oil change interval

[badgolferman]

Sorry for the off topic post, but the Toyota and Lexus newsgroups are dead. Since there are plenty of knowledgeable and opinionated people here I am throwing this out for your comments.

Five months ago I bought a certified 2013 Lexus RX350 with 16K miles from the dealer. The first service call is complimentary and that includes an oil change. My dashboard service light came on around 5K miles so I called the dealer to schedule the oil change. They told me this vehicle uses synthetic motor oil and recommended oil change intervals are 10K miles. I looked in the service manual and sure enough that's true.

In my Toyotas I would change the oil at 5K miles using conventional oil. It makes me somewhat nervous to go 10K miles between changes but I guess synthetic is that much better and doesn't get dirty or break down. I've reached the 10K mile point and am going in today for the service.

The next oil change will be done by myself. Does anyone else use synthetic motor oil and how long do you go between changing it? What brand do you use?

[Tony Hwang]

I drive Acura MDX and oil change interval varies depending on driving condition and weather. Yes, dash shows oil life by percentage and when it nears zero it triggers service reminder as an alpha numeric code. Today's oil lasts long time. If you want to change oil yourself, you'll have to know how to tell the computer on board, oil is changed. In the case of Acura, if you don't it'll not remind next oil change. In addition, spark plugs last LONG time too. I use Iridium plugs and it can last life time of the car. Seems like oil life decreases faster when you do high speed, high temp. long highway driving. My oil life is sitting at 30% at present. Last oil change was last November. I change wife's car oil and I do it only once a year since new, no problem at all. I notice some new cars don't even have dip stick any more. On BMW that is an optional add-on. My son uses synthetic oil on his WRX STi. He changes it once a year. I notice he uses Red line from day 1. My car uses 5W-20 Honda brand oil at the dealer all the time.

[Snuffy "Hub Cap" McKinney]

I stick with what the mfr recommends as far as what oil to use. I don't know about newer cars, but for mine I just go by time and mileage. My experience is to check the dip stick when oil is fresh, rub the oil between fingers, smell it, put a drop on a white paper towel. Not every time, but just for curiosity, I have kept a pill bottle with some of the new oil and compare it as time goes on, then pour some from the filter and compare next time t's changed.

[gfretwell]

Unless Toyota is different, that "service" light is fir the EGR

[badgolferman]

Yes, the service light is a reminder to change your oil. It flashes momentarily at 4500 miles when you startup your car and stays on at

5000 miles. It can be reset by holding the trip zero button for five seconds while turning on the car.

There is a Check Engine light for other maintenance codes that the computer spits out.

[sms]

10K should be fine for synthetic. On Toyotas, the service light is strictly by mileage. It comes on every 5000 miles. On the vehicles with synthetic oil the 5000, 15000, etc., is for tire rotation only, while the 10,000, 20,000, etc is for an oii change.

On conventional oil Toyotas (we have three) I do every 5K. Probably a bit too often but it's easy to remember and that's the recommended interval for "severe service," while the interval for "normal service" is 7500 miles.

Recreational oil changers still do every 3000 miles though there's no benefit to doing so.

[Don Y]

10K is a good number for synthetics. But, you're best to consult the recommendations of the auto maker for specifics. Esp if the vehicle has any factory warranty remaining (some dealers want to see proof that you've adhered to the maintenance schedule).

Our last vehicle saw oil changes every *3000* miles -- simply because

*6000* would have been "once a year" (I'm not comfortable with that sort of time -- given the fact that ALL of our driving is "short trips", "stop 'n' go", with much of that spent in temperatures above 100F!

I figure the cost of the materials (oil + "genuine" filter) was peanuts (Our 13 year maintenance costs for the vehicle -- not counting oil changes -- was < $1K). So, throwing an *extra* $30 into the car each year (two oil changes instead of one) didn't feel extravagant.

You should also investigate *how* the "maintenance minder" is driven. Some are mileage/time based. Current car appears to actually note the type of driving that we do (and, perhaps, the fact that the car is brand new causes it to be more aggressive on the "first service").

*Do* keep a written log of your service. More than once it saved my ass when the maintenance light turned on (given our 3K service practice, it should NEVER have turned on -- unless something was REALLY broken!). Having the log allowed me to look at the current odometer, the recorded odometer from my last service *and* the odometer from the service BEFORE THAT! "Ah, this is 5000 miles since the service BEFORE the last service! I suspect I *forgot* to reset the indicator at the last service and the car now thinks it's time for the *last* service! Just reset it and watch to make sure it doesn't reassert itself..."

I then started adding another notation to each service entry: "reset service indicator" as "proof" that I'd done so!

[rbowman]

Being one of those people who actually reads the manuals, I was amused by the recommendations for the Yaris. To sum it up, change the oil and rotate the tires every 5000 miles. The last Yaris ihad you got to break the monotony by changing the coolant every two years.

[rbowman]

The trucking company I drove for pulled samples and had them analyzed. When I first started the oil changes were every 12,000, about once a month, which runs about $120. After going to the Detroit 60 engines, they increased the interval to 20,000. I was talking to the shop foreman and he said they weren't seeing significant degradation at 20,000 but they weren't comfortable going past that or the drivers never would get an oil change.

Of course, a diesel is not a gasoline engine.

[yrag.neslo]

This was true about 30 years ago.

[Stormin Mormon]

I don't have any details, didn't ask. A friend of mine from church used to sell some kind of oil processing unit which installs onto trucks. Makes the motor oil life time pretty much forever.

I'd guess with the big rigs, that oil changes are expensive, my friend said some thing like 5 or 6 gal of Shell Rotella or other diesel oil per oil change. Even if you do it at your own shop, that adds up.

[rbowman]

The Detroit 60 takes ten gallons of oil and three filters, counting the fuel filter. I started using Rotella T6 in one of the bikes and will swithc the others over on their next change. If you watch sales sometimes you can get a gallon for close to $20. The non-synthetic Rotella isn't that much cheaper. Even if you buy a 55 gallon drum it's over $10 a gallon.

Assuming a truck puts on 120,000 miles a year you can see why a 20,000 mile interval is preferred to the traditional 12,000. The savings will be enough to buy a couple of tires and a taco.

[Stormin Mormon]

Thanks, I didn't know there was so much money involved in the oil change. Gives me a different perspective on long haul driving. Lot of hidden expenses.

Of course, most business are like that. Plenty of hidden expenses.

[trader_4]

Today 10K is very reasonable, probably on the conservative side, for synthetic and typical driving conditions. BMW for example was at ~15K with normal driving, though I think they more recently cut that back to 10K and I'm comfortable with that. BMW like many other autos today use your actual driving conditions to come up with the exact number for the change interval. Porsche was at 15K too, think they pushed it to 20K more recently.

IMO, if you're using synthetic and changing it at 3K, or 5K, you're just tossing the extra money for synthetic out the window.

[Percival P. Cassidy]

We're using Castrol High-Mileage oil (which I think is partly synthetic) in our 13-yr-old (140K miles) Chrysler and doing oil changes at about

4000 miles. The owner's manual doesn't mention synthetic lubricants but specifies a time period after which oil should be changed -- "x miles or x months, whichever comes first."

Perce

[Roy]

I took my van to my dealer for a routine oil change at 5000 KM. When I checked the oil a month later and lo and behold the bastards hadn't changed the oil at all. It was quite dark and usually after a change is is very light colored. With these modern engines and modern oils the oil hardly changes color between changes...but this was a give-away that they were crooked. Needless to say it couldn't be proven so I changed to another shop and no problem now.

I have heard of this rip-off before but they don't allow you in their shops anymore so we don't know what they do in there. =====

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Decades ago in another country a cousin of mine was getting oil filters for his car from a friend who worked at an auto shop and was getting new filters for service jobs but leaving the old filter in place.

Perce

[Don Y]

Our current vehicle recommends replacing the filter on every *other* oil change. Needless to say, we won't be pinching those pennies!

A quick photo of the old filter (from which you can note it's actual orientation) might reassure you in the future.

[Tony Hwang]

It is so wasteful changing oil and filter too often. Today's oil is rather chemical soup with all kinda additives, filter materials improved over time too. New vehicles particularly don't need change like olden days.

[Don Y]

The *car* decides the appropriate maintenance schedule. Replacing the filter "every other oil change" saves very little in terms of parts, labor *or* oil! (the oil remaining in the filter will NOT be changed if the filter isn't... all of perhaps a whole *cup* of oil).

We've expressed concern that the "oil life (indicator)" is rapidly falling -- "80%" at ~600 miles (a month of driving). Best case, that "80%" is really "89%" suggesting a change interval of ~6,000 miles. Worst case, it's *actually* 80% suggesting an interval of ~3,000 miles. (We'll be more observant to note exactly when it displays "70%")

OTOH, our average driving speed (according to the vehicle) has been

*16* MPH for those 600 miles in outdoor temperatures of 105+. No doubt considerably harder on a new engine than "highway driving". [It would be interesting if the vehicle tracked -- and reported -- the average trip length, number of "starts", etc. I'll have to check to see what's accessible along those lines...]