I believe there should be a maintenance reminder to tell the driver when the car needs service. On some cars it is a wrench light on the dash. Other cars have it written or flashing. But, if all else fails, you should write down what the mileage was and the date when it had the last oil change. Then, 3 to 5 thousand miles between oil changes or every six months. But, remember to check the oil on the dipstick. Too dark and may need changing.

 

Your car has a system that keeps track of when you need an oil change by checking your driving habits, conditions, and mileage. When it's time to change the oil, a light will pop up on your dashboard—usually an oil can icon or a 'MAINT REQD' message.

 

No. Toyota cars do not determine oil change intervals by driving habits, or conditions. The maintenance reminder light comes on just before 5000 miles since the last service. Says so right in the owners manual. The owners manual also shows how to reset the maintenance reminder in case it was not reset when the service was performed.

Some other manufactures (GM is one I know of) do the driving habits/conditions determination, but not Toyota.

 

Yes. There is a maintenance reminder light that comes on just short of 5000 miles since the last service. But Toyota only specifies an oil change every 10,000 miles. The 5000 mile period is mainly a tire rotation.

 

The maintenance required message should show up on the multi-information display in the center of the instrument cluster.

If the previous owner did maintenance at the dealer you may find that service history online at the Toyota owners site:
www.toyota.com/owners

If the service history is not complete and are unsure of the service history you could do the oil change now. The previous owner could have reset the maintenance required message without doing maintenance.

See the "TOYOTA 2021 RAV4 Warranty and Maintenance Guide" for information regarding suggested maintenance intervals.
There should be a hardcopy of the owners manual and warranty and maintenance guide delivered with the vehicle.
A soft copy of your rav4 owners manual can be downloaded for free from the Toyota owners site

It's convenient to keep a copy of the owners manual on your phone or computer.

 

My Toyota Dealer puts a reminder sticker on the window, 5K miles or 6 Months.

 

The oil/filter change for the RAV4 is 10K miles. This information can be found in the maintenance manual that came with your RAV. Many insist on changing the oil prematurely at 5K or fewer miles, and while that method has been suitable for vehicles and oil from the last century, today's synthetic oils are designed to last much longer.

The only benefit of changing your oil earlier is to lighten your wallet and contribute to oil companies' and your dealership's profitability. It is also suggested that with each 10K oil change, the old oil be tested by a reputable lab such as Blackstone Labs.

 

The only benefit of changing your oil earlier is to lighten your wallet and contribute to oil companies' and your dealership's profitability.

Please, don't start another oil hollywar. Everyone drives different.
I do very short trips (7 miles one way). In winter time I experience oil+water emulsion on the oil cap. And I pretty sure there is some amount of gas in the oil. That is why I change my oil earlier.

 

Everyone may drive differently, but today's synthetic oils behave the same way over a wide variety of uses. Next time, try testing your oil to see how it performs rather than using the "pretty sure" method. You will probably learn a valid data point to guide your future change interval and save some money.

 

Jesus Joseph and Mary - here we go again.

To the OP - is this your first car? Do you know anything? Not to be insulting, but let's assume I have the intellect of a cucumber and I just bought this car. Maybe I'd read my owners manual? Maybe?

now, I'm an old fart. I could tell you about adjusting your points and timing. Change your oil every 3k miles (back when that was a thing). It's not like that anymore.

For the love of God and all that is good, go read your owner's manual.

This will teach you, and it will also protect you from unneeded scams from dealerships.

 

I am maybe 1 step up from the intellect of a cucumber. Maybe. On a good day. The reason I asked the question is that with my last car, it used some kind of algorithm to figure out when it was time to change the oil. I could follow the percentage and when the percentage hit zero, it was time to change the oil. I didn’t have to track mileage. That was a 2015 Chevy. I had hoped that maybe a 2021 Toyota had something similar. I learned it doesn’t, so I am back to tracking my mileage. No big deal, but I did like that feature. I’ll live.

 

toyota doesn't have a actual sensor like other car company does were it reads the quality of the oil. instead toyota just uses a meter to count the miles you have driven to determine the average person would do an oil change. but you will notice two oil change times in the manual one will be 5k/3k. 5k is your doing mostly freeway driving, light duty, 3k oil change will be for heavy duty like 50% or more of city driving hauling load driving in snow dirt etc. and yes city driving is considered heavy duty !! and also change your oil even say you only had 2000 miles on the oil but its been sitting for like 3 years lol please change it. the special additives and minerals in the oil is what protects that engine and it does degrade even tho you don't drive it. i believe the manual also says 5k/3k or 1 year.

 

I am beginning to think that the phrase regarding only 2 things in life being certain is out of date. It should be updated to death, taxes, and people arguing in online oil threads lol

 

sadly I have to upvote this.

 

We drive several Toyotas and they vary slightly. The 2019 Camry XLE V6 with Nav has both a 5k miles reset (dash will warn when the next 5k milles is approaching) and a menu which records data on the last service. Our 2008 Rav4 Base V6 only has the 5k mile reset. On our 2002 Camry XLE V6, we use a card with maintenance date mounted to the driver's side sun visor to remind us of when service is due.

After buying our newer Camry, I was on a road trip when the 5k mile warning came on, which surprised me since the owner's manual suggested a 10k mile interval. I had to read the owner's manual on how to reset the warning without an oil change. However, later I read that ALMOST ALL experts recommend the 5k miles schedule (maybe add 1k when using syntlhetic oil. Now I change my own oil with sythetic at 5k mile intervals but ignore the 6 month recommendation.

 

We drive several Toyotas and they vary slightly. The 2019 Camry XLE V6 with Nav has both a 5k miles reset (dash will warn when the next 5k milles is approaching)

If you refer to your maintenance manual, that 5K alert is for tire rotation not for oil/filter changes. those that recommend 5K oil changes are hoping that their audience are noobs and don't know any better. But again, become an expert yourself and get your oil tested, and you will find that a 10K minimum, as Toyota recommends, and more likely 15-20K is a more accurate change interval.

The real experts are the fleet owners with hundreds, if not thousands of vehicles that are on the road every day as short and long range vehicles. If they followed the ignorance of those that advocate 3-5K oil changes they would be out of business.

 

Oil threads to the right of me/ Oil threads to the left of me/ They volleyed and thundered/ Ours is not to make reply/ Ours is not to reason why... with apologies to Alfred, Lord Tennyson and the Light Brigade at Balaclava.

 

Those are special use cases for more frequent oil changes. For daily driving RedHotRAV is CORRECT, it’s 10k

 

Maybe hauling a trailer, mountain driving, extreme hot areas, dusty conditions, short trips. I would guess 90% of people are under the extreme 5K changes. If you watch the Car Care Guy, he says do not do 10K oil changes.

 

What does the Car Care Guy recommend, if not 10k?

 

Special use like using a car top carrier, towing, dirt roads, heavy loading, delivering Door Dash, Lyft, or Uber. I'd expect most here fall somewhere under special use.

 

I just changed my oil the other day at 5K from 0W-16 to 0W-20 (Toyota Dealer), Pennzoil Ultra Platimum, at least for the next few 6 summer months. I change my oil every 6 months, as I drive only about 7K miles a year.

The climate we live in can drop down to about -0°F in February, but much never over 75°F in the summer, so this should be fine. I do live in the mountains and climb steep hills on a daily basis, a dusty rock driveway, and short trips are very common, so 5K/6 Months is good for me.

I had switched my 2021 4Runner from 0W-20 to 5W-30, and noticed a much quieter startup, no more loud ticking, so I stuck with it.

So my question is are there any 5th Gen RAV4 owners running 5W-30?

Has Toyota given you any grief over this if you changed the oil at the dealership. I do understand 5W-30 is recommended in some other hotter countries.

 

We live in Washington State, with temps ranging from the teens up to mid 90’s F. I changed out the factory fill at several hundred miles and put in a mix of Mobil 1 extended performance 0w-20 and 5w-30, resulting in around a 2w-24. We then went on a 3000 mile road trip and I found engine startup to be much smoother and quieter, and had no noticeable decrease in fuel consumption.

At the one year mark, we had about 5k miles on our Rav (we drive it very little other than road trips) and the oil was still clear and honey colored. Took it into the dealer anyway for the free oil change and inspections. The dealer replaced it with 0w-20 according to the paperwork, but put a sticker on the windshield saying to change it with 0w-16 at the next interval.

It’s pretty much been parked since that oil change over a month ago but I immediately noticed a bit more engine startup noise, especially since it will sit for a week or two between drives. The extra noise is apparent because it’s garaged and the walls reflect back the sound.

When I return home (we’re traveling internationally for a month), I’m going to drain about half the oil and replace it with 5w-30, but my intention is that after the second free oil change, I’m just going to use straight Mobil 1 extended performance 5w-30, which is on the thinner side of 5w-30 specs anyway.

To answer your other question, I didn’t tell the dealer about my oil blend and I used a factory filter when I changed the oil so I’m not sure how they would know the oil wasn’t the factory fill, other than maybe the technician thinking the oil drains a bit slower. Nothing was said to me however.

 

The truth about maintenance, and what the manufactures tell you vs what you need to know (youtube.com)

 

Your Toyota oil change intervals are set by the technician who changed your oil last. I change mine every 5000 miles. They must look at my history of oil changes and I’ll get a warning before the next 5000 miles. Or perhaps they always set it at 5000 miles? I don’t know. Sometimes they’d forget to set it when I brought my Prius in. To be sure I’m doing it frequently enough, I watch my miles according to the sticker on the windshield. I don’t wait for the warning.

 

I change mine every 5000 miles. They must look at my history of oil changes and I’ll get a warning before the next 5000 miles. Or perhaps they always set it at 5000 miles? I don’t know. Sometimes they’d forget to set it when I brought my Prius in.

When the reminder is reset, the light will always come on just before 5000 miles. No one, including the car, does any oil analysis.

 

I put in 0W-20 for this summer.

 

I put in 0W-20 for this summer and we both though it seemed quieter. I'm thinking on using either 0W-30 or even 5W-30 year round.

Just my personal opinion as not to start another oil war thread, but in our use of our Rav, with extended sitting between starts, and then fairly aggressive driving on road trips, I value film strength of the oil to both protect at cold and warm start, and during high gas engine power output. It’s why I didn’t consider using a 0w-30 because the cold start film thickness is not an improvement over the factory fill and the wider viscosity range could indicate greater usage of viscosity modifiers which can break down under high heat.

 

I just switched over to 0W-20 (it rarely gets over 75° F here in July), but it does get to -5°F in February. This is the same oil the new 2.4 L Land Cruiser specifies. I swear the engine is running smoother and quieter. I should have done an audio test before changing.

Do you have the rest of the Australian Service Bulletin? I'd like to see the reason why. The link requires a login.

 

There is an interesting new thread in the "mechanical section" with Australian and New Zealand posters. Apparently Toyota has issued a directive to ALL Australian dealerships to ONLY USE 0W-20 in cars --NOT 0W-16. Also Toyota's new order specifically lists the Aussie market brands and names of Mobil 1 oil that are acceptable and equivalent to the 0W-20 Toyota Genuine Motor Oil (TGMO). 2024 Toyota RAV4 GX Auto 2WD Hybrid Engine Oil There were also earlier posts.

 

Do you have the rest of the bulletin? I'd love to see why they switched.

 

Thanks. The inverse latitudes of Australia are similar to the USA, Queensland | Florida. Tasmania | Michigan or Southern Ontario. Sydney NSW is the same latitude as Atlanta Georgia for example.

The oil for the new 4 Cylinder Turbo in the new Land Cruiser, 0W-20 is recommended oil, not 0W-16, so maybe Toyota is getting away from 0W-16, at least for the new turbos. My old 1992 MR2 Turbo took 10W-40, because the Turbo got so hot.

 

It really is surprising that Toyota believes the new turbos will hold up using 0w-20. That would have been un-thinkable even a few years ago. It does increase my enthusiasm for using 0w-20 in my gas model '21 RAV though.

 

Putting small 4 Cylinder Turbos in newer 2025 Trucks (4Runner, Tacoma, Land Cruiser) might be the death of Toyota. All turbos do is over stress the tiny 2.4 liter engine. I can't see getting 200K+ miles out of one of these new turbo trucks, like the reliable 4 liter V6's, or the turbo lasting that long. I ran 5W-30 in my 2021 4Runner.

I have owned 2 Turbo cars (87 Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo and 92 Toyota MR2 Turbo) and you really need to stay on top of the oil quality and change it very often. The 87 RX-7 Turbo was the best car I have ever owned. I am trying to remember back, but one car recommended oil changes every 2500 miles, with turbo cool down periods, so the oil on the oil on the turbo bearings didn't burn and crust up. I can't imagine running 0W-20 in a turbo.

As for mileage, running my last 700 mile trip to Canada, we averaged 34.5 mpg with 0W-16 (2024 RAV4 TRD Off Road, 38 psi).
I am running this same 700 mile trip again, but this time with 0W-20, so I will be watching the mileage closely. I doubt there will be much difference, but I will report back.

 

I can't imagine running 0W-20 in a turbo.

For example Hoda 1.5 turbo, VW 1.4 turbo are using 0W-20 since 2017 or 2016.

 

UOA is the only way to know when your motor oil is at end of it's service life. Full synth oils can run between 7500-10000 miles and perhaps even more. But, you also have an oil filter.

Here's my suggestion, to run a Toyota ICE to 300kmi, just do oil and filter changes every 6 months.

Regarding post #45 and turbo's, correct, Toyota has for a long time steered away from forced air, because norm-aspiarted motors, typically considered lower powered, will have much higher longevity and reliability. Toyota's full fleet clocks a lot of on-road miles, and this is because the components are low stress items. Yeah, some one-off's out there, like Supra.

If Toyota did forced air, they should do it on trucks only using a supercharger, not turbo. Bring back the "huge" 2.7L 4cyl and top it with an S/C as "standard base engine", that's all a Tacoma needs.

 

I ran the TRD S/C on my 2014 Tacoma. It was the cat's pajamas.

 

The car care nut guy falls short of real testing. 10kmi is just a number that most good synth can do, but only testing can tell us the oil condition.

If I tell you change oil every 3kmi, that's good, but wasteful. Changing before needing to is wasteful. The need is knowing state of the oil after some amount of miles. Nobody needs to be a "master tech" to understand this.

Jefe - following up on the conversation -

What credentials do you hold to contradict his conclusions? Are you also a certified master Toyota technician? Why should we take your advice over his?

The vast majority of oil is now recycled.

of course it's recycled. That's not the point. Changing your oil too early is just silly, recycled or not.