I think this was in an episode of Home Improvement...True story...
I bought a brand new Camry LE in 1998. FF to 2011, we had put a little over 190K miles on it and this was my wife's DD for her long daily commute to work. All is well until one Friday evening, she walks in and tells me that there is a grinding noise from the engine area that started a couple of miles before she reached home. So, I went out to see what's up. There's nothing broken on the outside, no physical damage to anything visible, no leaks of any sort. So, I put the key in, and turn it without starting the engine and watch the gauges. Everything is normal, except there is that oil can pressure that remained on. So, I thought it is probably low. I look up on the windshield to check the little sticker, and did not find it there. Figured that it might have fallen off at some time. And then I turn the key to start it and heard the loudest of screeches & banging from the engine. I might have held the key turned for not more than 2-3 seconds and knew what the problem was. I walk in and ask her, "Do you remember how long is that oil pressure light been ON and when was the last time you took it for an oil change?" and this was the response, "That light has been ON for many months now. I did not bother to check it out since the car was running fine". I repeated my question about the last oil change, and she said, "I think you took it for an oil change the last time we went to NYC". So, I start thinking back to when that trip was made and realized it has been over 25K miles since the last oil changeI did not even bother about fixing that car as I knew it was not going to be worth the hassle with getting that engine replaced/rebuilt. Just pushed that car onto the curb, and called Salvation army to come and get it the next week.
Since then, I've just made it a routine for myself to change oil & filter in all my cars myself when they're on the multiples of 5000's on the odometer. I've bought a few used cars since then that were somewhere in the middle and they all got an oil change as soon as they come home and on the immediate next multiple of 5000, unless the previous oil change was within 5-600 miles. It is easy this way and I don't have to remember / write down when the last oil change was done etc. Once a year, all air filters get replaced along with a transmission drain and refill as well.
