is 5000 miles too long to wait for an oil change?

[henry33]

HI I am from Slovakia and Toyota will change your oil after 15000 KM (app. 9500 miles) or one year which will be first ;)
5000 miles is for me very little you should change your oil every six months no ?

[n5odj]

Originally Posted by sickpuppy1

snip and my car has a lifetime drivetrain warranty as long as mfg maitainence is followed and records kept.

The dealer where I'm looking to buy offers this lifetime warranty. Do you have to take it to the dealer for every oil change? Can you take it to quickie lube & just save the receipt? Can you do the oil change yourself & save the oil/filter receipt?

Robert in TN

[RedRide]

Originally Posted by n5odj

The dealer where I'm looking to buy offers this lifetime warranty. Do you have to take it to the dealer for every oil change? Can you take it to quickie lube & just save the receipt? Can you do the oil change yourself & save the oil/filter receipt?

Robert in TN

Absolutely!
By (federal) law you do not have have your car serviced by the dealer to maintain the warranty.
Just save the receipts.

[n5odj]

Awesome. I'm pretty impressed by a lifetime warranty on a car. Reckon I'll run over there tomorrow & probably spend some money on this Toyota.

Robert

[Solid T D]

I'm taking a class for auto systems and auto technician, here in Los Angeles. My teach(master mechanic : exp30+yrs) says that when driving under "normal" conditions, 5k miles is just fine for changing your oil, as oil does not break down, it mearly becomes contaminated. However, living anywhere NEAR Los Angeles (or metropolitain area for that matter), we are not considered to be driving under "normal" driving conditions and must change our oil every 3k miles.

[aznssaiyan]

going 20,000 miles every oil change with mobil 1 syn and the xtended 10000 mile filter. no problems, good looking oil every oil change. 2008 hatch. lovin it.

[b20vteg]

Originally Posted by aznssaiyan

going 20,000 miles every oil change with mobil 1 syn and the xtended 10000 mile filter. no problems, good looking oil every oil change. 2008 hatch. lovin it.

nice.

[bronsin]

I think the oil change intervals are longer because of FI. WHen engines had carbs you were warned not to idle the engine. I think thats because the mixture in a carbed engine at idle is too rich. And imprecise at all speeds in general. I know changing the oil in my 74 VW Beetle every 2k miles the oil smelled of gasoline.

With FI the mixture is very nearly correct for all rpms. When I change the oil in my FI cars at 6k miles the oil smells like it did coming out of the bottle.

Also in general an engine that is driven longer distances between startup and shutdown is less hard on its oil than one that is driven short distances. The longer your drive interval the longer you can go between changes. Short distance driven vehicles, like my Yaris, need more frequent changes.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by bronsin

I think the oil change intervals are longer because of FI. WHen engines had carbs you were warned not to idle the engine. I think thats because the mixture in a carbed engine at idle is too rich. And imprecise at all speeds in general. I know changing the oil in my 74 VW Beetle every 2k miles the oil smelled of gasoline.

With FI the mixture is very nearly correct for all rpms. When I change the oil in my FI cars at 6k miles the oil smells like it did coming out of the bottle.

Also in general an engine that is driven longer distances between startup and shutdown is less hard on its oil than one that is driven short distances. The longer your drive interval the longer you can go between changes. Short distance driven vehicles, like my Yaris, need more frequent changes.

^^^^^ The shortest interval for me has been 3k and the longest about 17k. When I first changed my spark plugs at about 208,000 I'd had the oil changed about 17-19 times before that (I don't have my log book handy) and the Toyota dealer said my engine was in great shape, and not burning any oil at all.

[Absolutely Red 12]

Originally Posted by bronsin

I think the oil change intervals are longer because of FI. WHen engines had carbs you were warned not to idle the engine. I think thats because the mixture in a carbed engine at idle is too rich. And imprecise at all speeds in general. I know changing the oil in my 74 VW Beetle every 2k miles the oil smelled of gasoline.

With FI the mixture is very nearly correct for all rpms. When I change the oil in my FI cars at 6k miles the oil smells like it did coming out of the bottle.

Also in general an engine that is driven longer distances between startup and shutdown is less hard on its oil than one that is driven short distances. The longer your drive interval the longer you can go between changes. Short distance driven vehicles, like my Yaris, need more frequent changes.

Absolutely correct!!