Servicing for Prado 5K

Hi N,
In Short, Yes it is a necessity and Yes it may well void the warranty if it is not done.
There is more to it than just changing the oil, read your service book. It should include tightening all the things that have come loose etc
If anything goes pear shaped and the service has not been done, I would expect that you could well have a fight on your hands trying to sort out the warranty issues.
Cheers

If it diesel - YES, petrol - NO

If it's in the book for a 5k service than do it. Years ago they only did every 10k, and every 5k under hard working conditions. I would follow the book for warranty purposes wont do it any harm to do a change at 5k intervals anyway. Keep the motor nice and fresh if you have been working it hard or you do short trips to the corner shop and back, can cause more damage due to condensation building up and not getting rid of it, rust out the exhaust a lot quicker to. Yes can see your point on costs,my mum takes her to toyota every 10k (camry) and gets the local servo to do the oil every 5k. If it says in the book every 10k then as long as you do that you wont have any warranty issues, but as mentioned above if it's diesel then yes I would say for sure every 5k. Regards Vitara

Mine is out of warranty so I do the oil changes my self, takes about 30 - 60 minutes, including filter change. Don't even have to jack the front up, drip tray undo the drain plug, bob's your....

The filter change is a little fiddly, needed to get a new wrench with extra girth for the larger filter body. But with access from the top, no worries. Mind you they take 7 litres of oil (with filter) so you'll need more than your average 5 litre oil container.

I spent a lot of money on my Prado, if they say change the oil it must be for a reason. I believe the trubo diesels get a little sensative if the oil gets too dirty.

Answer is yes.
And yes, its only to replace the oil - although your book will spell out what other stuff gets done under "extreme" conditions.

The Prado motor is indirect injection, and as mentioned in your handbook, small diesels can get oil thickening.
http://motorcare.com.au/dieseloil.htm

Many owners negotiate with the dealer to do those intermediate oil changes themselves.

Cheers
phil