a 10,000 mile oil change?!?!

My 19 maintenance book calls for every 5k. Yours says 10k?

 

I do every 5K. It's cheap and I love seeing clean oil coming out. Don't need to but I love to.

 

I've done 1 change and my oil was black at 4800 miles.

 

Mine's a flex fuel engine, 5k as recommended by Toyota. I would change it every 5k even if it weren't, oil changes are inexpensive.

I had mine changed on Monday at the 5k interval. I'd bet 75% of those 5k miles were towing. Out of curiosity I checked the level and found it to be full before the oil change. Surprised, I thought it would have burned some oil. The color was not dark either, just caramel in color.

 

No matter what, any oil will start to degrade the second you fire up your engine, all of the mechanics I've spoken to agree that oil must be changed every 6 months or if you hit 5K miles. Sure synthetic does take more abuse to break down but it will break down, guaranteed, so maybe another 1-1.5K miles will be fine, but that only means you'll be driving more miles on dirty oil that is yet to loose its properties.

Oil is cheap compared to a new engine

 

I would think 7500 synthetic changes would be more than sufficient

maybe 5k for extreme duty

 

As much as I can research the "science" behind automotive oil and filter life it is the issue of what constitutes "normal" usage that keeps having me change oil/filter more frequently than manufacturer recommendations.

Like other readers, I believe it is cheap insurance, and makes me rest better, knowing it is done MORE frequently.

 

Look at all the things corporations lie about. They want to sell cars not maintain cars. Do what you feel comfortable with

 

I do 7500 miles.

Ran 7500 on synthetic when I had my 05 4.7 for three years, my 10 5.7 for 6 years and currently on my 17.

For me it is the perfect interval... oil change and tire rotation in early spring and late fall.

 

Mobil 1. It is still amber color at 6,000 miles. 10K OCI and I couldn't be happier. Prior to my 2017 Tundra I've had, along with wives, kids & girlfriends, conventional oil cars/trucks and 3K OCI. I've done some 200+ oil changes since 1985. I'm enjoying the new sciences, engineering and build qualities.

Now, please respect this important message >>> YMMV.

 

Mobile 1 10,000 miles on oil , but filter every 5000. OEM Filters are cheap and easy change, and can see what oil has been doing. Looking at the color on a dipstick can be very deceiving, look at bottom of filter canister for any problems.

 

Change mine every Dec at 12 to 13k. Amsoil and Blackstone reports my wear is equal to or better than the average 7500 Tundra. They stated keep doing what you are doing. That is my cadence.

 

I only had about 5k miles at 1 yr so I asked the dealer to do the first Toyota care oil change and they did it no problem. Said they would do the next one at 10k. After that I'll go to 10k mile intervals. I ain't worried.

 

Also, the oil stocks in my portfolio are sucking ass so I would recommend a change every 3k miles.

 

Your driving patterns matter a lot as well. If you do a bunch of highway, go more miles in the interval. City driving runs more rpms than highway per mile

 

I wish I had done my first at 5k. But I did it at 10k and now every 5k. Like others said, oil is cheap and it doesn’t take that long to do.

 

I may be in the minority here but I don’t believe it’s all marketing. For me the 10k OCI started in the late 80’s. During that time a family member of mine had a total of 13 Limos/town cars/vans (all Fords/Lincoln’s). These vehicles we well cared for but driven hard by the driver’s in the NYC area and surrounding suburbs. All of them ran Mobil 1 for 10k for many years with no engines failures. My father started using the same mechanic and started do the same thing because he would average 40k a year. And he did this with many Camry “sludge monsters” but never got less than 300k (4 different Camrys). I started doing 10k OCI in my Tacoma’s but I would change the filters at 5k (2 3.4’s and 1 4.0). I never had an issue either. In my opinion a decent synthetic oil is a lot stronger than most people think. I follow the manual 10k or one year for my Tundra...

 

So many factors - for instance, 10K miles makes sense for me because:
1. I drive 10K miles per year so I come up on distance and time limits at the same time.
2. I do not tow - ever
3. My daily drive is 30% in-town but not stop and go and I'm still going 40-50mph and the other 70% is a gentle stint on the highway. I don't idle. I don't short trip. The engine transmission gets up to operating temp every time I drive it.
4. I will likely keep this truck 5-7 years and so it will have 50-70K miles on it. Even if I keep it 10 years I'll only be at 100K miles.

Different story if you for instance:
1. Tow regularly
2. Spend a lot of time idling
3. Make many short trips and especially if you live up north
4. Want to keep the truck forever and your expectation is to keep this truck running well for 250K miles.

Then 5K mile OCIs make sense and technically you'd fall under the severe use schedule anyway.

If you're somewhere in between these two scenarios, split the difference with 7500 mile OCIs.

 

The ONLY thing that will tell someone definitively what OCI they should run is a used oil analysis. I’ve had a few done on my last Tundra and 7-8k intervals on the cheapest full synthetics and decent filters were always just fine. Since I’m under warranty I’m sticking with the standard 5k intervals using the cheapest full synthetic oil from Walmart with an OEM filter.

 

You must still have cannister filter and no skid plate or a trap door. If i am going to the trouble to change filter I am going to change oil too. Now on my Tacomas a filter change took maybe 5 minutes so I changed them more often.

 

never heard of canister filter on Tundras, Yes I have an access hole ,and filters are only 5.00 ea at Toyota. No trouble at all just filter ,about 15 min. Idon't understand where people are saying run cheapest synthetic, not sure why anyone would do that to their truck , when you can pickup mobile one all over for 22.00 a gallon and mobile always has 12.00 rebates , so it avg, about 18.00- 20.00 gal. thats cheap for added protection. Cheap synthetics mean cheap low grade and fewer additives . As far as testing,no need if running quality oil , and changes look good. 90% of engine problems are going to create noise of some sort, and testing will probably show oil break down in cheaper oils,and some metal particles. But all is usually normal , depending on mileage, and use. Stick with high quality products , don't take chances, drive it your way , change oil as often you feel comfortable doing. AND WITH MOBIL 1 , OR VALVOLINE ,you can feel pretty confident in 10,000, after all they do have guarantees also on some. Isn't that why most of the time we run quality gas instead of cheap crap stations , after all if you need 10-15 gal fill with cheap stuff you only save about 2-3.00 per fill. Don't get me wrong some times,I'll take that savings , but usually MOBILE, SHELL, or 66. Cheap gas creates more problems and expensive ones more than oil.

 

I think it’s because most cheap or budget oils are still pretty good. Amazon and super tech synthetics have done well when sent off for uoa.

havoline synthetic has also shown good results and is one of the less expensive
Oils

 

Agree , I meant off brands , Havoline, top quality, all we ever ran in our race cars. My question is do these tests show additives and concentration amounts of each, and break down . Or just check for contaminants in oil ?

 

On my 2000 Tundra, I did 5k oil and filter change intervals with pennzoil conventional and Fram oil filters. It ran great and got it up to 285k til I sold it.

New owner noted that it still has power!

 

You DID 5k? Did you unload your Tundra?

 

Then it’s a waste. I get it. Are you just driving a commuter, now?

 

Thought I would try the 10k change. At 7-8k the oil started to change to a darker color. Closer to 10k the oil became really dark brown to almost black. Sent a sample off for testing and it showed that I could drive another 2k miles or so. I now change it every 5k since I do tow a 7k travel trailer. Cheap insurance for me!