Oil change intervals?
 

Ok, changed my oil today in my car that had around 2K miles on 0-20W Mobil 1. Had about 12 months on oil. Even though it was nowhere near 5 or 7500K miles it had 11 months of stop/go short trips which IMO is the extreme driving conditions. I have VVT engine which has small passages for pressurized oil to operate the VVT. That’s reason I changed oil cause I don’t want any slug buildup on my VVT or piston rings. If I had turbo engine I doubt I’d let oil longer than 6 to 8 months regardless of miles or dash percentage indication (which in my case read 75% oil life left.

I’ll reference other opinion on subject. Bottom line if you expect to keep vehicle more than 3 or 4 years oil change intervals IMO need keep eye on. Or you could end up with engine rattle on startup. The sound of death at door steps IMO.

How Long Does Oil Last in a Car Not Driven? | Strickland Brothers 10 Minute Oil Change.

I have a car which is over 60 years old...........the engine in it is over 50 years old (more power!!!). The engine has 70,000 miles on it. As you can imagine, it sits more than it runs.

As a result, I change oil based on time.........not miles.
I change oil between 12 & 18 months.
Never had a problem.
Have dropped the oil pan to inspect.

I do stay away from Pennsylvania oil.

q. 5000 mi. on the Rav4. Which works out to about 9 months per change.

Can't hurt, low cost insurance.

The way to know for sure is to have a Blackstone oil analysis performed.

Thousands of people who have tested their oil shows data confirms manufactures recommendations are conservative and good enough for most people.

15yo Saab 900 turbo was running great when we traded it in. 12 month oil changes since we didn't put 10K miles on it in a year.

Reason I rarely leave oil in over 12 months regardless of miles. Here’s what 10K Mobil 1 oil warranty states. What the period of coverage are.

The Mobil 1 limited warranty is valid for 10,000 miles or your vehicle’s OEM recommended oil change interval, whichever is longer.

Additional requirements for all Mobil 1 products include:

“Oils must be put in service not later than five (5) years from the date of purchase; and
an oil change must be completed every twelve (12) months.”

IMO most of use don’t drive car long distances daily like going to work to Orlando and back or further, which some easily put 15K plus miles year on in those cases you could probably leave or in to maximum distance cause probably exceed mileage before 12 months or so. Which IMO is not extreme driving conditions normally? stop and go short distance driving are extreme driving conditions IMO.

Here’s certified master Toyota mechanic opinion on 10 K oil changes.

Toyota Master Technician Argues Against 10,000 Mile Oil Change Intervals With Busted Engine Teardown | Carscoops

Have been buying Camrys for past 30 years. With regular oil had it changed every 3000 miles now with synthetic just about 5000.

This way a mechanic can give it a good onceover to help prevent problems and have noticed get well over 100,000 miles on the car.

Cheap insurance

Every 12 months, only put about 3k per year ...Mobile 1 oil.

Oil companies(particularly Mobile) love you. When I was working drove 30K miles a year and used synthetics($75 complete oil change cost) and went 7500-10,000 between changes. Never had a problem over 20 years.

I use Amsoil signature series on my truck and the wife’s Honda with a good quality WIX XP filter. Both are rated for 12K miles, but I change both at 9k. I never worry about time between changes because we always both easily hit the 9k interval within a year. I use Amsoil small engine oil on the golf carts and do an annual oil change.

IMO Really can’t compare you situation to his. Your driving conditions was different for his. The articles explains that. Coking has more affect on short stop and go trips even with todays oils. You probably changed oil two or three time in year. Down road driving about 1/4 to 1/10 of demands on oil life unless you pulling load which creates more heat than short stop and go trips.

I get the free oil change at the dealer once a year with only 3-5 K on the odometer each time.

I drive about 7,500 miles per year. Just this morning, I got a synthetic oil change and I will get the next one after another 7,500 miles. I used Wildwood Tire and it cost $78. That is the only vehicle maintenance that I do, except to replace tires, brakes, and windshield wipers. My vehicle has 53,000 miles, and I have never even read the recommended maintenance schedule because I think it is overkill.

Of course they tell you to change the oil every 12 months even if your mileage was low. They are in the business of selling oil, filters and/or oil change services! It's like the shampoo directions that tell you to lather up, rinse, and then repeat. You don't need to repeat the shampoo and you don't need to change your oil (especially when using synthetic) for at least 7500 miles. It's a foolish and unnecessary waste of money to do it more often.

Do you verify the oil actually been changed? Trust but verify, you also need to check level on dip stick cause some dealers `over fill due laziness and not following up on work. When I was in Oklahoma dealers tooted free oil changes. The problem was they wasn’t changing oil ( cause they knew most people trade in 3 or 4 years)( so they could do nothing and get away with it cause it would be out of warranty and second persons unknown problem) Not saying that what goes on, but I verify any maintenance performed that I am paying for make sure they doing it right. Few dealerships earned my trust and some get F rating IMO when they can do simple oil and level correct.

I’m stubborn nobody tells me anything. I make my own decisions. :D


So I see you didn’t read the articles or watch utube video.

Go head leave it in longer, probably trade in 3 years anyway so won’t make difference. You have control do what you want.

Don’t matter if you trade every 3 or 4 years, you could do nothing and it wouldn’t make difference. It be second owners problem.. bet you didn’t watch the Toyota mechanic utube Video either.

Another reason to drive an EV

I change my vehicle with conventional oil every 3,000 miles and my newer F150 with synthetic oil every 5,000 miles. Never had any issues. Always change the filter at the time of the oil change.

My vehicle has never sat idle for 12 months (or driven less than 3,000 miles in that time), but I also, subscribe to the belief that oil should be changed at least every 12 months. It’s a relatively inexpensive insurance policy given that some car engines now cost upwards of $10,000 to replace.

Even if you don’t drive it often taking it out on a road with a higher speed limit occasionally will help keep it clean. The old Italian tuneup method

Ever hear of an oil related failure? Here's my opinion on oil change interval. I think many spend a lot more than necessary on unneeded maintenance.

Today's engines along with current oil formulations easily tolerate even the worst abuse from extended use of oil. As long as there is sufficient oil in the crankcase you are unlikely to see any type of failure from not changing oil regularly. Nothing wrong with changing oil frequently if you want to spend the money on unnecessary maintenance, but even manufacturers recommendations have greatly increased time / milage. Every 3,000 miles or 6 months has increased to every 7,500 or 1 yr for non synthetic and much longer for synthetic.

Years back with my Porsche, I think it was 15,000 miles between oil changes using synthetic. Porsche’s back then had 9-10 quarts of oil, plus you drove the car a little harder which is actually better for the car and the oil. A bigger deal back then and even now is to change your filter every 5000 miles if you are going to wait to change your oil every 10-15,000 miles.
The worst thing you can do to your car is use it to drive a few blocks to the store or to a rec center which will never get your engine hot enough to get the oil hot to burn off any condensation. I had a v8 truck 50 years ago and drove it 1 mile to work. After 1000 miles when looking at the dipstick, there was white gunk all over it. This is what will kill your engine.
Most new cars have engine stat screens that show when you should change your oil, I’ve been using these instead of the odometer. Check out if your car has an ‘oil life monitoring’ system and use that instead of using miles.

Unless you test the oil, you really don't know.

Here's a Blackstone analysis on a Corvette Z06 after 12K mi between a change.


12,000 miles is a pretty long run compared to the average LS6, but this engine handled & with ease.
The data in the rightmost column shows results for the LS6 at an average oil run length of 3,800 miles. Your data at 12k ali came in at comparabie levels, implying much better than average wear rates. There's nothing to worry about in these results. The oil held up weil to the longer run, showing correct viscosity and no sign of fuel or coolant contamination, and both oil and air fitration lock fine. Bump the interval up to 14,000 miles next time and check back.

MI/HR on Oil
12,000

My wife has a 2018 Lexus NX300 with 82000 miles, she drove about 40 miles one way to work everyday, so they were easy highway miles. I have a 2022 Toyota Tacoma with 57000 miles. I was in sales before I retired so I drove about 24k per year.

On both vehicles we run synthetic oil and go by the vehicles computer. When it says to change oil, we do it. That is what the dealer recommended.

Now that we're retired and her Lexus sits for six months in Indiana, I'll probably change it once a year.

Sorry don’t understand, what’s your question?

Oil Change
 

Most mechanics in new car franchises are paid by piece work. Oil changes there are like 10 minute oil change locations. They are done by the same person who does nothing but drain oil.
Good mechanics do repair work, the oil changers wash cars and keep the shop floor clean.

I do too. But the dealer for my car is in Connecticut, where I bought it. The dealer down here doesn't honor that deal. So I bring mine to the tire store at 441/Griffin. They do the oil change, give me a new spark plug, rotate the tires, top off the windshield wiper fluid, for something like $80 using synthetic or synthetic blend (I can't ever keep that straight). Pennzoil also has occasional rebate offers, so if they have it I pick up the coupon there at the store, turn it in, and get a visa pre-loaded card with $40 on it.

Yup, I lost my first Ford Explorer to failure. Thing is, I should've "checked the oil" every couple of gas fill-ups. Because I didn't do that, and waited for the low oil light to go on, I didn't realize there was a problem. Turns out, I had holes. When they cleaned it up, the holes were unplugged, and the leakage became significant. Engine seized, had to replace the engine. A rebuild and the labor would've cost more than I paid for the vehicle, so I traded it in for another. Turned out THAT one was a lemon, and I sold it to some guy I worked for cheap just to get rid of it.

So, you work in auto repair field and never heard of oil repaired failure? You can bet 99% was due to lack of maintenance from people who never check or change oil.

Did you read the Mobil one LIMITED warranty. After one year you’re on you own. Did you watch the video what Toyota mechanic had to say? Sure you leave in as long as you want as long as you know where dipstick is. IMO the problem arises when some go by oil indicators percentage and never check oil that keep vehicle over 6 or so years. That’s when lack of oil changes/checking starts coking process. Agree you can do nothing if you trade every few years. I bet there no oil manufacture recommendations longer than 1 year? Why cause oil start breaking down due to heat cycles. Sure you can oil tested but eventually that defeats cost oil change. Commercial trucking different, over road driving different. When vehicles takes gallons of oil cost effective to have it tested.

This was not started for people has has some knowledge on oil changes and internals and know where dip stick is. . It for one’s that go strictly by oil life cycle on dash which in my case could take 3 or more years of stop and go driving to reach recommended limit on oil life. Plus the oil manufacture don’t recommend longer than 1 year. If you check oil occasionally and trade within few years you will probably never experience VVT rattle or stuck piston rings cause it takes years of neglect to cause those problems.

Agree and most have turnover and little training process starts all over?

And some (not all) don’t check level oil after that change it and over fill it which I have experienced several times at dealer, trust but verify IMO. Why I change my own oil now. Last time I had my oil changed at dealership here they over filled it by 3/4 of quart. My car holds 4.2 quarts and they dumped in 5 quarts probably using the spigot pump out of 55 gallon drum of cheapest oil the could could buy? If I got to crawl under car and drain out overfilled oil change I just well do it my self. :sigh:

Check your dip stick if you know where it is? :wave:

I wonder when 737 going EV? Like NEVER:oops:

Let’s see how many oil changes can I do vs cost of battery pack?

So you determined vehicle stop and go driving differently for over road every day driving miles are racked up quickly and over road driving (except towing) lot easier on engine and transmission. Which exactly what recommended and this post about.

bad about vehicle setting the oil additive molecules will eventually separate which usually takes years. Why the recommend don’t use oil (any OIL) over 5 years old.

They put in new spark plugs with every oil change?

I have a 25 year old lawn mower that still runs great that I have never changed the oil. I just top it up every year. I usually change my oil in my cars after 25,000 miles and have never had a problem.

You caught that too and I have to ask

Why? spark plugs can go 100K plus miles unless you have oil burner from not checking dip stick or GDI engine that dilutes oil with gas. On v6 or v8 engines spark plugs are really hard to change and opens up chances for problems you never had. These cars nowadays not your grandfather flat head.:duck:

Yes, I know.
I was directing the question to OBB.

Yet! That’s not question.:icon_wink:

Please disclose that disclaimer when you trade or sell the car I’m sure get top dollar for it :coolsmiley: as for you lawn mower who cares? Besides you probably have your yard done by landscapers.

I edited after the bell when off… I know I’m slow sometimes :sigh: