. Does the 20 mile on weekends help the situation by getting condensation out? Or don't bother?

 

[Corollaman]

Thanks everyone. Does the 20 mile on weekends help the situation by getting condensation out? Or don't bother?

I think it would help. Our cars have short commutes during the week, I try and take a 20 minute highway ride at least once every couple of weeks.

 

[Sienna dude]

Thanks everyone. Does the 20 mile on weekends help the situation by getting condensation out? Or don't bother?

It will help the condensation. Also, don't bother as long as you change your oil regularly. Changing oil every 3000 miles would be great.

 

[barkingspider]

Is riding a bicycle an option? You get a work out, and not have to change your oil every 3k miles. Haha

 

[tired]

Due to highway ridiculousness, I now am taking the train. My commute was 23 miles one way, 15 miles highway and 8 back roads at 35 mph.

Now, I am doing 6 miles a day round-trip, 3 miles each way. I have mobil1 0w20 extended in it, changed at 3k. I'm now at 6k and 3 weeks into the short drive. I try to drive it over 20 miles highway speed on the weekend.

How rough is it on the turbo and engine with 3 mile trips 4 days a week? I do a full 1 minute warmup prior to driving it easily. It's a manual transmission and I keep the rpms low for the 3 miles but do not lug it.
Thanks

Skip the 1 minute warmup. You're just diluting your oil with fuel. Only doing harm to your engine. No need for warmup. Instead, let the engine idle for a minute or two after you're done driving to let the oil circulate and cool the turbo down. Watch the Car Care Nut's videos on care of a modern Toyota. I think he has one on turbo models specifically. You probably need a 3-4k mile interval if you want that engine to last.

 

[Joba27n]

Thanks everyone. Does the 20 mile on weekends help the situation by getting condensation out? Or don't bother?

It for sure helps alot. The less a vehicle is driven, the more issues it will have down the road. I usually recommend people drive their vehicle on the highway for atleast an hour once a month to keep everything exercised.

I think technically to be considered not a short trip by most manufactures, a vehicle should be driven for atleast 15mins past it reaching operating temperature

 

[factorytuned2012]

Similar to my situation 7 mile daily commute I try to get a 30 min drive in on the weekends to cook off condensation and let the oil do some cleaning. Don’t pay attention to miles just get the oil changed out every 6 months try to do a 30 min drive on the weekends as well. As others mentioned get an oil extractor change the filter every other oil change. Any 0W-20 you could buy from the big box stores will carry you through 6 months without breaking any brow sweat. Just stock up when prices are good super tech and Kirkland are great fallback oils while waiting on good deals to pop up.

 

[Faawrenchbndr]

Good decision on that 3k mile oil changes. If I was in your shoes I would let the filter stay and just suck the oil out. Not a bad deal if you spend just this much on your sophisticated engine every year. I can't imagine the cost of repairs on those things. "Oil is cheap, engines cost a fortune" is very true in your case. Good luck bud.

View attachment 275046View attachment 275047

Wouldn’t changing the oil but not the filter be like taking a shower and putting on the same used, nasty, stinky underwear?

That idea just doesn’t make much sense

 

[Patman]

Thanks everyone. Does the 20 mile on weekends help the situation by getting condensation out? Or don't bother?

It would help a little but it would be even better if you could extend that weekend drive up to 30 or 40 miles. With my two cars I usually drive at least 50 miles every time they get started so I never have to worry.

 

[Sienna dude]

Wouldn’t changing the oil but not the filter be like taking a shower and putting on the same used, nasty, stinky underwear?

That idea just doesn’t make much sense

Are you trying to say that the used filter will dump its filtered particles into the new oil? Nah, I don't buy that. Some OEMs in the past recommended filter change every other oil change

 

[factorytuned2012]

Wouldn’t changing the oil but not the filter be like taking a shower and putting on the same used, nasty, stinky underwear?

That idea just doesn’t make much sense

I used to have the same thought process about this but wouldn’t lose sleep over it now.

 

[Hohn]

Due to highway ridiculousness, I now am taking the train. My commute was 23 miles one way, 15 miles highway and 8 back roads at 35 mph.

Now, I am doing 6 miles a day round-trip, 3 miles each way. I have mobil1 0w20 extended in it, changed at 3k. I'm now at 6k and 3 weeks into the short drive. I try to drive it over 20 miles highway speed on the weekend.

How rough is it on the turbo and engine with 3 mile trips 4 days a week? I do a full 1 minute warmup prior to driving it easily. It's a manual transmission and I keep the rpms low for the 3 miles but do not lug it.
Thanks

Not as rough as you might think.
Use a 0w30 Euro spec oil with good certs (ESP is the obvious choice here). Give it at least 30 min of full temp operation each week. Change oil and filter every 5k or so and get on with life.

its not so rough on the engine but the oil will take a beating.

It's "rough" on the engine, but frankly this Toyota engine could take 30 years of this if the oil is premium stuff and kept fresh.

 

[Hohn]

Wouldn’t changing the oil but not the filter be like taking a shower and putting on the same used, nasty, stinky underwear?

No, it wouldn't be. Not even close.

If you want to stick with tortured personal hygiene analogies, It's more like flossing only once a day even if you're brushing 3x.