I being wholesomely new to scions and cars in general, i was wondering if there are sites i can look for or books to get that will help me get a better understanding of the basic mechanics of cars.

my other question, i own a perfectly new 2008 tc and I have somewhere around 1800 miles on it, falling small amounts of mechanical stuff i do know, when should i get an oil change

and yes I'm VERY new to cars, forgive me.

-Sabah

 

every 5k for the oil change and try how stuuf works.com for the mechaincs of cars or google

 

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/

 

5k First Oil Change.....

Then switch to Mobil 1 Full Syn. oil....then u wont have to change ur oil for 8-9k miles!!

 

and try to get it 5W20

 

what he says ^

 

Talking about oils... Any of you guys know if the tranny fluid fill the front differentials or if they have a fill and drain plug.

 

One thing you can do, it will cost you some money but you will learn a lot. Check out your local vacational school. They should have an auto tech program. In that program they should have an intro class or automotive basics. The class will teach you how to change your oil, plugs etc etc. The basics. It will be a good few hundred bucks spent because if you learn to do a lot of that stuff yourself you will get your money back.

 

there's a fill and drain plug.

 

Thanks SquallLHeart

Do you have an idea where they are located (fill and drain plug) or in which chapter the manual cover this topic. ( I got the PDF manual)

 

If you really want to know about oil, goto the oil threads here in the maintenance section, or, bobistheoilguy.com.
Mobil1 is a group III oil - not bad, but not good for the price.
Look at Amsoil or Royal Purple for GP IV.
Use the Toyota YZZF1 filter - no need to look elsewhere.
trdsparks.com sells them - I get packs of 10.

Scott

 

ROYAL PURPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! 5w-20 rocks....... your still in a break in period with the new car.... so dont try and do anything with it yet....infact you might even consider asking the dealer about the oil change specials. mine offered the first 3 oil changes free.....but by that time...it will be broken in....but i highly recommend 5w-20 royal purple.....i have used mobil one...and its good dont get me wrong....but i can honestly say i feel a differece using royal purple...there are video blogs to prove it on their sites.....increased in torque and hp....and after the second oil change on it........when i check the oil level on the dip stick it is soooooo clean........it doesnt burn like the others do..... leave castrol.........leave mobil 1.......in the store..... although i must warn you royal purple is a lil $$$$ but...you get what you pay for...enjoy the tc bro congrats!!!

 

So first oil change is 5k miles? I was going to change it at 3k like on my old car but you guys saved me some $ for another 2k miles) also my windshield sticker says next service is due 3k miles. I have 3060miles on my odo. So should I go or not? Thanks.

 

ok heres a brief lesson.....regular non sytec is every 3000k, if your looking to use syntec....its recommended that you change every 6....go every 5 just to play it safe, and make sure you reset the maintenace on the tc....the cdrom that came with the car should tell you how..... a quick reminder....everytime you gas up check the dip stick.... i do it compulsivly and you can tell if it needs to be changed by color and level.....

 

So does that mean my dealer put non syntec oil in my tc? Also it came with no cdrom but I got some books with it.

 

Where the heck did u get your Information from??...lol

Reg. Oil every 5k miles...

Full Syn. oil 8-9k miles.....

 

Just switched to RP 5w20 and I have to say, it seems pretty sweet.
M1 was loud in comparison - many have reported this.
I used GC Castrol, but it's almost impossible to find now, so I went to RP - my tC seems to love this stuff.

As for when to change your oil, I did miune at 1000 miles, non-synthetic. Did the next change at 2000 miles and went to M1.
From then on, i go 4500 miles on synthetic.
Only use the YZZF1 filters from Toyota.

Scott

 

I use whatever the dealer or Jiffy Lube puts in. Waste of money IMO to use synthetic on a car that was designed to run on regular dino oil. But everyone has their opinions and fancy biased graphs that show which is better, so use what ever makes you sleep better at night.

Only vehicle of mine that gets expensive oil is the sportbike. High revving + Wet clutch = Expensive oil

 

Not sure about your logic, but I also don't care as it's your car, not mine.

 

My logic is that synthetic is highly over rated. Too many people believe that by reading sites online such as bobistheoilguy that conventional oil is horrible for your motors and it's going to blow up if you use it.

I'm not saying that synthetic isn't better than conventional, but personally, I don't plan on keeping my car long enough to find out the difference. Cars have run perfectly fine without any problems for hundreds of thousands of miles on conventional oil. To me, and I'm not trying to start a debate or anything, just show the other side, that putting Royal Purple in a every driver is over kill. There's no question that Royal Purple is a better oil than most, but to me, the benefits don't out way the cost.