The old 5k or 10k oil change debate

This SHOULD settle the debate, but it probably won't.

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

You'll have to do more research to get the whole story, but there have been multiple articles about this guy over the last 3 years or so. Not all of the details are given in any one article. But the short story is that he has driven 1.5 million miles in 14 years. He doesn't change oil at a specific mileage, but does so once a month. And that works out to be somewhere between 8000 to 10,000 miles.

His original engine needed a head gasket at 880,000 miles. It still wasn't using any oil, but it didn't make sense to do a major repair on an engine right at 900,000. He found one in a scrap yard with 100,000 miles on it and swapped it. He has since put another 600,000 miles on the 2nd engine giving it a total of 700,000 miles. All with 8K to 10K mile oil changes.

 

For what its worth, there's been testing using mobil1 20k mile annual motor oil. They did severe driving, more than the average vehicle owner would for well over 100k miles then tearing down engines to inspect them for wear, and deposits. What they found were the engine internals were still like new. Imo, the rest of our trucks might fall apart sooner than their engines.

 

Agreed. This OIC is exactly for this type of driving. Of the approximately 1 million Tacoma’s on the road this will apply to no more than a handful of them. Thanks for making the point loud and clear.

 

I think one has to have some common sense, but for some thats not possible. Severe use imo, is 5k miles, or a year whatever comes first.

 

Many year ago..70’s …I also remember reading a articles in Popular Mechanics…. They put Mobil oil in a car ran it for 100,000 miles..took the engine apart…found it almost brand new, hardly any wear and tear…
That article is the reason I still use Mobil One oil….over 40 years..

if you have a bird tree house on a pole…put Mobil oil on the poke…the squirrels…will never be able to climb up the pole…rats too…
Aloha

 

They also changed my oil during the 5,000 mile service and didn’t not charge me anything.

 

They’ll do it at 2000 if you ask them too..so what.

 

Mobil one 5w30 high mileage changed at 5k. At 90k haven’t burned or leaked any oil yet.

 

If an engine has cam phasers then I will ALWAYS err on the side of caution when it comes to oil changes.

FWIW, most modern OHC/DOHC engines now have some sort of cam timing device. Most seem to be somewhat sensitive to oil that is either of the wrong viscosity or dirty.

 

I had a 69 Superbeetle. Fun car. Terrifying to drive now and as a parent.

I flushed the air in the coolant system pretty frequently. Can’t remember the interval because I only did it through emotional scheduling. What’s this have to do with groupthink?!

 

I've had a few Beetles and other Air Cooled VW's in my past too, think you made a mistake though as if memory serves me the Super Beetle did not come out until 1971.

 

Damn. It had the curved windshield and sunroof. Powder blue. Maybe I’m wrong. Let me go dig up my paperwork and photos from the 90s.

Edit: it was a ‘74! Thanks for retconning me, Shaker! Man, must have wanted a, um, 69…

 

I figured something was up lol, BTW the Curved Windshield is not always a tell either, 71 - 71 SB has flat windshield too.

 

Yes, I did, ME. Back when I was a teenager I changed oil every 1500 miles or 3 months thinking I could make a 1987 mustang last forever. I used to buy Castrol GTX by the case. The drain pan eventually cracked from over-use. The engine developed a small bottom end knock at 60k miles and I had it rebuilt.

I also changed the oil on a 79 Firebird and was determined to let it drain for 2 days to get out every last drop. I wanted the best engine ever! I forgot there was no oil in the engine and started it, creating a permanent bottom end knock I couldn't afford to fix.

Yes I was stupid 30 years ago. But every time oil is changed there is some degree of risk.

Back then I was young and stupid. I liked 'the feeling' of fresh oil. Now I like the feeling of knowledge. I use blackstone to fine tune my OCI for all vehicles. I still change it a little earlier than their suggestions because it 'feels good' but I also like to have a little safety margin for the upcoming apocolypse.

I even send virgin samples to blackstone because it 'feels good'. I 'feel good' looking at the data.

Unless you are looking at samples and actual data, you are just looking for validation from a bunch of strangers with anecdotal evidence here on the board.

Professional anecdotal evidence is worth listening too. I know a Porsche tech who only sees internal problems with Mobil 1 using engines. Then again, maybe that is the numbers involved since most Porsches run M1.

 

I don’t know why I’m even wading into this thread. Yet here I am, another self-proclaimed armchair expert.

I’m a bit neurotic with vehicles, but that’s a discussion for another day. Outside of cost and time to have it done, there’s effectively zero downside to changing it at 5,000 miles (baring a miscalculation and forgetting to refill the oil or not replacing the drain plug etc). If I went the full 10,000 and had some sort of failure that could even have been tangentially linked to a longer OCI, it will take up way too much real estate in my mind if the “I could have done more”. This shuts that noise out and makes things easy.

I used to do boutique oil with Blackstone UOAs on my STi but I’m over it on the Tacoma. I figure 5,000 miles with Toyota oil is likely overkill as it is. I do the Vette’s oil yearly, just prior to putting it into storage.

 

M1 5w-30 has a very poor reputation in the turbo Subaru world for spinning bearings, especially in the earlier EJ20 WRX motors. I regularly read posts to avoid it like the plague in those cars.

I’ve run it in non-turbo vehicles with good experiences, but likely wouldn’t run it in a turbo car.

 

5k works best for seasoning steaks.

7k, the oil's starting to get too thick to properly marinate.

1k, the oil doesn't have enough flavoring to it to really do anything.

 

i wonder if they do a laser alignment for that

 

prolong oil ran cars around a circuit without oil in them...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4_E5GHJU00

 

You must have changed the oil A LOT when it was new! Not so much later in its life. I wonder what that average interval is over 333,333 miles.