New RAV4 Immediate 2000 Mile Trip

[userfriendly]

Wait until ND

I had my first Dr Pepper at the 10 pin bowing alley at Minot, ND 1967.
We couldn’t get it in Canada for another 10 years.
So what do people living in ND do all winter?
Check out the indoor swimming pools at Minot, Williston, Rapid City, Fargo and Bismarck.
If you’re looking for a sanctuary city, safe injection sites or a university degree in gender identity politics, North Dakota isn’t for you.

 

[JavierH19]

The Toyota Care that comes with a new Toyota purchase is at the 10K and 20K intervals for there oil changes. It will be on his dime if he decides to change sooner -- which is probably why he purchased more 0W16. Toyota Care does cover 5K tire rotation for the first two years up to 20K. I am a 2023 Rav4 Hybrid owner from new.

True but you can just pull the drain plug at 5k and keep the same filter since 5k isn't much and then have the dealer change it by the 10k mark and the dealer would never know that you did that and used a 20 or 30 grade.

 

[ARB1977]

I waited til 1700 miles before changing the factory fill on the 24 Tundra. I’ll do it again at 5000 then every 5K after that. One by me and the other by the dealer since Toyota recommends 10K intervals.

 

[Sequoiasoon]

My new cars all got some longer drives early. They also got a couple full throttle pulls but not to redline.

Stop in a car place and get a small thing of glass cleaner, a couple MF towels and Rain-X. I hit a Tornado area rainstorm about 2 hours after getting the Sequoia. Having the windshield coated was very nice thing. I bought Sequoia in NC and drove to NY.

The other night going to work, people were pulling over due to the heavy rains and not being able to see. I could see their wipers were on high. I rolled on at about 60mph without wipers.

For the oil. If you were stopping at a dealer or doing it yourself than maybe change early IF it is convenient. If you were planning on a quick lube place then I would wait until you got home.

Check the forums for the "discount" factory warranty dealers if you plan to get one. Local dealers in NY and selling dealer in NC wanted over $3k for and aftermarket version. Dealer in VA from forums was about $1400 for factory Toyota version. That paid for itself with some electronic and other issues that happened after 3/36.

 

[TiGeo]

I would stop every hour and change it. M1 0W40 of course otherwise RIP...j/k.

Just drive it/don't overthink it. No reason to do anything beyond the break-in procedure outlined in your owner's manual and no reason to run a thicker oil even though it certainly won't hurt anything. For the first change I'd do it at 5-7.5K like I would on any new vehicle I've bought.

 

[THORROMIG]

True but you can just pull the drain plug at 5k and keep the same filter since 5k isn't much and then have the dealer change it by the 10k mark and the dealer would never know that you did that and used a 20 or 30 grade.

Thats feasible...

 

[Nesterenko]

Change it in Nashville. I'd forget that 0w16 junk and somehow work it so you could get some 5w30 in there . You're going to work it a little harder after Nashville so therefore 5w30.

 

[OilUzer]

For future reference and if you feel comfortable, I wouldn't hesitate using a real semi-manly summer oil: Full Synthetic 5/10W-30.

Do some research and find out what oil does Toyota specify for the same engine in other countries. It may shift your comfort zone!

 

[TiGeo]

Now we're getting to the good stuff!

 

[Mainia]

I'm getting a RAV4 LE at the beginning of August and will immediately have to drive it from NC to ND. I'll have one day in NC after taking delivery that I'll be visiting family and plan to tool around neighborhoods and a few highways for probably 3-4 hours to try and hit 100 miles with speeds between 25-55. Next day, on leaving, I'll probably take state highways and some US highways.

Knoxville TN will be right around 500 miles and I plan on getting an oil change. I've already ordered Toyota 0W-16 and filters in case dealers or lube centers are out of stock.


Given I'll have to cross some mountains at some point, I'm wondering if a 1000 mile or 1500 mile change would be warranted, or should I just push into ND and change it on arrival?

I'm avoiding West Virginia and taking I40 to avoid the steeper mountains on I77 and US35.

Any tips? Changes you'd recommend? Different oil? 0W20 instead? Drive it in reverse?

"In a perfect world" You would be better off if you could truck your Rav4 to the steep mountains and "load the piston rings" with only 10 miles on the Rav4 before you started. Don't baby the Rav4 on break-in. You want a very heavy foot the minute you leave the dealership. You just don't want high rpm above 4,500 for 600-700 miles. There is actually a very small window right in the very beginning of the engines life to break it in properly, ring wise, 0-50 miles. Most of the time the cars have that by the time you get it. After that it would be a very fast sliding scale down. Still, a heavy foot under 4,500 rpm and your golden.

 

[ATex7239]

Change it when you back home gets my vote.

 

[Ausfahrt]

I was in a similar situation last summer with my son's new Corolla. He bought it remotely here in New England and my wife and I picked it from the dealer. The next week I drove it 1800 miles in two days and delivered the car to Junior in Florida.

He paid for the first oil change at 5000 miles and just recently had the dealer do the free (first) scheduled oil change at 10,000 miles and he has had no oil usage or any other issues.

 

[TiGeo]

Change it when you back home gets my vote.

No way dude, 12x on the trip or RIP.

 

[TiGeo]

I was in a similar situation last summer with my son's new Corolla. He bought it remotely here in New England and my wife and I picked it from the dealer. The next week I drove it 1800 miles in two days and delivered the car to Junior in Florida.

He paid for the first oil change at 5000 miles and just recently had the dealer do the free (first) scheduled oil change at 10,000 miles and he has had no oil usage or any other issues.

I just chalk that up to pure luck man, dodged a bullet I guess

 

[addyguy]

I worked at a dealer for a bit, trust me, cars are broke in long before you get them.
Don’t overthink it, it’s a Toyota. Just change after your trip when you are not ‘distracted’ and don’t have to worry if someone else did it right.

 

[SiRDOHC]

"In a perfect world" You would be better off if you could truck your Rav4 to the steep mountains and "load the piston rings" with only 10 miles on the Rav4 before you started. Don't baby the Rav4 on break-in. You want a very heavy foot the minute you leave the dealership. You just don't want high rpm above 4,500 for 600-700 miles. There is actually a very small window right in the very beginning of the engines life to break it in properly, ring wise, 0-50 miles. Most of the time the cars have that by the time you get it. After that it would be a very fast sliding scale down. Still, a heavy foot under 4,500 rpm and your golden.

I just went through this in my RAV4. It is difficult to hold the rpm where you want it on this 8 speed unless you start manually shifting the thing. Occasionally it would go up to higher revs than I would have liked during break in; it went to red once or twice. Use sport mode and ignore your fuel economy numbers at first.

I dumped the factory fill at about 300 miles. It was a murky grey amber colour, definitely lots of break in material in there for such a short run. It did not feel right driving this thing hard on 0w16, at times it made all kinds of noises that had me wondering why I even bought the car in the first place. I went with 0w30/5w30 oil and haven’t looked back to 0w16.

This engine seems to make a lot of grey / black material during break in, not sure if it is soot, or other material. Don't be alarmed if when you wipe the stick you see dark lines next to the clean oil. For me it has nearly washed out after 3 oil changes and 2 oil filters.

This engine seems to work well and sound just right with oil around the 11Cst @ 100C range. Currently I have fresh Kirkland 5w30 in it and at 6k miles I am routinely seeing 39-40mpg trips if traffic conditions are favourable holding around 60mph.

 

[Urshurak776]

Way overthinking it. Change the oil when you get home. It will be fine. No need to avoid any mountains either. Toyota isn't thinking twice about telling you not to even change it until 10K, so.....yeah.

 

[anndel01]

We bought our 2014 Tacoma brand new and it had 22 miles on it from various test drives. I drove it until about 500 miles then changed the oil. Our brand new 2022 Rav4 Hybrid XLE had 2 miles on it and I changed the oil at 500 miles as well. Just drive it and change it when you get back home.

 

[ThatNavyGuy]

Different motor (my old Rav-4 was a 2GR-FE), but I was forced into a similar predicament when I bought it new back in 2006. Landed in CA, bought it, and immediately drove it cross country with no recommended break in.
Sold it with 120k completely trouble free miles to a friend who put another 120k before she sold it still running like a top. The engine oil dipstick never budged from the full mark during its 7500 mile OCI’s. The only repair she ever had to make other than normal wear and tear items was an alternator replacement.
If there was negative consequences from not following the break in procedure, it never showed.

 

[Patrick0525]

Are u planning to ask the dealer to pre-fill the filter prior to installation? That is probably the highest wear event in ur summer sojourn.