Last Saturday I went in to my Toyota dealer for my 25k service. Since I've used up all of my free oil change coupons I got when I bought it, I bought my own oil and filter. I've always used Mobil1 in my other vehicles and decided to start it on my TCH. I also bought the Mobil1 extended life oil filter to go with it. When I got there, the guy told me not to ever use an aftermarket oil filter, especially with the hybrid, because Toyota oil filters have a special valve in them that keeps the oil from draining out of the filter and keeps it ready for an engine start. Is this true? Do any aftermarket filters have this?

wow, if this true...I am glad to have seen this thread. Can anyone confirm?

Never heard of the requirement to use Toyota filters. I have been using Mobile 1 filters for the life my TCH.

UPDATE:

According to http://www.toyotaownersonline.com the following is Toyota oil filter specs: (notice the anti-drainback valve).

From http://forums.nasioc.com:
It appears not all after market filters have anti-drainback valves.

According to what I can find, the Mobil 1 M-104 (which *I THINK* is our filter...cannot remember if it is the 104 or 103) filter has an anti-drainback valve.

From http://www.ntpog.org:

This dealer is feeding you a line..... Any DECENT oil filter designed for use on Toyota engines will have the bypass and anti-drain valve. The manufacture of the filter would not want to buy a new engine for your car if they did not have them and the engine failed.

I use the Mobil1 (M104) along with the M103 and M110 in my (gasp) 3 Honda's. If pushed I will also use a Wix, Napa Gold (same as Wix), Puralator PureOne or OEM filter on my cars. All of them will do a VERY good job of protecting your engine

I purchased a case (10) of Genuine Toyota filters on Ebay for $33 including shipping. No questions by the dealer that way.

There are a lot of posts regarding what oil to use, what oil filter to use, etc. My take is that it is much ado about nothing.

My local dealer regularly does an oil change for $20 using bulk oil and Toyota filter. I see very little tangible benefit in using more expensive high performance or synthetic motor oils, or more expensive filters.

Unless one drives the vehicle under unusually harsh conditions or rpm's, I see very little value for the extra cost. I change my oil religiously at around 3,000-5,000 miles and my cars have always served me well into over 100,000 miles. The car I sold when I got myTCH was a 1991 Honda Accord I owned since new, and it had over 150,000 miles and still ran like a new car. I just got tired of it and wanted more advanced safety equipment.

I can see using the more advanced oils for high performance motors with turbochargers, etc. but given the conservative way most TCH owners drive, I think that regular old motor oil is more than sufficient if changed regularly, even for an Atkinson-cycle motor.

Leaky,

I agree with what you are saying. The main thing is to CHANGE your oil. I just happen to use Mobil 1 and their filters because I wanted to eliminate as many different types of products that I could. I am keeping up a total of 7 cars between parents, kids and my own. I am down to one oil (5W-20) and 3 oil filters. As for the oil, one daughter has a nice car that requires synthetic (yep, turbo, high-pro motor).

Yes, I change the oil in our cars and do most of the maint. work. I happen to like keeping them up and making them look nice. I just hope the wife never finds out how much is spent around the house on tools, wax, polishes, pads, sealants, etc.....

Well, I changed the oil today in the TCH for the first time at 5039 miles. I was going to use a Toyota filter, but did not get to the dealer this week. So I used the Wix oil filter, 4.5 qts of 5w20 and off we go. This car is very easy to do an oil change on. The factory oil filter was on tight as I had expected, the oil drain plug, was not, as I had not expected. I am going to use either Amsoil 5w20 going forward or go to Mobil 1 0w20 and run 5000 mile intervals. I will be curious to see if there is any change in mileage in the next 5000 miles. I also noted that my factory oil filter said "made in Taiwan".

I've only used PureOne's on my TCH. If you find an aftermarket filter that is specifically for your car, then rest assured it has the requisite bypass//antidrainback//filter element inside.

Your service advisor is FOS.

I had the same experience with my dealer buying filters in a larger quantity. It’s handy to have the filters on-hand. Changing the oil and air filter are the items I tend to maintain. The local tire store will rotate the tires for free and I am OK with the dealer for the rest of the service items.

As it relates synthetic oil I believe it worth using and respectfully disagree. I have been using Mobil 1 for 15 years. We had a 1993 Jeep with 200K miles. I became a real believer when the engine was very strong even at the very end. The engine used very little oil over the entire life of the car. Synthetic oil is known for better fuel economy and less engine wear.

We keep a car for a long time and Synthetic oil is a better choice for us. I am looking forward to the next 200K+ trouble free miles.

--Bill