What’s everyone “really” doing for maintenance? (New tundra today, and I find Toyota “unclear”)

I received my shiny new tundra today. 2 months, less a day when I placed the “order”. Essentially I lucked out and walked into the dealer the day they got their allotment of 2024’s.

the truck I wanted just happened to be on the list. Anyhow after the paperwork, I did the tour, and was introduced to a service guy to set up one my “free” services included with the tire and key fob insurance thingies. (In Canada we pay msrp, but get dinged with this nonsense) **any mention of mileage by me is in km, not miles**

anyway I noticed their quick lube pit was covered with safety net, and converted to storage. I was told they don’t do quick lube anymore, and that the services rotate between service 1, service 2, and service 3.

1 is just an inspection @6. Months. 2 is an inspection and oil change @12 months. 3 is another inspection, and so forth. They rotate the services, and the only thing that’s ever,changed is oil/filter, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid @ 3 years, and spark plugs @4 years. All services also include a tire rotation.

Toyota Canada website says the same thing. I found it odd that my owners manual tells me how to check coolant level, oil level. It mentions what type of transmission fluid, oil, transfer case, coolant, and gear oil to use but ZERO mention of when to change. It’s odd to me because my frontier listed all of the fluids and when to change them.

the dealer is absolutely pushing the 1 year oil narrative
, and the service guy actually told me Toyota uses “special” oil for a factory fill, and that it was better to keep it in there longer, lol. (I had asked about dumping the factory fill @1700km) he mention all the metal during the break in. So nothing new here, and similar to what many have also been told.

so, out of curiousity what are ya all doing?

I’ve always:
Oil/filter @ 5k or 6 months
Transmission @48k (drain and fill only) regardless of time
Diffs/transfer case @48k regardless of time
Coolant @ 5 years regardless of mileage (my frontier was a complete flush, wife’s rav just a drain and fill)
PS fluid @48k (just empty reservoir and refill)
Tires are “rotated” @ 6months (winter tire swap) at this time I also pop out the slider pin and clean/lube)
Cabin/air filter as needed, usually yearly.
Brakes when they ‘squeal”.
Even though I’m supposed to, I’ve never changed brake fluid.
My frontier had original plugs. Wife’s rav has 90k, and 5 years. Original plugs.
I’ve had good luck with this. I work with guys that say they never change coolant or trans fluid.

car wizard guy on YouTube says not to change plugs unless they start throwing codes.

 

Maybe I’m tired, and overthinking but I find it weird that in addition to buying the damn truck I was bombarded with ECP, tire insurance, key fob insurance, rustproofing, paint,protection, leather care, fabric protection. All additional profit for the dealer.

but at the service side I was like “hey I’d like to come in and change my oil more often”.

dealer was like “uh we don’t really want to” lol.

and further thinking is how can they ever deny warranty based on lack of maintenance when they don’t specify anything?

I mean if cars ran forever on just oil changes, and tire rotations (basically what my dealer is offering) that’s awesome, but unrealistic.

 

Toyota has a booklet titled "Toyota 2023 Tundra Warranty and Maintenance Guide" that has a Maintenance Log section that lists everything that should be checked/done by 5K intervals. If it isn't in the big pile of books that come with the Tundra you can get a pdf version of this (and other) manuals by setting up an account at https://www.toyota.com/owners/

 

its,not working for me (likely because I’m in Canada). Won’t take my vin

any chance you,can send me a pdf of that book? Or is it web based?

 

Might try here: https://www.toyota.ca/toyota/en/owners/manuals

 

I've been told that one of the major reasons for sparkplug maintenance intervals is to make sure the threads don't get seized in the event you do actually need to replace one. Though my Tacoma with the 2GR-FKS (60k plug service interval) did start having some very noticeable pinging under very hard acceleration with a loaded trailer around 65k miles. No codes, but maybe it needed plugs. I ran that engine hard.

 

I took mine in for the 6 month service as the dealer reached out to me to book it. I really wanted an oil change but our mileage was only about 2,500 kms. The service advisor said they don't do early oil changes. His response was that the oil would be good for 16,000 kms (10K miles). I asked them to look at the trans lag as well.

After a day at the dealer, I went to pick it up and they didn't do anything other than leave a bunch of greasy hand prints in the hood. They didn't apply the laggy software fix but did tell me that they weren't going to charge me for the diagnostic fee. They couldn't reproduce the lagginess in their 10 minute drive!

I did my own oil change at 4k kms and will do another at 9k kms.

I need to find a better dealer to get service. A service advisor who will actually listen rather than dismiss my concerns.

We get the 3 year service plan included but what does that really include. At our current mileage (~5,000 kms in 12 months) we wont be eligible for an oil change until the end of the plan.

The other thing to consider is more frequent tire rotation due to the front wheel alignment challenges that some others have encountered.

 

Toyota 2023 Tundra Warranty and Maintenance Guide

 

I wouldn't rotate more than every 5k miles. If you have an issue with alignment then tires will show it with uneven wear - so you can have dealer fix it and hopefully give you new tires

 

@Kap1 Thanks for the advice. I don't see my dealer giving me new Toyo's and after adding a level kit, they would tell me to pound sand! I can't even get them to do a free oil change