I've been changing my own oil for the last 8 years now.

I only have 1,000 on my Scion but I'm going to change out the factory oil for some Amsoil synthetic oil. I'm also going to change the gear lube to synthetic.

 

haha i got confused, i was about to say the scions haven't been out that long..

 

do i change the oil every 3000 miles or every 5000 miles? I ask my old man and he says to change it every 5000 miles and its just a marketing scheme used to make you buy more oil if you follow changing every 3000 miles.

 

your old man is right. I change mine every 5k miles .. On my celica i change it when oil starts to change color. but she has over 300k miles on her. tc 53k. once she is around the 150k mark I will start doing the changing the oil once it starts to change color.

 

3,000 mile changes, even on conventional oil, are a waste. with convetional oil, I'd take it to 3,500-4,000.

I've taken synthetic to 15,000 before with no problems.

 

thsi goes both ways though.
if you do your own oil changed you have no reciepts to prove they were done and could get denied warranty work.

thats why i just take it to a garage, just check everything over yourself before you leave.

 

the dealership i bought my car from gave me a few free oil changes, when i brought it in at 4500 and told them I wanted to run full synthetic they said "no sweat we'll just charge you the dfifference", so after i wind up paying 30 bucks on top of the "free service" im driving yesterday and look up at my oil change sticker and see its a castrol syn blend they had put in, NOT EVEN THE FULL BLOWN SYN that i asked for. what a bunch of *****

 

..

 

its not 100% a lie.
ive seen cases where toyota will not honor work that should be covered under warranty because the owner of the car has no receipts or documentations that oil changes were performed.

Therefore toyota claims that the damaged was because the oil was not changed.

usually theyre full of isht, but its happened.

so it doesnt neccesarily void your warranty, but it can affect work that you may need to get done which should be covered under warranty.

 

It does not for the one millionith time void your warranty if you hange your own oil. In order for that to be true the car company would have to give you free maintanence to make you come and use them. IE:BMW. So relax folks change your oil...and carry on.

 

While I agree with doing your own oil, I used to let the dealer do that stuff (won't let the dealer go near my car after the turbo goes on, don't want some douche tech to go boosting all around town).

It looks a lot better when you sell the vehicle, if you have documentation of a shop doing the oil changes. That's pretty much the only downfall for doing it yourself.

 

From the 2006 xB Warranty manual:

So yeah, direct from Scion if you read the material in the glove box, changing your oil does not void the warranty unless they link the engine failure to some improper maintenance on your part (wrong oil used, oil cap or drain plug left off, drain plug washer not replaced, under / over-filled, etc.)

I say link and not prove because I had my engine break and they "linked" it to the TRD cold air intake, claiming water injestion even though the roads were dry when it broke (and conveniently the 06 intake is aftermarket only and not warranted from Toyota, even though I bought it from the dealer). I'm writing corporate but have no other recourse but legal action. Fortunately I also had a spare engine available and just did a swap at no cost except for labor and $500 for the engine, but warranty is now shot.

 

idk if you were agreeing with me or arguing with me, but thats the same point i was trying to get across.
haha

 

Agreeing.

By the book, they can not deny for lack of receipts. But in the real world, it gives dishonest dealers an excuse to pin the blame on the customer. I was just trying clear up the ambiguity with the actual warranty contract wording and personal experience.

Edit: For my oil, I do use Toyota filters, they seem to be the best available and are cheap from TRDsparks with the 10-pack. No buying filters for 50,000 miles.

 

Scion will not deny a warranty claim solely
because you do not have records to show that you maintained
your vehicle. However, any failure or noncompliance caused by
lack of maintenance is not covered by this warranty.

thats prob a couple of the most contradicting statements ive ever seen.

first they say that they wont deny you warranty work if you dont have reciepts.

then they say failure caused by lack of maintence is your fault.

wellllll....if you dont have reciepts u cant prove maintenence...

 

Welcome to my hell, it seems that the warranty is written so that if a dispute arises, the owner is guilty until they prove themselves innocent. I thought it was open and shut when the dealer claimed hydrolock and I pulled out two signed letters from the tow operator and van driver stating the road conditions were dry that day and at the time of pickup. I thought all I had to show was that the damage was not caused by water. Logic dictates no water = no hydrolock, but apparently the people looking at the warranty aren't grounded in reason. Arbitration wanted me to demonstrate the actual cause of failure. I do not have an ultrasound machine, so it would be a little hard for me to demonstrate a void in the connecting rod or piston casting.

So yeah, once this one goes I won't be changing the oil in a Toyota anymore.

 

Wouln't it then be wise to take your car to a mechanic to inspect your engine, find out what really caused the issue and then take that to Toyota? A few hundred bucks could save your warranty and save you using your spare engine.

 

um...i could be wrong (im not but i just want to stay humble XD) but it seems a few people are really narrowing down the official maintenance statment in the manuel, its not specificly reffering to anything. If u dont have receipts to prove that you did your oil changes, and your rods start knocking, you F-up a berring, some other engine and oil specific occurance happens, then your warrants IS voided. I know because with my first toyata (a corolla) i didnt care for or take care of the car (spare me the insults please! XD) HOWEVER thats only one aspect of the overall waranty for your car, there are several things that could go wrong with your car that you wouldent have receipts for maintenance wise because it wasnt a maintainable issue. For those situations, not having any receipts/proof wouldent matter either way, just my 2cents. ^_^

edit: yeah..i try not to say anything before reading the post in full...but apparantly someone already stated this... good times!