Food for Thought re: Extended Oil Change Intervals

[Bluesky 07]

I know a lot of people here use long OCIs. I ran across this video looking for something else and found it very interesting overall. But it's pretty long so the embedded video starts when the mechanic explains how extended OCIs damaged the cylinder walls and how it happened. The crazy thing is that the owner apparently followed Toyota's own recommendation for 10K intervals and ended up needing a new engine at 160K.

He also explains how you can send your oil for analysis and think everything's great with the extended OCI but it won't indicate what's happening to the pistons.


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[Ghostrider]

It doesn't matter if I believe the marketing hype - I do not change at 10K
because in the past 25 years there have been numerous manaufacturers (including Toyota) that had oil related issues. The first step is blame the owner, the second step is delay a few years and then finally offer something after a large lawsuit. I believe a lot of the extended intervals is driven by marketing wanting to show a low cost of ownership. Plus the manufacturer really only cares that the engine get past warranty period. The extra cost of more frequent changes is worth it to me to avoid all the above. About to hit 200K on my 2001 with changes every 3K. On my newer Lexus it's every 5K.

 

[rdruss]

Extending your oil drain interval for your car/SUV/4Runner saves you nothing. What are we talking, $35-40 per change? If that's going to make a difference in your lifestyle, then I guess you do it out of necessity, but otherwise, you endanger engine life. 5K or one year, MAX! And that is using synthetic or semi-synthetic oil and a good quality filter.

 

[fourwd1]

Yep, 3-3.5k mi no matter what the manufacturer says.
The price of oil and filter is like $40 and an hour of my time. Well worth it.
Oil is the life blood of an engine.