OCI opinions.

Taking to my uncle who's a mechanic of 40 yr. and he swears no Matter what oil what car what engine. You can't go over 3,000 mi's. I don't really agree. I use Mobil 1. OEM filter. And am un decided on OCI. I'm thinking 4,000. What do you Guys do?

 

He made the point the company's want the car to fail right after warranty. And that's why the set the intervals higher.

 

Personally I think a 5K oil and filter change is best I change mine every 5K and my oil usually looks fine when I change it.

 

Mobil says 5,000 on regular dino now. I think mobile 1 is 10k? Or 15k? With adequate filtration I trust what they say. They have no motivation to wear your engine out prematurely so you can bitch about their oil.

I do as Toyota suggests: 5K or 6 months, whichever comes first. I live in a mild climate, don't tow anything, don't beat my truck up. I use regular dino 5w30 and a Toyota OEM filter. Seems to work just fine.

I have had many company vehicles that I drive the majority of my miles in. Mostly Rangers and Tacomas. 4500-5500 miles between changes, whatever dino oil the quick lube place uses, a cheapie filter, a bit of my heavy foot applied, and 800 pounds of cargo present most of the time. I have not had a lubrication related failure in the last 10 years of company vehicles. Most of these trucks hit 200K without even burning any oil. I still see my old 98 Ranger driving around. Last time I talked to the guy who is currently driving it, it was at 260K. It goes to the quick lube every 5K miles.

Edit: It's worth noting that a pushrod engine can put up with poor maintenance longer than on overhead cam engine can. Lots of tiny oil passages on the overhead cam engines.

 

Select the more correct answer:

A - Companies want the car to fail right after warranty (even though Toyotas are well known to go 300k+ and Toyota's recommended intervals were 5,000/7,500 prior to them installing the "Maintenance Required" light).

B - Quick-Lube places and mechanics want to get you into their shops to spend $20-$30 (plus whatever they can add on) as frequently as they believe you will buy into.

3000 mile intervals were invented by Jiffy Lube and similar companies and has not been recommended by a manufacturer in over 40 years.
But just as with gun shop employees, misinformation is passed from the old timers to the new guys and it is perpetuated.

They would be pushing 1500 mile intervals if they felt the public would believe it... and some do. We have members here who change at 2k.
Waste of money and natural resources.

 

It's the OEM recommendation for all Tacoma... even the synthetic-equipped 2.7 is not authorized by Toyota for 10k.

I selected 5000+ because I don't change until my next Friday off after the light comes on solid, so it might be 5010, or 5500.

 

I do between 5k and 7k. I use a Napa Gold Filter and Pennzoil Premium or Mobil1. There is no reason not to go longer with synthetic. There are plenty of oil study reports on these forums that support going even longer than that.

As a side note, your 40 year mechanic uncle developed his beliefs and thoughts on the matter in 1973 when I was 2. Engines have changed a lot since then.

 

I change my oil every 4500-5000 miles

 

In my recollection, oil change intervals increased from 1000 miles to 3000 when road draft tubes were replaced by PCV systems in the late 1950s and early 1960s. With some possible rare exceptions, they didn't begin to move beyond 3000 miles until carburetors were replaced by fuel injection systems. No matter which oil you use, you would be foolish to change the oil less often than the warranty requires. Once out of warranty, there are plenty of used oil analysis labs that you can use to fine-tune the oil change interval to your individual needs. The science is there, at a reasonable cost. There is no reason to guess.

Mike

 

Your uncle is wrong. Engines, oils and filters have all gotten better over the past 40 years.

 

PCV systems, as well as actual air filters rather than oil-bath "air cleaners"

Change the oil in the engine AND the air cleaner housing!
Then there were the engines that didn't even have oil filters... just screens.

 

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get another cleaner, set the best of the two aside, and gut the other one for a paper filter.

 

I change my oil every three months regardless of milage. Too much time in stop-and-go rush hour traffic and not enough distance.

 

These OCI discussions are always amusing and predictable...full of anecdotal tales, misinformation and voodoo to justify behavior. What's wrong with sticking with the manufacturer's OCI recommendations and occasionally performing a Blackstone Labs oil analysis to provide objective data as to the status of the oil and engine?

 

Not affiliated with Blackstone Labs but here is their information from the website....just for your education.

Established in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1985, Blackstone Laboratories strives to provide an easy-to-use, understandable, and accurate oil analysis program with the fastest turnaround in the industry. At the heart of our program is ICP (inductive coupled plasma) spectrometry, database averages for comparing wear, and a comments section on each report that explains — in plain English! — what your results mean.

 

Ding was joking about it being voodoo.

 

I have a subscription set up through Amazon for Castrol Edge Titanium 5w-30. Quite the mouthful. It gets delivered every five months so my OCI is somewhere between 3k and 6k miles.

 

I used to change mine every 3,000 miles because that's what my dad taught me and has always done on used vehicles. Now I do it every 5,000 miles. On FJs it's only every 10,000 miles.

 

And in the 60s and 70s, that was the right thing to do, along with spark plugs every 10-15k.

On my '69 Camaro and '67 Chevelle when I was in HS and college, Thanksgiving weekend was reserved for plugs, brake inspections, repack the wheel bearings, change the rear end lube, air filter, coolant, and ATF.

I miss those cars, but I don't miss the maintenance needs.

 

Oddly enough the toyota synthetic rates very high over at the BITOG forums. Toyota is very strict with its standards of oil and the guys over there swear by it.