Short OCI; first "break-in" filter change; Toyota 3.5L 2GR-FKS with OEM factory filter

[demarpaint]

I'm not sure I follow your train of thought here ...

Admittedly I did an O/FCI very early. The break-in debris (as seen in the filter) is accompanied by smaller metal particles that do pass through the filter; this is proven by thousands of UOAs which have high Fe, Al, Cu counts in the initial break-in miles of engines. I like to both flush and filter that stuff out early; I do an O/FCI at 1k miles, 5k miles and 10k miles. After that, it's 10k miles (which is the OEM prescribed maintenance cycle) for this vehicle.

I'm not doing this "out of desperation". It's a good idea to get the machining remnants out as soon as practical. Especially given that Toyota filters aren't known for high efficiency, though they are fairly well constructed.

Everyone is able to do as they see fit; this is what I choose to do. I believe data (UOAs and filter inspections) supports this to be a reasonable and pragmatic approach.

Agreed. I honestly believe that there are people that believe if wear metals are not trapped by the filter they are harmless and not causing wear or damage, even if it is very slight. When I got my 2016 JKR home from the dealer with about 60 miles on it from the ride home and some driving around I dropped the oil. I left the filter alone, ran the fresh oil I put in to 1,000 miles and dropped the oil again. At that time it got a new filter. Then at 5K miles oil and a filter again . As you stated countless UOA show high wear metals, those metals were not captured by the filter. I want them out sooner rather than later.

 

[STW]

Very nice write up and thanks for the pics. When I used to buy something new, I would do the same type of OCI, the first 1-1.5K as the initial flush, 5K, and then every 5K after as that was the prescribed interval 15-20 years ago. It has been over 20 years since I have bought a vehicle new. Now a tractor, That is a different story.

 

[BornSlippy]

My 2022 Highlander has had 4 oil changes in 16k kilometers.

One of them was by mistake. First one was at 1600 kilometers. Second one was at about 8k kilometers. Third one was at about 8200 kilometers. Yes, 200 kilometers OCI. I took it in to the Toyota dealer to have the 8000 kilometer service done which was suppose to be rotate the tires and make sure the floor mat isn't bunched up around the go pedal.

Anyway, fast forward a few days later and I'm lying under the highlander struggling to get the filter housing off. Had to get a moving strap and wrap it around the ratchet handle and put an obscene amount of force on it to break the filter housing loose. First clue was when I drained the oil, it looked very very clean. All the while I'm wondering how I tightened the filter housing so tight on the previous OC. Mystery was solved once I broke it loose and saw the filter in there was a Toyota filter and not the Mahle I had put in at the first oil change. The dealer did an oil change but it wasn't on the paperwork and nobody said anything about it.

 

[USask2000]

There is no documented proof (SAE or OEM credible study) I'm aware of showing that such an early oil/filter change has any bearing on the operational lifespan of the engine.

There is, however, reasonable anecdotal evidence from the MILLIONS of vehicles which get oil changes at intervals prescribed by the owners manual to indicate that an early change is moot and quite frankly wasteful. If it were detrimental to engines to keep the original oil and filter for longer than 1,000 miles, we'd see metric tons of dead cars and trucks strewn all over our roadways.

It is the BITOG way to try to eek out every last effort to get the "best" for your baby.
It's also the BITOG way to be overzealous and waste time/effort/money on stuff which has no proof of concept. Clearly you were looking to satisfy an EMOTIONAL desire only - which is fine, as long as you admit it.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Admittedly I did an O/FCI very early. The break-in debris (as seen in the filter) is accompanied by smaller metal particles that do pass through the filter; this is proven by thousands of UOAs which have high Fe, Al, Cu counts in the initial break-in miles of engines. I like to both flush and filter that stuff out early; I do an O/FCI at 1k miles, 5k miles and 10k miles. After that, it's 10k miles (which is the OEM prescribed maintenance cycle) for this vehicle.

Curious if you are going to do a UOA at each OCI at 1K, 5K and 10K miles to see how break-in wear may taper off. But if a more efficient filter is used instead of the OEM (as you mention in post 3) in any of those OCIs then that could skew the trend.

 

[dnewton3]

Curious if you are going to do a UOA at each OCI at 1K, 5K and 10K miles to see how break-in wear may taper off. But if a more efficient filter is used instead of the OEM (as you mention in post 3) in any of those OCIs then that could skew the trend.

No. I just don't see the value in it. We all know what break-in looks like in a UOA, and I expect this would be no different.

I probably will take one at 20k miles; into its first full 10k mile OCI.

 

[dnewton3]

There is no documented proof (SAE or OEM credible study) I'm aware of showing that such an early oil/filter change has any bearing on the operational lifespan of the engine.

There is, however, reasonable anecdotal evidence from the MILLIONS of vehicles which get oil changes at intervals prescribed by the owners manual to indicate that an early change is moot and quite frankly wasteful. If it were detrimental to engines to keep the original oil and filter for longer than 1,000 miles, we'd see metric tons of dead cars and trucks strewn all over our roadways.

I don't disagree with your assessment; there is no "proof" that this would be of benefit in terms of wear control during the first 10k miles.

However ...
I intend to run UOAs starting at 20k miles (the first full 10k mile OCI). Because of this, doing a few flushes gets the residual metals out much quicker. If I did as you suggest (OCI with the OEM schedule), it would take much longer to get the three "flushes" out of the system.
The issue is that break-in metals skew the data trends. I want those gone as soon as possible. Hence the multiple early OCIs.