Oil changes ?????

In January I retired from my full time job that was 20 miles away and now work part time 4 miles from the house. Before I retired it was easy to schedule my 2017 Tacoma for oil changes based on the miles and time between oil changes. Since January the truck has been driven 2700 miles and I am getting notices that my oil change is due. It currently has about 23000 miles on it. Is it necessary to stick to the previous scheduled times ? With the miles I drive now it adds up to about 5000 miles a year. To me that is more realistic to do it once a year. I also have a 14 Sienna being driven about the same miles a year. I am interested in the pros and cons about this. What do you think?

 

I change my oil once a year.

 

You might have noticed that you posted this in the 1st gen specific forum (1995.5-2004), however, this is not really a generation specific question. so here goes:

Just do it whenever the dash tells you maintenance is required. That's why Toyota started doing that.

For my first gen, that doesn't have that fancy screen to tell me when to do maintenance, I just do it about once a year. More/less depending on how much I drive it. It is a trail truck, not a daily driver now, so doesn't need to be done as often.

 

I change my oil every 5000 miles which adds up to about twice a year for me. It also depends on what kind of driving you do, for instance if you drive in dusty areas you'll want to change it more often.

 

I don’t put much more than 5,000 miles on the truck a year. I run synthetic oil and so just change it at the 5k mile intervals which is about a year.

 

I get mine changed every 5k miles because its free lol

 

Oil changes should be done every 10k miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. Simple as that.

 

Under Toyota care you will get oil changed once a year or 10k miles. Each 5k interval in between that is just a sunshine service. Unless you have something else worked out or work at a delaership, then that would be different.

 

Is that with conventional oil as well or just synthetic?

 

My dealership told me every 10k under normal circumstances with full synthetic. That's about every 10 months for me.

 

I went the full 10,000 miles on my first oil change, however having a hard time accepting it's ok to go that long. I will probably go 5000 from here on out.

 

3rd gen trucks interval, so synthetic.

 

My dealership told me this also. I put around 7,500 miles on my truck per year so when I take it in for the yearly inspection I have them change the oil then so I don't have to be at the dealership more than once a year unless needed ( I like to look at the new trucks way to much). The maintenance light comes on every 5,000 miles I believe....I just reset it.

 

I agree. On my '03, however, I use conventional and change it somewhere between 4k-5k miles. The increased frequency forces me to lift the hood and look for other maintenance issues i.e., hoses, belts and other fluid levels.

 

The owners manual recommends 5000mi OCIs for severe-duty use. If you do frequent towing, start-up, heavy payload hauling, Car-top carrier installed, very frequent short trips in extreme cold weather.

I would also recommend you make sure that the oil you use, whether synthetic or conventional, is actually rated for the extended drain intervals of 10k+ miles. It doesn't hurt to get an oil sample analyses to help you better plan your oil changes.

 

Thanks guys. I think I will do it once a year or every 5000 miles which ever comes first in the future. The dealership was trying to get me to bring it in every 6 months . Ive also read somewhere synthetic oil only needs to be changed every 10000 miles which would be to long in my case. I just remember when you changed your oil every spring and fall and it was as simple has that. Getting old I guess.

 

It's 10k OR 1 year. If you're hitting the year mark first then change it. If you're hitting the 10k mark first then change it. The manual is pretty clear on this.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/oil-test-results-from-30k-oil-change-update-70k.505428/

 

Depends on your driving habits and the oil you use. If you do lots of short trips, city driving with constant acceleration and high RPMs your oil will wear out quicker. Not all synthetics are rated for 10,000+ miles and even then the oil will wear different depending on your driving habits as just stated. The best way to know is to pick an oil brand you would like to use and get it analyzed at certain mileage milestones and the lab will tell you how much life is left in your oil to properly schedule your oil changes.

 

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