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Service Intervals & Off Road Maintenance


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Hi (again)

 

As a new Toyota owner and new to using a 4x4 for its intended purpose, off-road, I need a little advice from my fellow Toyota Owners with regards service intervals.

 

I am trained over the past 9 years to service my car annually (as I never previously hit the mileage milestone) and with a service pack never really read any documents as it was a matter of a reminder being sent on SMS and pick up the car a few days later.

 

My car:

  • FJC 2020 (registered October 31st this year)
  • 4 year service contract
  • Averaging 2k per month KMs so hitting service schedules much sooner than planned
    • Added to this a reasonable % of this mileage is done off-road

I know I need to call the dealership for a number of these asks below however their service departments isn’t exactly responsive so as I wait thought I would ask our community:

1087690796_A-2FJMaintenance-Dustysandyserviceguide-highlights.jpg.a01f98e868624e5738a924e161fd8cb9.jpg

Advice needed

  • #1 according to the Owners Manual, if you are using the car regularly on dusty road then the service interval for a few items are adjusted (brought forward).
    • ASK # 1 – Does a weekly desert drive qualify my driving/car as having ‘regular’ off road use?
  • #2 above is a screen shot from the owners manual that details the items that need to be done earlier if using off road regularly
    • ASK #2 – have any of you fellow Toyota owners with a service pack, bothered to use the included service for this maintenance?  Would it be a waste of that service entitlement as I only get 7 (covering 4 years)
    • ASK #2A – if you fellow service pack owners advise to keep the included services for the main milestones (every 10k KM) then do you simply go to an:
      • Independent garage and have the filter and oil replaced + Prop Shaft greased and tightened OR
      • do you pay the dealership tax and get that task done at the dealership to not risk any void warranty? OR
      • just buy the Toytota official Oil filter and have the work done offsite/independent
  • #3 and ASK#3 – any FJC owners able to advise me on any items to watch out for / have looked at as I now take the car weekly into the desert and it being only a few months old?
    • I am following the guidance in the forum to check fluid levels prior and post drive (oil, coolant, power steering and brake)
      • I have done 3K KM so far and the oil on the dip stick looks as good as new and the fluids haven’t shifted at all (good news I guess)

 

Thank you in advance

 

 

 

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@Niki Patel im impressed that you have bothered to read and post from the owners manual, it a bit rare. Its always better to be safe than sorry. An early oil and filter change is not really going to have any negative effect on FJC, buFJgetting late in a service can have a bad effect. A dumb a$$ once said oil and filter is cheaper than your engine, sadly he was correct. A few extra Dirhams spent every six months will only protect your investment.

I would rate a weekly drive as regular off-road. If you have a respectable and reliable garage who can do the job for you, you can buy the original engine oil and filter and get it done outside. This should not void your warranty, I'm sure @Gaurav bhai can shed more light on this subject.

I will let the FJC owners take over from here. Off to you @Ale Vallecchi, @Ahab Shamaa, @Pickey Singh and more i can't remember.

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Thank you @Rahimdad for taking the time to reply and rightly comment that’s it’s better to be safe and spend a few extra aed than be sorry.  I am one of those people that reads manuals (even the ikea ones) ... I am hanging my head in shame!... sadly I rarely understand what I am reading but carry on as it makes me feel smarter. 
 

appreciate you adding the FJC gurus and Gaurav to give me further council.  With the weekly drives I suspect I will hit the 5k milestone by Jan/feb so just getting prepared.  
 

hope I get to join one of your famed drives very soon!  Touched and humbled by your story about your brother and the Superman tshirts! Look forward to seeing you again very soon. 

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Hey @Niki Patel, what a post! I’m not talking about your content, but rather your organization and pragmatism 😀 I wonder what you do for a living 🤔 Reading your post makes me wanna take a tour of our FJ to see how everything is tidy and well organized 🤣

In any event, I am by no means a guru, a savant, or even a wise and prudent  man. I’m  simply a sucker who uses his credit card to buy stuff for his car 😂@Rahimdad quickly figured out that I’m a poser and simply referred to me as an FJ owner 🤣

Regarding the maintenance, I’ve been following the service intervals suggested in the owner’s manual. Even if I’m going off-road more than once a week, I don’t shorten the time between service visits. I do however, quite frequently (once week after off-road trips), blow out the dust/sand out of my air filter and check all my fluid levels. 

These Toyotas are designed to take a serious beating.  There are FJs out in the world with a million+ kms on the odometer, that are still going strong 😀

Having said that, you’re still in the honeymoon phase I guess; and your extra care is understandable. Pretty soon you’ll be reaching out for the duct tape when you notice an oil leak under your car 🤣

On another tangent, if I get a slot on @Ale Vallecchi  Saturday RAK drive, we’ll finally be meeting in person my Cruiser Brother  😍 

Finally, @Ale Vallecchi, @Pickey Singh, @Niki Patel, @Heisem, @David Ortells, @Piotr Kolodziej, @Najeeb Mohammed, we have to come up with a cool name for our FJ band 😀 Yalla, yalla! As @Foxtrot Oscarwould say 😀

See you guys on the sand!

Edited by Ahab Shamaa
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@Ale Vallecchi ... 🙏🏽 My brother @Ahab Shamaa and I will share the same tracks so you won’t even notice an extra car in the convey! 
 

@Ahab Shamaa you are not a poser .. you have the pin-up FJC!  I live through your spending and upgrades ... god bless your credit card!

I am clearly in the honeymoon phase lol.. thank you for sharing your maintenance routine and I will add clearing out the air filter (I cannot believe I didn’t do that so far)!  When I check the fluids after each drive if the oil levels drop or/and the colour degrades I will then change the filter/oil otherwise stick to the scheduled 10k intervals.  
 

I have just placed an order for duck tape and be prepared for the most boring car tour when we finally meet (I have one duffel in the trunk and that’s sadly it). 
 

FJC crew ... cannot wait for the next ‘FC preferred ride’ so we get to hang out as a rabble/heard/gang/crew 

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Good to see a small troop of FJCs slowing building up.

I have driven with @Ahab Shamaa and his FJC look mean and very capable.

 

@Niki Patel To your question, I agree that you can opt to perform an oil and filter change every 5k before your next scheduled service with Al-Futtaim.

I have been servicing my car every 5k km given that it takes a long time for me to the next service interval.

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@topgear such a great community this and will do my part to make sure our FJC gang/band/group/rabble support each other as those xterra, Jeepers and Pajero group have!  at present I am sharing little but getting a lot ... will pass that forward for the next FJC newbie!
 

appreciate you sharing your maintenance schedule and the oil change every 5k! 

See you in 2021 I hope and I may start up a few more FJC threads as I had a peak into @Ahab Shamaa FJC trunk and the gear has me thinking we should do a FJC show and tell/gear review!  I noticed with envy a four tire inflation rig, storage solution and I bet there’s even more in there.  Also we had a few FJC on the RAK trip and I noticed my dream suspension setup (OME 51’s) so may find who that was for a true review! 

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The show and tell is a great idea @Niki Patel 😀👍🏻 I believe that we will all benefit greatly from it. 
My next imminent upgrade is a better suspension. The fox suspension that came on my car is entry level and I’m not too impressed by it. With that, any tips on this upgrade would be highly welcome 🙏🏻 Now, I’m gonna go look up the OME 51s because I have no idea what that is 🤪

Edited by Ahab Shamaa
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@Niki Patel 4-tyres simultaneous inflation is certainly helpful esp during the summer. I am still inflating one at a time. 

 

@Ahab Shamaa OME 51 is ARB's suspension. I am still on stock but have seen/read quite a few positive reviews on OME

 

Is your's Extreme FJC given that it came with Fox suspension.

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@Ahab Shamaa I found it tricky getting true independent advice here in UAE as the few garages I visited were licensed to sell certain brands and therefore were biased to those.  That’s one of the challenges in our market in that exclusive rights (subsidized stock) limit true independent garages so us giving true reviews can be a massive help!  I am like @topgear on stock suspension and it’s been great as I am learning on these so any future upgrade I will really be in a position to appreciate the improvements.  
 

OME 51’s had a great and easy manual adjustment so within a minute you could move to softer rebound so Sat-Thursday we would have a really nice ride on the road and then a quick adjustment to firm things up and be ready for the desert.  That said (I understand but need to confirm) the shocks cannot be rebuilt ... they have a 3 year warranty which helps but need to read up on >3 years what’s needed.  Beauty of others like King/Fox etc is you can get them rebuilt and effectively like new annually/whenever so a bit more research to do for sure! 
 

In the new year I will start up that show and tell thread if others haven’t and do a bit of detective work to find out who on our drive had the OME 51s to encourage a quick review for our benefit :) 

we need to find something to talk about right... our cars are not breaking down that often so our community looks silent 🤣 ... 

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