Oil change interval as car ages....

[bentjazz]

Hi Yarisworlders,

Just curious if I should change my oil more frequently since my car is going on 9 years old with around 100,000 miles. I change it religiously at 5,000 miles/6 months. Thinking of decreasing it to 4,000 miles/6 months. Is this an unnecessary move, or a good move? I want to make it last.....

Thanks.

[yarisbug]

Waste of time and money. Heck your 5K miles 6 months may be a waste too. Do one oil analysis from a place like Blackstone Labs and you'll know when you should actually be changing your oil based on fact instead of warm fuzzies in your tummy.

[toad]

I have no problem with you changing your oil at the manufacturer's recommended intervals. It's your vehicle and you want it to last as long as possible so if you feel more comfortable with every 4k do it! We don't know your specific driving conditions so you are the best judge of that. I used to change every 10k miles with high-quality synthetic and high-capacity filters, but now do every 7k or so as the dipstick gets darker earlier now.

The advice about a lab test is really good, however, as that will tell you better than anything(especially looking at a dipstick-lol!). Good luck!

[justanotherdrunk]

my 2016 recommended oil change interval is 5k miles

since i only use it for long road trips with virtually no stop/ start city driving ...

i do ~10k


4,000 miles/6 months?

no unless you drive lots of short trips/ tow lots of trailers/ drive lots of dirt roads

seems like a diminishing return on your oil change investment

[tmontague]

I would stick with the factory recommended OCI's. The only caveat to that is if you drive very low mileage per year and it is all short trips especially in cold weather where the oil doesn't get up to temperature. Then changing it earlier is not a bad idea.

You don't really gain much from changing it out earlier other than a lighter wallet. There are many UOA's posted on this forum with very heavy duty use showing great results with off the shelf synthetics.