Suggestions for 2009 Toyota Highlander

[suedebskillz]

Recently purchased a 2009 Toyota Highlander Limited with the 3.5l that now has 136,000 miles on it. I'm about to perform my first oil change on it and am looking for suggestion. My concerns are the higher mileage and going into the winter season. I'm in Nebraska and the winters can get cold. We use this vehicle for all of our daily driving. From simple back and forth to work trips to longer drives to Des Moines or Kansas City for sporting events. I've seen where some have said 5w-30 and others have said 0w-20. Some say synthetic and others say it's not necessary. I plan on buying Toyota filters from Amazon. 5 for $21. Just want to make sure I'm buying the right oil.

Thanks for your help.

 

[JeffKeryk]

I would use any good filter and 5w30 synthetic. Whatever is marked on the oil cap.
If the current oil looks dirty and/or maintenance is suspect, do a 1000 mile or so OCI to help clean her up.
Service all the fluids and filters. You have Toyota quality and you will love it.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

Both 5w30 and 0w20 will be fine. Or, you could get M1 0w30.

Mahle makes a really good oil filter for that Toyota V6

 

[Danno]

I have a 2009 Venza with the same 3.5L engine. I use OEM cartridge and PP 5W-30. The combo works well.
Just to check that you know the engine oil filter is more complicated to change, it's a 2 step process, needs a special cap wrench and uses a cartridge.

 

[edwardh1]

you feel 136000 is higher mileage? not really. read about them on Toyota nation, for that generation highlander
try a fram ultra, my 04 uses a spin on

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by edwardh1
you feel 136000 is higher mileage? not really. read about them on Toyota nation, for that generation highlander
try a fram ultra, my 04 uses a spin on



If we were lucky they still be using spin ons vs those way over priced 1/2 filters.

 

[supton]

I prefer 5k OCI's and as such more apt to use the cheaper SuperTech full synth. I'm not sure how ST compares to Amazon Basics--other than it's cheaper. I know Mobil et al can go 10k but I sleep better as my engines get older, just starting to "feel better" with shorter OCI's.

5W30, 0W20, not sure there is much of a diff today. I used 0W20 for a while but started to head towards 5W30, it is a year round oil for all my vehicles. Not sure if syth is all that much better, certainly not on short OCI's like 5k. If I wanted to do 10k then I'd use the synthetic.

As for winter: 0W20 will be nicer to the battery. But if the battery is in good shape then it shouldn't matter--0W20 will let you eek out the last few electrons in really cold weather. But that should only matter in the dead of winter. People used much thicker oil in the past w/o issue.

 

[RTexasF]

Owner's manual says either one will be fine, 5W30 if towing.

 

[Speak2Mountain]

Mobil 1 5w30