1HDFT oil change interval and analysis

[whereisgibson]

I thought I'd share what came into my inbox today and the experiment I've been running...

Basically I wanted to improve upon the suggestion of changing the oil/filter every 5000 miles on the 1HDFT, as suggested by Toyota.

My last oil change comprised of a new genuine Toyota filter and Fuchs Titan Syn 10W40.

I changed the oil after 12000 miles (18 months, 162k to 174k, UK country-road commute) and sent it off for analysis to theoillab.co.uk:

As far as I can understand from this green means good, which is enough for me to conclude that I will wait until 10k miles before ordering items and changing the oil.

Perhaps the other numbers are meaningful to people here.

 

[Chris]

Now that IS interesting. I would like to have seen a control sample of the new oil tested as well to see if / how the figures change. Certainly interesting test to perform for 1HD-T engines. The calcium figure is something I would like to see compared between fresh and used. I think that this need to change the oil every 3000 miles to really look after the engine has been a myth from the very start, but hey your money, your choice as they say. Certainly the build up of carbon and the formation of sludge isn't a good thing, but clearly the oil doesn't lose it's mechanical properties as soon as it goes black. I would let my oil run longer but the practicalities are that I wind up changing mine more often because of a leaking seal or something goes wrong out in the field.

One feature of the Disco is that centrifugal particulate filter arrangement. I would dearly love to see one of those for the 4.2

Chris

 

[Towpack]

A major factor on deciding your oil change interval is (or should be) type and frequency of use. Repeated cold starts/short journeys plays havoc with oil degradation/dilution compared to big miles on long journeys where the oil has chance to get to it's full working temp and generally has a much easier time. I average just over 4k miles a year and apart from a couple of holiday runs to Scotland and back the majority consists of short journeys round town so I change it twice a year. There's no way I'd even consider going 10k between changes but, as has been said, it comes down to personal choice, opinion and peace of mind.

 

[LandCruiser1978]

i always buy a job lot of oil when asda have it on offer
usually 4litres of castrol gtx for £10

last time i spent £70

so have plenty oil in the shed
must say i'm not usually a 5k oil change person .
but my cruiser has a superb service history. Had oil change every 4k since new .
Previous owner wrote down every service item fitted
so i'm doing it every 4k only to keep up the history ..
if it wasn't for that it'd be every 10k

 

[Chris]

Just to be clear before anyone asks - I would not advocate using cheap oil in a venture such as this. If all it says on the container is 'OIL' then back away. I wouldn't use that to lubricate the wheels on my dustbin

Chris

 

[Rob]

I had similar results using a fully synthetic oil at around 10k miles, including very dusty conditions. No need to do oil change twice a year if you do 4k miles, in fact I would suggest you get the oil tested after a service Towpack as you may rethink your frequent service schedule.

 

[Towpack]

I had similar results using a fully synthetic oil at around 10k miles, including very dusty conditions. No need to do oil change twice a year if you do 4k miles, in fact I would suggest you get the oil tested after a service Towpack as you may rethink your frequent service schedule.

As I pointed out my low mileage consists of MANY cold starts and very short journeys which is much harder on the oil no matter what brand or grade you use. I've no idea how much it costs to get the oil analysed but in any case I'm not desperate to save the relatively low cost of an extra oil change every year so I just change it and sleep easy.

 

[IRLGW]

I have only done about 2000 miles in my 80 series since I got it so can't really comment on the 4.2 ...... However my day to day car is a 2005 Accord I-CDTI I bought it three year old with 78k and a full honda history from the main dealer. It now has 170k on it and it has had one oil and fuel filter change at 122k and has just had a second fuel filter about 2weeks ago because it was becoming hard to start and that fixed the problem. I regularly check it for oil and top it up occasionally with oil that costs me (close you eyes now chris) £11 for 5L.

That is why I buy and have always bought Jap cars. If you think about the other 90% that leave the factory and end up on the roads of Africa, South America or India and never see a sponge let alone an oil filter then you can begin to not be a victim of the 'service or die' regime. I apply the same logic to regular offers from My insurance co to join organisations such as the AA. Personally, I only service once I see a drop in MPG and if the oil looks good then its only a fuel filter change. I think I may have washed an air filter once as well.

Its probably more prudent to change the oil if the car hasn't moved for a long period of a few months.

When my upgrade BEBs finallly arrive, I'll give the truck the full works then its not getting another scheduled service until capetown.

 

[Bat21]

Came across this old thread while searching for the service interval for the 80 1HDFT.

My 80 does around 5k-6k miles a year, 4k of which are done during our annual Morocco trip.

Historically I have always changed the oil and filter before and after our September trip. This means the pre-trip oil has done only 1k-2k miles which I have always thought a waste. I use Morris' Multivis Semi Synth 10/40.

After reading this thread I have decided this year to leave in the oil that has done just over 1k miles and change it when we return....

 

[hopeless wanderer]

I thought I'd share what came into my inbox today and the experiment I've been running...

Basically I wanted to improve upon the suggestion of changing the oil/filter every 5000 miles on the 1HDFT, as suggested by Toyota.

My last oil change comprised of a new genuine Toyota filter and Fuchs Titan Syn 10W40.

I changed the oil after 12000 miles (18 months, 162k to 174k, UK country-road commute) and sent it off for analysis to theoillab.co.uk:
View attachment 75245

As far as I can understand from this green means good, which is enough for me to conclude that I will wait until 10k miles before ordering items and changing the oil.

Perhaps the other numbers are meaningful to people here.

That's very interesting... I use Fuchs Titan Unimax Ultra MC apparently designed for longer service intervals. I plan on changing it out when I do the BEBs and timing belt/waterpump in one fell swoop, I was getting paranoid i'd gone over the 5k into around 7000 but I'm not so bothered now. cheers for the tip.

 

[StarCruiser]

When I first got my 81 as first UK owner, I asked a Toyota Main dealer what oil and service interval. They told me Mobil 1 and 9000 Miles. I contacted Morris’s who confirmed their multivis which I had been using for many years, exceeded the spec of Mobil 1. After following this regime and putting 60,000 Miles on my original bebs I decided o change them. If I’d not bought replacement ACLs I’d have put them back they were that good. I’ve even gone a bit over and changed the filter every other oil change (which I now do with each oil change). Having found this thread I might well consider having the oil analysed as a form of ‘closed loop’ monitoring.

 

[Steve Wright]

I know this not a Toyota answer but with regards oil changes and I did fairly high mileage but I used to drive Merc Sprinters and on the older versions it used to be 13500 mile service, but when they brought out the newer engine (cannot remember what it was called) it had variable servicing, so it told you when it needed doing, so when it got to the 13.5K and no notification I phoned the dealer and said it has not come up, the Service Manager said don't worry it will, and eventually go to 44000 miles and I got the warning, when I did take it in they said it takes into account the type of driving (admitting it was Fairly high speed motorway driving)
I don't know if it had any thing to do with it but they used a low soot oil

 

[Towpack]

Dont overlook the fact that the 1H series is an old and ‘dirty’ engine design. These oils that can give 12k+ change intervals are aimed at more modern cleaner running engines IMO. Not that you can’t use them if you wish but I would keep to Toyotas recommendation on change interval as a max.

 

[Beau]

Just thought I would chime in a little with my experience.

Have had my truck for the last 19 years now so have gone through a lot of oil changes.
In the first few years I used to change the oil every 5000 miles or at least every 6 months full sythentic. Then after the head cracked in 2004 I kinda gave up and pretty much did one oil change a year which averaged around 10k in miles, with regular mineral oil AND milners cheap oil filters. In 2015 I opened up the valve cover and the top end was immaculate. The casting could be wiped clean to bare metal. Absolutly no sludge. I put this down to not using the truck for short trips.

Since coming to America just shortly after 2015 I swapped to Fully synthetic because 4 litres of it cost the equivalent of about 8 pounds. I also swapped to genuine oil filters as they were around $20 a piece and I could get them locally. The only difference I've noticed with the synthetic is the oil stays much cleaner longer. It will turn fully black by about 5000 miles. The mineral stuff would basically look black after running the engine once. I've been changing it once a year now which is every 15k miles or so. I'm at 230k miles.

Now if you're constantly towing and working the engine hard, getting the temps hot, it makes sense to change the oil more frequently.

On a side note, my dad used to do around 35k miles a year in our VW Golf with the 1.9tdi engine. In the 7 years we had it, we clocked up over 200k miles. The oil would get changed once a year with regular mineral stuff. Never had a single issue with the engine and we used to beat the crap out of this car, boy was it fun! It spent 99% of it's life doing "good speed" on the M1/M25 and getting trashed around Milton Keynes roundabouts.