Why 5000 miles oil change interval I’m a believer

Another interesting AMD video on oil. This time a 2011 Camry Fu*ked because of lack of regular oil changes. I'm in the 5K mile oil change camp. To each their own on intervals. Whatever works for you.

https://youtu.be/YjsUsXc3TPU

 

Can someone provide a video executive summary? I’m too sleepy to watch a 25 minute video.

 

For those who say "I change my oil every 5,000 miles and my engine has xx,000 trouble free miles"; how do you know that you would not have achieved the same results changing your oil every 10,000 miles as recommended by the manufacturer?

 

Some say changing oil early is a sin, some say oil is bunk. We all say oil thread yum.


Such emotional people. What does it matter when the other guy changes his oil? His time, his money, nothing you in there.

 

I didn’t take a picture but I stayed in a Bedouin camp in Jordan (Wadi Rum) for 2 days recently. They took us in and out in old Hilux pickups. One had a slight knock that my buddy and I agreed was a rod, not a rocker arm. The truck was absolutely beat looking, and all the body mounts were gone. But he ran people in and out all day.

 

I've been doing 10K oil changes with synthetic on every vehicle I own for years. 222,000 on the Tacoma and it runs like new. I never add oil between changes either, but that proves nothing. We have gotten spoiled into thinking that an engine that uses some oil is a bad thing. Some burn a little oil right off the assembly line and still go 500,000 miles or more.

This guy has 1,500,000 miles on his Tacoma. He doesn't even keep up with miles but changes the oil once/month. Which is usually somewhere between 8000-10,000 miles.

This Toyota Tacoma Has Driven 1.5 Million Miles, But There's A Catch - gallery (topspeed.com)

The original engine needed a head gasket at 900,000 miles and rather than repair it he bought one from a scrapyard with 100,000 on it. And so far has added another 600,000 miles to the 2nd engine for a total of 700,000 on it.

If this guy can get 900,000 out of one engine and so far 700,000 out of the 2nd one with 10,000 mile oil changes I'm comfortable with it.

 

The 2ZR in the video is not even the same engine as the 2GR in the Tacoma

 

I run 710 oil like the cap says.

 

Just put on 265/75r16s. Since they are 3% larger in diameter, I plan to change my oil on 4854mi intervals. Anything more and I’m afraid the engine may burn oil.

 

10k interval 2014 5.7 tundra 4x4 AZ 35s, uncorrected odo towing 6k every once in a while. 95k on the odo

 

This is akin to the logic of, I’ve never worn a seatbelt and I’m totally fine!

I don’t really care to hear about folks who’ve done [whatever thing] and been fine until say 200K, and then it’s a data point.

Don’t @ me, I change oil at 5K miles.

(and I’ve never had any problems so obviously that proves it’s the way).

 

I'm in the 5k club, oil is cheaper than steel

 

I do mine every 2500 I put my used oil in the wife’s car and use her oil money for beer!

 

Jesus, now both yous guys are in here

 

I am absolutely in the other camp. I would be dead if not for a seatbelt. I lost control of an SVO Mustang at triple digit speeds. According to the police it was just over a 1/4 mile from where the skid marks started, to the point the car came to rest on its roof. It rolled 3.5 times according to them.

 

You’re making my point! Glad you lived to tell the tale.

Point is, a single anecdote never proves that an action (or lack thereof) doesn’t elevate risk. The proof either way shows up in the aggregate data.

Which is one reason these threads are so useless, because no one is coming in here with a national dataset of engine failures with enough statistical info to point the finger at root causes. The video the OP posted is interesting, but it’s just another example of anecdotal storytelling masquerading as fact. “I’ve torn down a lot of engines so I know”…yeah he may be right, but how can he vouch for the maintenance history of the vehicles, and factor out the numerous other variables. At the end of the day it’s nothing more than an observation.

 

For those who say “I change my oil every 10,000 miles and my engine has xx,000 trouble free miles” how do you know you wouldn’t have achieved the same results changing your oil every 15k miles?

Agree, neither your post or the one above can be answered. Would have to have a test population of 1000 or so trucks, half going 5k oil changes, half going 10k, until they had engine problems, evaluate the cause and see the results to determine any facts of the matter.