Originally Posted By: BrianR
Originally Posted By: raffy
OLM stands for Oil Life Monitor. A lot of newer cars have them; they're basically one or more sensors hooked up to the engine computer. The computer uses the sensors to tell you when you need to change the oil. It uses a combination of how many miles you have on the oil, engine temperatures, and other data. I think every new Honda has one now; my Ridgeline has one.
With modern engines that are typically built to close tolerances, you can switch to synthetic anytime. In fact, many auto manufacturers use synthetic or synthetic blend oils as their factory fills.
Follow the owner's manual recommendation for changing out the factory fill. I've never owned a new Toyota but I'm pretty sure the owner's manual will tell you, explicitly or implicitly, to follow the same OCI for it as for any subsequent oil changes. Such was the case with my Ridgeline - the owner manual simply said to follow the OLM even for the factory fill. But, like lots of people here on BITOG, I was a lot more conservative and changed the factory fill at 3500 miles (and that's not as conservative as a lot of folks here).
Amsoil makes good oil, and a lot of people here swear by it. You won't go wrong using one of their oils.
And... welcome to BITOG!
The manual/maintenance guide does not specifically say anything about the factory fill other than the first oil change should be at 5000/6 months, and to continue that OCI for the life of the car basically. I don't see any reason why changing the oil sooner would matter, but I have seen some people argue that "piston rings wont seat properly if you change to synthetic before x amount of miles."
Also, when I switch from conventional to amsoil xl synthetic do I need to do anything special?
The piston ring seating thing used to be true for older engines built to looser tolerances. Today it's not so much of an issue. Also, it's likely that Toyota put some sort of synthetic blend in for the factory fill. Just go ahead and put in the Amsoil XL at the next change. Since the car is new, you don't need to use any engine flush.
I was so anxious to get the factory fill out of my Ridgeline that I took it to a quick change place for its first oil change. They put a Valvoline conventional oil in there and my gas mileage dropped slightly and the engine ran a bit louder. Definitely a mistake! I changed over to Amsoil at the next change after that. Gas mileage recovered to where it was for the factory fill, or perhaps slightly better. You might also notice a similar trend in your car if you put conventional in it. Go with the Amsoil on your next change and enjoy the performance!
