In almost one year I put 1300 miles on my 2010 tacoma

How often should I change the oil?

It's been done twice. Today being the second.

Mobil1 Synthetic 5w30 and Wix Filter.

I've seen a majority say every 5k miles but at this rate that would be like 3.5 years before a change and I know that's not right.

So is it every 6 months or longer with these low miles and synthetic?

Thank you and I'm sure this is a tired old subject.

I did some searching but nothing came up for low miles in a year like mine so I wanted some clarification.

 

I change mine every 6 months and drive about 2500 miles a year .

 

Damn, you only drove 1300 miles in a year? I average around 8,000 a year just living life, let alone trips and such. I change oil every 5k or every 6 months usually, depending on what comes first or how much I've been pushing my vehicle.

 

Wow, I average about 7000 miles per year and I thought I was low.....

I change oil twice a year ( November 1 and May 1 every year)

 

Not a "tired" subject at all-this doesn't get brought up much as most folks' trucks get regular use. Mine is 17 years old now and spends most of its life retired in the garage on a trickle charge. I do about the same as desertrunner24 with regular oil and MOC additive. Twice a year. The truck's happy.

 

Keep up the low miles- I'm still betting on finding a low mileage 2010/2011 one day long down the road when I have to retire my 2006 and it's people like you that I count on to have one to sell me!

Anyways, I'd say 6 months regardless of miles.

 

~13k a year in just work commute miles.....

 

I've got a couple vehicles like this. I drive the snot out of my Tacoma, about 16k per year, but my BRZ and Ram 2500 Cummins get about 1000-1500 per year.

I keep a regular mileage schedule with the Tacoma but change around a year to 1.25 years with the others. I also have a Kubota tractor and a Polaris Ranger Diesel that I've turboed. I don't work them enough to get to a regular change schedule a year either. I change them once a year.

Amsoil recommends a mileage or 1 year for a change.

Also keep in mind the environment. The BRZ and Ram are garaged, so I may let them go a little longer than a year and not feel bad about it.

The tractor and Ranger are worst, they're in a barn and see big temp swings. Just last week I went in the barn and saw condensation around the rim of the tractor where we had a quick change in weather. The fluid in the tire was still cool and the humid air was condensing on the rim and tire.... guess what... that's happening inside the engine too! Same sort of thing with the Ranger, I have the very same catch can on the Ranger that is on my Tacoma and it makes a lot of water during the winter just for the same reason.

I do random oil analysis on all of these and I've not had any show a problem. If you want to make sure, do an analysis after one of your changes. The analysis that I've done on the Ram and BRZ have always came back with the report telling me I'm changing too soon!

 

Like people have said, every 6 months should be more than enough. I can't believe you drive it that little. I've had my 2018 a month and it already has 2500 miles on it

 

Using synthetic I would say you are good to go a year between changes. Most new cars require synthetic and state xx miles or 1 yr between changes, so the oil is obviously good for at least a year.

 

I'm averaging 9000 miles a year. I change my oil every 6 to 7 months.

 

Excellent. Thanks for the very quick replies.

I got the truck because I love a good big truck. I love in the east Bay Area, California but work in SF. I walk to the train from home and back, etc. My kids go to school close to home so either we walk or I drive to pick them up and it’s less than a mile. Longest trip was an hour north for camping. My driving is limited because I really don’t mind getting around on foot or bike and gas is not cheap.

We will be camping further north this year so I’ll put on a few more miles than last year.

I’ll keep the 6 months or 5k Miles (whichever first) on my calendar.

I’m currently at 76182 Miles.

 

Bought my truck with 70 000 KM last April, its now sitting just under 90 000. Have done 4 oil changes on it in that time with Mobil 1 and toyota filters(bought in bulk off ebay). Had a couple 5000 KM road trips with it though otherwise I usually do it every 7000KM or before / after winter.

 

The last few years I've only been putting about 5-6,000 a year on my 07. I've been changing my oil every 6 months, but I think that might be a little too long for my usage pattern. My truck gets lots of idle time and is driven at low speeds. Plus I have a daily 1 mile commute to work, the engine doesn't even get up to operating temp. My average speed was like 13.8 MPH on my last oil change, in ~2,500 miles my engine ran 185 hours. Mobil 1 EP 5w30 and a Toyota filter.
I'm almost thinking I should go to a cheap conventional and change it every 100 hours, just to dump the moisture and fuel that I'm sure are accumulating because of my constant short trips and running at less than an optimal temp all the time.
If I started changing at 100 hours that would be every 3-4 months and I would probably leave the filter on for at least 2 OCIs.
Someone over at bobistheoilguy suggested that I run a fram Ultra and leave it on for a year, changing the oil every 4 months. I think the Toyota filter would be fine for at least a couple OCIs, our 4runner went 12k on its last OCI with a Toyota filter.

 

Every 6 months. Don't drive it in the winter but I still change it before I put it up. Only have 2300 miles on my 2015. I do over 25 K a year for work so I get plenty of wheel time there.

 

I would go synthetic 1 time a year

 

I’d do once a year. You’ll be perfectly fine.

 

Yea at 1,300 miles a year hell Yea.

For longevity sake I average 20-30k a year, with a lot more idling(offroad) I've had my truck since 34k miles. Currently I'm sitting at 216k miles and run Mobil 1 synthetic and change it at 10k-ish(sometimes 12-13k) miles with a factory YZZD3 filter.

 

I don't put on a lot of miles either... 4000 or less per year. Synthetic and OEM filters, once a year does just fine.

 

Spend the money for a Blackstone labs independent lab oil test your next change.

If you follow their recommendation when your test results come back, you'll save the cost of the testing in less than a year.

And you'll be happy to save time and resources.