12,000 mile oil changes?

Friday88

Friday88

New member
My father in law buys 3rd gen 4runners as work trucks for his company, and he was telling me that he changes the oil every 12,000 miles.

Now of course he uses some sort of fancy pants shiny glitter oil or whatever, but TWELVE THOUSAND seems outrageous. It's hard to debate oil functionality because physical evidence of whether it matters is hard to produce, but does anyone here believe that an interval like that is safe with any oil?

Next time he brings it up I'm going to ask him for a sample of his used oil so I can send it to a lab.
 
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With full synthetic oils and filters, it's probably ok. An oil test would tell for sure. But few on here would advocate that interval. Most like 5K, easier to remember for us old farts too. :cowboy:
 
I know some they use in their trucks the Shaffer oil .. probably I did not spell it correctly .. anyway they say 20K miles on oil changes and change oil filter @10K.

on my GM truck I do 10K oil changes mobil 1 oil .. looks great @10K miles.. on T4R the oil looks really clean after 7500 miles. mobil 1 ..
 
I drive my truck 6K miles a year - do 2 oil changes @ 3K intervals and my oil is BLACK! At around 2K miles I can start to actually feel the engine not running as smooth as it does the 1st 2K miles so in my case, 12K miles would be a nightmare! I'm even thinking about changing my oil every 2K! I use Mobil Super High Mileage oil btw, I think it's a synth blend.
 
DK327 said:
I drive my truck 6K miles a year - do 2 oil changes @ 3K intervals and my oil is BLACK! At around 2K miles I can start to actually feel the engine not running as smooth as it does the 1st 2K miles so in my case, 12K miles would be a nightmare! I'm even thinking about changing my oil every 2K! I use Mobil Super High Mileage oil btw, I think it's a synth blend.
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Thats why its usually 10k miles or 6 months.
 
Wow okay then. I didn't think oil changes at such an interval were realistic but if you guys are maintaining 20+ year old trucks that way I'm in no place to judge it. I really would be interested in seeing lab results for 12k mile synthetic oil though.
 
I change the oil every 1 year / 10-12k miles without any problems, on my 3 vehicle, my girlfriend's vehicle and past vehicles without any problem. This is using mobil1 synthetic.

You are causing more wear on the engine by changing the oil too early actually.
 
Friday88 said:
Now of course he uses some sort of fancy pants shiny glitter oil or whatever, but TWELVE THOUSAND seems outrageous. It's hard to debate oil functionality because physical evidence of whether it matters is hard to produce, but does anyone here believe that an interval like that is safe with any oil?
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Nope. That's crazy. All the byproducts of combustion - which are contaminates - are in the oil. The idea that you change the oil because the OIL needs it is misunderstanding the entire thing.

I advise my clients not to go over 5K with full synthetics, although I'd prefer 3.5 and any quality oil over extended mileage and synthetic.

But hey, what do I know? :)
 
I sent Blackstone Labs my conventional Castrol GTX oil after 6.5k miles of usage, and they said the oil was still in great shape and mentioned me that I should go up to 8.5k miles next time.
 
My 2011 camry v6 (3.5) says to change the oil every 5k miles no matter what oil you use. I either use Amsoil, Mobil 1 extended performance or Penzoil ultra platinum and follow the 5k rule.

My wifes 2011 Highlander with the same exact motor, uses a different weight oil and says to only use synthetic and to change it every 10k miles. Odd hey?

In my 4R, I use valvoline high mileage synthetic blend and change every 3k miles. Do I need to change every 3k miles? Nope, but I do it anyway. My motor is a little sludgy so I'm trying to slowly clean it out with short interval oil changes with at least decent oil. After 3k miles, it's already pretty dark. I also only put maybe 6k miles a year on my 4r.

12k mile oil changes with a good, true full synthetic oil and a good filter is totally fine. This has been proven time and time again.
 
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catrains said:
on T4R the oil looks really clean after 7500 miles. mobil 1 ..
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Weird. I change my Mobil1 5W-30 every 3-4K miles, and it's REAL dirty at that interval.
Doing harm to your engine by changing your oil more frequently is the funniest thing I've heard this year. So funny I almost fell off my dinosaur.
 
Pennzoil Full Synthetic and I change at 6-7,000 on my 4Runner.
On our Pilot we go by the change oil usage info %, usually it is around 10-12,000 synthetic too.
Still dark amber color.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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eimkeith said:
Nope. That's crazy. All the byproducts of combustion - which are contaminates - are in the oil. The idea that you change the oil because the OIL needs it is misunderstanding the entire thing.



I advise my clients not to go over 5K with full synthetics, although I'd prefer 3.5 and any quality oil over extended mileage and synthetic.



But hey, what do I know? :)
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Are you a Honda or Toyota engineer? ISIS doesn't change the oil in their Toyota's every 3 or 5,000 miles and they do just fine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
JayRolla said:
Explain please.
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while I don't really care at explaining in great details, since everyone on forums rely on myths more than anything else when it comes to oils... I'll try to do a short summary of what's still in my memory on the subject.

Synthetic oils like Mobil1 for example, have a very high amount of detergents in them, which is good to clean up the engine from the sludge and unwanted particles, but in the same time, it cleans up the phosphorous and zinc anti-wear coating that the oil itself created over time.

The detergent will act for only a short time, 1000-2000 miles before wearing out, and then the anti-wear coating will rebuild itself. It's why you always see higher amount of wear metals at the very first few thousand miles in oil analysis, then tapers out, and later on, when the oil gets very old, wear metals rise again.
 
No, I'm just an independent shop owner - no direct experience with ISIS.

However, oil change intervals change with political factors, just as recommended oil brands change with economic incentives - that's been my experience, following manufacturer recommended brands and intervals over the history of my particular marque.

Again; it's not the life expectancy of the oil that's in question - that hasn't been the case since the days of heavy paraffin base stock, I think - modern oils still have lubricity after several thousand miles. But that's not the point.
 
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diverscale said:
while I don't really care at explaining in great details, since everyone on forums rely on myths more than anything else when it comes to oils... I'll try to do a short summary of what's still in my memory on the subject.

Synthetic oils like Mobil1 for example, have a very high amount of detergents in them, which is good to clean up the engine from the sludge and unwanted particles, but in the same time, it cleans up the phosphorous and zinc anti-wear coating that the oil itself created over time.

The detergent will act for only a short time, 1000-2000 miles before wearing out, and then the anti-wear coating will rebuild itself. It's why you always see higher amount of wear metals at the very first few thousand miles in oil analysis, then tapers out, and later on, when the oil gets very old, wear metals rise again.
Click to expand...

BTW, since you've mentioned it twice, you should know that Mobil 1 hasn't been a full synthetic for some time.
 
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