"Flex Fuel" Tundras and 5,000 mile OEM oil change interval?

[RalphVa]

sixdogs; I may have led you astray by saying my '07 oil change interval was 7500 miles; by the manual, the change interval on that vehicle was 5000 but I chose to go to 7500 because of the use of synthetic oil. The manual stipulation of 5000 miles was with the use of conventional petroleum oil, as of that period Toyota did not recommend the use of synthetics, for some strange reason. The recommended interval on my '16 is 10,000 miles, but the engine is identical to the '07 Tundra; a decision you'll have to make for yourself

I think Patches has it right.

I actually switched to Mobil 1 0w20 in my Tacoma. Gets better fuel mileage, as it reduces the pumping losses. Change it about every 3 years since I only put 2 to 3k miles/yr on it, maybe less now that I have a Miata and wife her Mazda3.

Toyotas are good appliances. Work and don't require much other than normal maintenance. Had this Tacoma into its 12th year now. Only had to take it in for a couple factory recalls of seat belt and undercoating. Nothing else (the dealer I bought it from had done the brakes). Passes inspection every year. Decided to keep it around because it goes when I need a pickup. Thought about putting a hitch on the Miata to be able to pull a light trailer for my yearly leaf hauling and one of those racks that go into the hitch receiver to haul fuel. Wife convinced me to keep the Toyota Turd.

Ralph

 

[aczlan]

I had a guy at a junk yard once tell me that when he got a vehicle in that had a good running engine but was converted to propane that he would only sell the engine to someone who was going to continue to use propane. He said that he had too many fail after getting put into gasoline vehicles. Something about the propane getting past the rings and into the engine. I wonder if the same is true with e85. I wonder if Toyota is worried about ethanol getting past the rings and mixing with the engine oil. Being a solvent I bet it wouldn't take much to reduce the lubricating properties of the oil. Just a guess but seams plausible to me.

Propane runs cleaner, but it can cause more wear as it doesn't lubricate the cylinder walls like fuel can.

Aaron Z

 

[4570Man]

Propane runs cleaner, but it can cause more wear as it doesn't lubricate the cylinder walls like fuel can. Aaron Z

There's forklifts out there with thousands of hours on them. It might not last as long as a Diesel engine, but premature failure isn't a big deal.

 

[aczlan]

There's forklifts out there with thousands of hours on them. It might not last as long as a Diesel engine, but premature failure isn't a big deal.

Yes, however a engine that is designed to be run on gaseous fuels (LPG, CNG or LNG) will (as I understand it) be setup differently than one that is setup to run on gasoline (harder cylinder walls IIRC).

Aaron Z