Towing a trailer with new 4Runner Hybrid - minimum miles required on odometer?

[Jared72]

Because I don’t have a firm delivery date my 4R might be in right before I go on vacation and plans were to go camping and off roading in the Black Hills. I use an enclosed trailer as a camper. It’s about 2500 pounds plus camping gear so give or take 3000 loaded. The Car Care Nut on YouTube recommended at least 500 miles before towing what does everyone here think?. It will have at least a 100 miles on it coming from the dealer.

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[ScoMay]

I can’t comment specifically on the 4Runner & towing since I have not gone far enough into my manual. I have a Pro, but I don’t intend to tow with it.

What I can say is what I learned when I bought my Ram 1500 pickup in 2022. It has the V8 Hemi in it. Salesperson told me there was no break-in period for the engine. But my brother-in-law who had the same engine in his Grand Cherokee said look deeper into the manual. So 300 pages further in(!) there was a break-in period described… for towing. You were not supposed to tow until you had 500 miles on the engine and then after that your first 500 miles of towing had to be UNDER 50 mph. That seemed pretty limiting to me, but I tried to follow it.

Here is how I achieved that 500 miles of slow speed towing. I was not interested in having people honk at me on the highway, so I towed on the Blue Ridge Parkway (I live near it). There were 2 reasons why I did it this way. First, there is no commercial traffic allowed on the parkway. So no slow moving trucks to drive you crazy. Second, the speed limit is 45 mph on the parkway. It turned out to be a nice relaxing drive and I had my 500 miles of slow speed towing accomplished in just a few days.

Just a thought that might help you out.

 

[jimr]

Because I don’t have a firm delivery date my 4R might be in right before I go on vacation and plans were to go camping and off roading in the Black Hills. I use an enclosed trailer as a camper. It’s about 2500 pounds plus camping gear so give or take 3000 loaded. The Car Care Nut on YouTube recommended at least 500 miles before towing what does everyone here think?. It will have at least a 100 miles on it coming from the dealer.

Page 190 of my 2025 4runner owner manual recommends: "For the first 500 miles: Do not tow a trailer."
That page also lists some other recommendations for what to avoid when the vehicle has low miles.

 

[kzrman]

Please download and read the owners manual.

https://assets.sia.toyota.com/publications/en/om-s/OM35B85U/pdf/OM35B85U.pdf

 

[ricelX]

Toyota recommends a break in periods for all their cars/trucks/SUVs for a min of (IIRC) 300 miles.

no hard acceleration, mix of city and highway. No hard or sudden stops (unless emergency, also good to follow after all new break jobs).

This lets the rings seat and all other moving parts (mainly engine) to settle in. You won’t typically break anything if you don’t follow that guidance but for 250k+ miles that’s where it will matter.

Like previous have stated, check out the owners manual and don’t tow before 500mi.

 

[Jared72]

I know it’s a completely different engine but it’s funny the difference between the 4 runner engine and the DD16 I drive for work. Mechanics will tell you drive this like you would any other truck from day one. The more you baby them the worse they run later.

 

[ricelX]

I know it’s a completely different engine but it’s funny the difference between the 4 runner engine and the DD16 I drive for work. Mechanics will tell you drive this like you would any other truck from day one. The more you baby them the worse they run later.

I've actually never looked up a diesel break in procedure before. Ha, learn something new every day!

As a general rule, freshly rebuilt or new diesel engines should be run at idle for the first 10 min and checked for leaks immediately after. High RPMs should be avoided during the break-in process as it can cause unwanted engine damage.

After that, the truck should be run with the heaviest load allowed by the manufacturer to make sure sufficient load is applied to the engine. This step should continue for roughly 100-150 miles. Finally, the truck should be cycled through all the gears and be kept in the highest gear possible at 75%-80% of the max RPM available.

Just found this video from a Toyota ASE Master Service Tech. Not a Toyo Engineer but some solid advice. He actually recommends baby-ing it for the first 700mi.

 

[ggrant20]

I’m aiming to get to 1000mi before I tow our trailer on any trips, even though it lists 500 for towing, the next line says “For the first 1000 miles - do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods”.

Those are vague terms but since our trips will be hours at highway speed I feel like that counts so figured I might as well wait.

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