oil change intervals

Oh please! The oil change shop wants you to go lower mileage on regular oil so they can sell you more expensive synthetic you don't need or get twice the business from you.

The odds of someone having an oil related failure at less than 250k miles because they changed it at 5k miles/6 months instead of 3k miles/3 months are probably one in a hundred million.

 

More data. I find it interesting that they suggested Castrol oil. The 5W30 Castrol oil is a dino oil that meets GM6094M oil specifications. That spec is for extended run and sludge prevention standards. It is what is used by GM for many vehicles that run oil life monitors that are more sophisticated than what we have on our trucks. Those vehicles can flag a service based on how the vehicle is driven. It looks at run time, temperature, oil level, load, idle time and several other factors to determin the life of the oil. All of this was developed by sampling oil during driving tests and varied conditions to build the program. The only thing those monitors do not know is what you pour in the engine. Some of those vehicles will go over 7500 miles before calling for a change. The quality of the oil is the key. Many 5W30 oils of the dino style do NOT meet the spec. The spec for the GM engines that run synth is GM4187M if I remember correctly off the top of my head.

So it is a fact, that based on samples, dino oil can last well beyond 3K and 5K. Just looking at the API service grade or looking for 5W30 is not always the answer. I wish Toyota had a specification for oil beyond those numbers but they do not.

To conclude. I think the OP got sound advice from someone that knows a little about oil. It is not the only choice, but is should be a good one. Learning a little more about oils is a good thing for anyone interested in this topic.

Nothing wrong with Synth oils. I am running it and still changing at 5K for warranty.

 

Conspiracy theorist

The 3000 mile service interval is old news. Motor oil and engines were not made at the same quality as they are today.

All motors being put out today have very tight tolerances, compared to motors made before the 80's, and the motor oil is getting good too, which is why oil change intervals are going up.

The 5000 mile interval actually saves you money in the long run. In fact, Toyota is slowly moving to synthetic oil and 10,000 mile intervals. They have to use synthetic because engine tolerances/ emissions standards are getting tighter. Even though the syn oil is more expensive, you do less oil changes.

Im not saying stop servicing your oil every 3000 miles, more power to you if you want to do it, im just saying its overkill.