The dealer while getting my new hybrid RAV 2024, booked first oil change at 16k kilometres. Most car companies advises to do it at 8k. When do you all changed oil first time for your brand new RAV hybrid?
Thanks for your insights!
There’s no consensus on this website, because 99% of people here don’t have any mechanical experience.
The fact you should be aware of: dealerships make 15 to 20 times as much money with their parts department and their service department than they do selling new vehicles.
So it’s quite beneficial to them for our engines, transmissions, cooling systems, brake systems, power steering systems, and differentials to run on worn out oil with worn out additives for as long as possible. That way, we have to pay for parts and service much much sooner than we should have.
Opening an engine or transmission, to clean sludge or replace a single part can easily be $2,000 or more.
You can trust the multi-billion dollar automakers, or the multi-million dollar dealerships, or you can just change your fluids a little earlier, and save several thousand dollars and a bunch of trouble later. Meanwhile your vehicle ( a Toyota ) will get to 12 years old without a problem, and can certainly last 15+ years, for only about $1,200 more during that whole time. If you sell your vehicle, you’ll get all of that money back, because your vehicle will be in such good shape, and you’ll have the service records to prove it.
Don’t listen to a bunch of people who’ve never worked on a vehicle in their life. Use common sense. Maintain these systems by doing the cheapest thing possible, changing the fluids a little earlier.
Engine oil { Hybrid & Gas-Only } every 5,000 miles / 6 months. { 10,000 mile intervals are not in the best interest of your engine. “Low tension” piston rings ( for better fuel economy ) allows more gasoline to get past the pistons and into the oil than ever before. You’re changing the oil to get the gasoline out of it ( gasoline destroys oil ))
Transmission oil { Hybrid & Gas-Only } every 60,000 miles / 6 years to get the most life out of it. { Don’t believe that “lifetime oil” marketing nonsense } Don’t change it if it’s at or over 100,000 miles and it’s a gas-only version. If you have a hybrid and you accidentally went over 100,000 miles, it’s perfectly safe to change it now ( then every 60,000 miles ) they are very different than the gas-only transmissions.
Engine coolant { Hybrid & Gas-Only } in 5 years for a brand new vehicle, instead of 10 years. Then change it every 4 years afterwards, instead of 5 years. { Coolant becomes acidic over time and corrodes plastic and metal parts throughout the system, including the water pump ) It’s ability to cool, drops off over time as well }
Inverter coolant ( Hybrid only ) Change it before 10 years. The manual recommends 15 years, but that is an incredibly long interval. Change it every 4 years afterwards.
Brake fluid { Hybrid & Gas-Only } every 30,000 miles / 3 years. { It absorbs moisture and can begin rusting metal components from the inside out.
Power steering fluid { Gas-Only version } every 50,000 miles / 3 years. { The power steering system is under 1,400-ish PSI, and is expensive to replace } ( Hybrids have electric steering systems, no fluid )
Differential oil { All Wheel Drive only. Every Hybrid and some gas-only } every 60,000 miles / 6 years. They do hard work, and the oil certainly gets dirty.
Put a bottle of Redline Complete Fuel System Cleaner in it once every 3 months. { It’s one the the few fuel treatments that actually works } It will clean out deposits in your fuel pump / filter, line, throttle body and injectors. It will prolong the life of the entire system and help your injectors spray the “cone” shape they’re supposed to.
Buy a $10 “sunroof drain cleaning brush” to keep those drains clear ( at the corners of your sunroof at the top of the roof ). If they plug, water will seep into the roof of the vehicle, causing mold and mildew in your headliner ( and perhaps down to your carpet as well ), and it is expensive to have all of that taken out, properly cleaned and dried, then put back in.
I also recommend getting a spray can of "white lithium grease" so you can spray the rubber suspension components, to keep them from drying out, cracking, and letting dirt and moisture in. Start with the motor mounts, in the engine bay. Then in each wheel well, spray the rubber boot / insulator that is protecting the two front struts, and the two rear shocks ( It will look cylindrical with ribs in it, and be high in the wheel well ). Then spray any rubber parts you can see. There will be some at the end of metal components. You could do this monthly, it really would only take 5 minutes to do it all. Before and after each winter, spray your door and hatch hinges, and latches ( where the doors and hatch connects to the car with bolts, and where they clasp when they’re closed )
Fools down-vote this valuable advice out of total ignorance. Let their vehicles be the ones that start burning some oil, idling rough, requiring maintenance, overheating, being a less reliable vehicle that they’ll have to dump off for thousands of dollars less.
You should’ve gotten a maintenance schedule with the car. According to the maintenance schedule I’ve found. Looks like Toyota recommends an oil change at 16k km or 12 months, or 8k km or 6 months depending on driving conditions.
https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/omms-s/T-MMS-24RAV4HV/pdf/T-MMS-24RAV4HV.pdf?\_gl=1\*y0rutt\*\_tmna\_ga\*NDIwOTg5MTQuMTcwMzAwNDE0Ng…*_tmna_ga_EP43E5EFVZ*MTcwMzAxMTA2My4zLjEuMTcwMzAxMTEzMi42MC4wLjA.
Read
The
Manual
First one at 1000 miles then every 6 months or 5000 miles.
10k miles unless most of you actually meet the criteria for the shorter interval.
Companies don’t have blanket recommendations for all of their vehicles. It depends on the vehicle and engine.
This question comes up several times a week, check the older posts.
Look at your manual.
Use. The. Search. This question is asked weekly. Will be much insight found that way.
Were you not provided a Maintenance Schedule booklet from manufacturer? If not you can Google it online. Don’t know what region you are in, but if you have to,you can VPN USA and Google one easily.
I just bought a gas and I will do the break in one at good year at 1k miles. Then use the dealer one in December
I just bought a gas and I will do the break in one at good year at 1k miles. Then use the dealer one in December and follow their schedule for months/ miles
On my phev Prius prime, oil changes happen every 10k. My gas engine probably sees use 35% of that time. Do I still need to do every 5k for the change?
I agree with this information. One thing I would add…
Though many people suggest changing the brake oil every 3yrs/30K miles, I would suggest first testing the brake fluid for moisture content using the meters they sell online.
I have a 5yr old RAV4H which I was recently going to go a brake fluid change. I read many places that it’s better to test the fluid first, so I did that. The meter showed that the fluid doesn’t need to be replaced. Keep in mind that my car only has 26K miles.
With that being said, I’ll retest the brake fluid in 1yr and if needed, replace the fluid. Once I do replace the fluid, I’m going to make it a habit to start testing the fluid every 3 years, and if I don’t need to change the fluid, I’ll retest every year to be safe.
Also, I recently changed the engine and interverter coolant at the 5yr mark. Since I had to remove the annoying plastic panel under the car, it just made sense to me to replace both. Also, I found a better deal in the OEM Toyota coolant for a 2 pack which is sufficient to change both the Engine and Inverter coolant.
Next year when my car hits 6yrs, I’ll be changing the transmission and rear differential fluid.
Amazing post.
Question: I’ve seen people state not to change transmission fluid past 100k before. I’m just seeking further info here, but why is that an issue? Will it damage the transmission? Why is it safe to do so with a hybrid, but not a gas engine?
Most drivers are in the severe section.
Yes.
Engines in the last several years have been changed with “fuel economy” in mind. Therefore, the designs of the engines had to change. One massive change was using piston rings with much lower tension than ever before. This allows more energy to go into propelling the vehicle, because the pistons move up and down in the cylinders with less friction ( the rings on the side of the piston, don’t push outward as hard as they used to, and that has always been how they kept fuel out of the oil ( although, some gasoline always gets by, but not nearly as much as today ).
The problem is; gasoline is sprayed into the top of the engine, ( and now more than ever ), gets past the rings, down into the oil. Gasoline absolutely destroys oil. So you’re actually changing the oil every 6 months, no matter your mileage, to get the gasoline out of your engine’s oil. That is literally the reason why you should change your oil every 6 months.
Hybrids are even more susceptible to this “fuel dilution” / “cylinder wall washing”, because whenever a gasoline engine is turned on, ( and it’s not at full operating temperature ), they run “fuel rich” until they get up to operating temperature.
So if you are in stop & go traffic and the gas engine hasn’t run for 10 or so minutes ( in the summer this is less of a problem, because of the ambient temperature being higher, it keeps the engines from cooling down as quickly as when it’s colder outside ), then turns on, it will run “fuel rich” until it gets back up to full operating temperature. Gasoline only engines are on all of the time, so they never go back to a “fuel rich” state while on their journey.
Oil deteriorates with time too. Approximately 6-months, which is generally the amount of miles (5k), you’d have driven in that time frame.
People can buy a brake fluid tester, and testing strips. But for the price of that, they might as well just change the fluid a bit earlier through the vehicle’s life, for the same price. But I agree, if they want to go that far, they certainly can.
Also, my advice is for the general public. There will be instances where some intervals should be moved up, or moved back. But I can’t advise on each owners circumstances. One instance is if somebody lives in Arizona, they wouldn’t have to change their brake fluid as often, because of the arid environment ( very dry ).
Bravo to you for being diligent and logical with your maintenance. Your RAV should last a long time, with as few issues as possible. And that’s all I’m trying to do here, just help people do that.
This is for GAS-only vehicles / transmissions.
Hybrids can have their oil changed at any mileage without any worry, because they’re built completely different than the gas-only transmissions. Hybrids { that use CVT’s } don’t have gears, they have pulleys and belts, so the “wearing of the friction material on the clutch discs, down to nothing”, is only a problem for gas-only transmissions, because hybrids don’t have those components. Of course hybrids should still have their transmission oil changed every 60,000 miles / 100,000 kms { the same interval as their differential fluid }.
When a gas-only transmission goes 60,000 miles, the transmission oil is usually ready for changing { depending on climate. driving styles, stop & go traffic, heat cycles etc. }. Then add 65% more miles { 40,000 } and the oil has completely worn / degraded. Lubrication is poor, cooling is poor, the additives have been destroyed, and released all of the bits of sludge and grime back into the oil { that they once were holding on to }. The oil has become varnished and acidic. Once it starts breaking down, losing it’s abilities to lubricate and cool the components, the friction material on the clutch packs begin to wear much faster than normal, and will wear off completely { at some point }, causing the transmission to slip. If the oil is drained, that material will be gone from the oil { even that material floating in the oil gives some grip to the transmission }, and once it’s drained out and refilled with new, “slippery” oil, the transmission will slip or be “jerky” or even fail to move the car in extreme cases, after as little as 100,000 miles { 160,000 kms } for some people. So keep that old oil in there because it has some friction to it. Yes, that’s not great, but it might be the only thing keeping the transmission from failing.
I agree 100%. Before I got my RAV4, which is the first car I ever purchased, I never knew how to do an oil change, tire rotation or basically anything mechanical.
I am attached to my car because I worked hard to buy it, and have been educating myself ever since.
I agree that your recommendations are spot on for the general public. Kudos to you for taking the time to share the feedback, I hope others find it helpful. It really is the secret to keeping these cars healthy and on the road for many many years. Cheers!