2008Yaris w/ 131000km due for oil change.Conventional or synthetic?Change filter too?

[CoryM]

Originally Posted by alanwagen

Toyota itself has changed a lot of their cars to synthetic. One main reason is that synthetic holds its viscosity longer and also does not break down as easy. When it get close to old change time, synthetic will protect better towards time. A lot of people also have gone longer due to that, saves time and trouble.

Has Toyota changed to synthetic on anything and stayed the same viscosity? From the cars I've seen so far the only synthetic is a switch to 0w20 which is to gain fuel economy. Synthetic oil can go further, which is a bonus but comes at a cost. Also with regular oil it lines up with most people's tire changes for winter to have their oil changed at the same time as the oil (twice per year). You really should be having your car checked by a shop every 10,000km or once per year minimum.

From my experience, most modern catastrophic engine failures are due to operators not checking/changing their oil, or a weak hard-part (design flaw). Synthetic oil will extend the oil change intervals, but you will still need to change the filter at a certain point and check your oil level.

Believe it or not, I've found the most cost effective interval for my customers is 5000km with regular oil. Reasoning being that few people come in on time (probably 8K is about average and just about any engine can do that), and even fewer actually check their oil level. Many engines use up the reserve engine oil in about 5000km.