I'm planning to have my first oil change at approx. 2000 km. I will be putting in synthetic but my dealership only carries the 5w20 in synthetic. What is the difference between synthetic 5w20 and synthetic 0w20 was? What are the pros and cons of each? Is it better to go with the synthetic 5w20 over regular 5w20? What are the benefits?

Why are you changing the oil so soon?

Because of what the "experts" recommend for a "good" break-in, mainly due to the possible build-up of metal particles in the oil during the break-in period.

leepark writes: What is the difference between synthetic 5w20 and synthetic 0w20 was?

About $20, 0-20 is usually full synthetic.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

Seems to me that the oil filter should take care of that until the factory recommended oil change period of 5k miles.

By the way, the 5W20 is also available in full synthetic.

Also, there have been many posts about changing the original break-in oil. You may want to check with toyota to see if there are special additives in the break in oil, which would preclude changing it before the mfg's specified interval.

My dealer recomends the first oil change at 2,500 miles, the second at 5,000 and then the next at 10,000. This might be to sell more oil, but I really don't care. I want it to last as long as possible. Also keep in mind that there is a time limit that they put on a recomended oil change. So if you have not driven the 5,000 miles Toyota still recomends that the oil be changed. I don't think there is a too early to change the oil time except for the additional expense that is not really needed.

As a side note, we had an '01 Ford Mustang Cobra that had it's first oil change at 1,400 miles, second oil change at 2,900 miles, third oil change at 5,500 miles, fourth oil change around 8,000 miles, anf fifth oil change around 11,000 miles. The engine spun a rod bearing at 12,000 miles. Just goes to show you that even with short oil change intervals things happen. BTW, Ford bought me a ski boat because of the hassles with that car. Humm, drive a car that burns 1.5 gallons an hour at 65 miles per hour, and drive a boat that burns 5 gallons an hour at 30 MPH. Good thing I don't use the boat more than 20-30 hours a year.

You see what happens when you change the oil too often.

I plan to have my oil changed at 5,000 miles and at 6 months just as the manual says. My dealer carries Mobil 1 5/20. My last new car has over 300,000 miles. I have religously have changed the oil every 5,000 miles for 19 years. It now uses 1/2 gt. between changes. My mechanic has mentioned after he replace a leaky head casket, 100,000 ago that the heads and valves were in good shape. I guess the life of a engine is more luck than anything else.

Andy