Oil change?

So I now have a 2016 5.7 but don’t use the truck but only once or twice a week. I usually end up driving 5 to 6k a year. On my previous truck, 99 f250 diesel, I would only do an annual oil change because of the low usage but don’t think I should do that with the tundra. Opinions??

 

If you use synthetic you can probably do that with that low mileage. Even with synthetic I do oil changes every 5k miles instead of the 10k recommended. That's every 2 months for me - I do 30k a year.

 

Gotcha. Do you not trust the 10k mile oil rating?

 

I think it is okay to go 10k (they would not recommend that if there was a question about it), but I get my oil changes for free, so why not. If I had to pay for it I would do 10k.

 

I'm in the same boat as you are .But generally use my truck to drive to vacation once a yr and always try to do an oil change before going. Still only like 1 time a yr though .Somtimes have like 7k miles on it before oil change. Has never failed me yet for 3 yrs .

 

Thanks mnorris, yea it’s kind of a wierd situation but I don’t see the harm in leaving it in for that long. It’s not like I won’t be checking it every month or so for level and cleanliness.

 

Lots of recommendations for yearly if low miles. Not sure if oil industry driven or more of a moisture thing.

Just changed mobile 1 at year with 3300 miles. Oil wasn't as pretty as expected; if it is any kind of indicator.....

 

True but the only rule I guess I break is the change every 6 months or 3k miles for a reg oil change but idk what that rule is on toyota or running ful synthetic .

 

Mobil 1 is synthetic right?

 

Yes sir.

 

Might go that route if I’m only going to do it once or twice a year.

 

I say if it starts to look dirty start doing it every 6 months regardless of miles. Definatly wouldn't hurt .

 

Good point.

 

Good piece of mind knowing your using a premium oil. Really isn't that much more money when changing less frequently.

I have known folks that change dino oil once a year no matter the mileage, 5-15K. None ever seemed to have any issues that I heard of.........

 

I change my oil once a year. I think the key is, when you do drive it, make sure you get it nice and hot before putting it away. Keep the moisture levels down in the oil. I only put about 6000 a year on my truck. Color isn’t a total indicator, but it’s so clear I can barely see it on the dipstick. Also doesn’t smell like gasoline which is good. I don’t have any white froth on my oil cap either. So I just go by miles. I do it every 5000.

I think if you tend to do a lot of short trips cutting down the intervals is OK. It’s cheap and better safe than sorry. If you’re worried you could start sending in samples to Blackstone.

 

A teacher of mine In high school had a old Volvo with over 500k mile on it at that point he would just add oil lmao we thought he was joking but nope. Who knows how many miles where on it when it finally died

 

Volvo diesel? Hey I can believe that. Haha. My old diesel had 235k. Still ran like a champ.

 

Yep it was .Lol nice

 

Whoah! Man I guess if your not burning oil then you’re alright.

 

Because you’re using synthetic I think you’re fine doing an oil change once a year as long as you’re not going over the 10k mi mark.....

 

Yea I’ll be rare that I do. We have a Tahoe that we use for vacations cause of the DVD player for the kids so tundra won’t see much action out of town. Unless I make special trip. Makes it hard to find out how my mpgs are doing.