OCI for low mileage driver (v8 5.7L Toy/Sequoia) and Coolant flush.

[MattKimChi]

Hi, I own a Toyota Sequoia w/ V8 5.7L since brand new. We live in NYC metro and don't drive our cars much, only about 5k miles a year. Usually daily multiple short trips (1m) in weekday and longer high way trips (30m) in weekend. And I used to changed oil (syn 0w20) twice a year, about 2-3k interval.

Recently I learnt from a youtube video that toyota's v8 also need to do coolant change once a while to prevent head gasket failure. So I went to the dealership this week for a coolant change but surprisingly to be informed that my car is too new (6.5 yr, 30k) for a coolant change. Also they only do coolant flush instead of drain and refill. I was also told I did the oil change too often. In my case, one year (5k) interval should be sufficient. The manual says one year 10k miles for normal condition and 6 mo/5k miles for severe.

My questions are 1. Would 1 year or 5k OCI (syn 0w20) be good enough for my case? Or maybe 9mo/3.5k would work? I frankly hate to visit dealership twice a year because I most time need to wait half day, just for a simple oil change. 2. Can I do the coolant flush in stead of drain and refill? Hope there's nothing negative for flush except being expensive.

We plan to drive this car 12 more years which would be 18yrs/90k in total.

What do you think? TIA.

 

[LazyDog]

Shorts trips is harder than long trips, I would just keep doing the oil changes twice per year regardless of mileage.
Oil is cheap when compared to engines.

I would change the coolant w/ the correct Pink stuff, just drain and fill should be fine.

At some point you need to consider doing the rear differential and transfer case.

Have you change your cabin filter?

 

[MattKimChi]

Shorts trips is harder than long trips, I would just keep doing the oil changes twice per year regardless of mileage.
Oil is cheap when compared to engines.

I would change the coolant w/ the correct Pink stuff, just drain and fill should be fine.

At some point you need to consider doing the rear differential and transfer case.

Have you change your cabin filter?

Thanks! I DIY cabin filter once a year. HOA doesn't allow oil change but filter changes are ok. When should I think about rear diff and transfer case fluid change? and transmission fluid? still by months not mileage?

 

[LazyDog]

Check out the Toyota Care Nut on You tube his got some nice videos and tons of advice.

 

[JavierH19]

1y 5k is fine

 

[cptbarkey]

1 year at 5k for oil is fine with that engine, its easy on oil.

6 years for coolant is safe and worth the expense. I wouldn't do it just because Car Care Nut decided to publish a video claiming there was a trend of HG failures, that was his observation and there is basically no other news of it happening en mass. He is going for easy clicks with his usual condescending preach festivals and preying on Toyota owners paranoia so he can get more business in his shop.

 

[MattKimChi]

1 year at 5k for oil is fine with that engine, its easy on oil.

6 years for coolant is safe and worth the expense. I wouldn't do it just because Car Care Nut decided to publish a video claiming there was a trend of HG failures, that was his observation and there is basically no other news of it happening en mass. He is going for easy clicks with his usual condescending preach festivals and preying on Toyota owners paranoia so he can get more business in his shop.

yeah. I got the idea from his video.

 

[OilStainedNapkin]

That’s the same engine that’s in the last Land Cruiser. 1 yr/5k (and even longer) would likely be fine. There’s tons of these engines operating in places like Afghanistan with minimal maintenance and living long lives.

 

[burbguy82]

Hi, I own a Toyota Sequoia w/ V8 5.7L since brand new. We live in NYC metro and don't drive our cars much, only about 5k miles a year. Usually daily multiple short trips (1m) in weekday and longer high way trips (30m) in weekend. And I used to changed oil (syn 0w20) twice a year, about 2-3k interval.

Recently I learnt from a youtube video that toyota's v8 also need to do coolant change once a while to prevent head gasket failure. So I went to the dealership this week for a coolant change but surprisingly to be informed that my car is too new (6.5 yr, 30k) for a coolant change. Also they only do coolant flush instead of drain and refill. I was also told I did the oil change too often. In my case, one year (5k) interval should be sufficient. The manual says one year 10k miles for normal condition and 6 mo/5k miles for severe.

My questions are 1. Would 1 year or 5k OCI (syn 0w20) be good enough for my case? Or maybe 9mo/3.5k would work? I frankly hate to visit dealership twice a year because I most time need to wait half day, just for a simple oil change. 2. Can I do the coolant flush in stead of drain and refill? Hope there's nothing negative for flush except being expensive.

We plan to drive this car 12 more years which would be 18yrs/90k in total.

What do you think? TIA.

I would run 5w30, twice a year. Drain the radiator and fill with new. Test the coolant.