when do you change your oil?

[sequoia01]

Hi guys....
I was wondering what is the millage you guys use for each oil change? do you change the oil filter as well every time?
Please mention what kind of engine you have (Patrol vs diesel) in your response....
I personally was doing 10000 km (or 7500 miles) for all my cars and SUV respectively (Maxima 95, Camry 88, Mazda 91, LExus ES 300 99, sequoia 01) and got an average of 200000 km out of them without over hauling the engine -before I sold them of or changing them. Sequoia 01 is still with me and has 275000 MILES on it.
Now that I have LC 200 -Diesel- i was wondering what should I do with it? Local dealer advices an oil change every 5000 km with a filter. Obviously that is to help them get more visits per car.
But does that what you do???

 

[patrickfinley]

I think most do 5k miles. However it really all depends on your overall driving habits. If you do mostly highway driving you can get away with more. If you do start and stop city driving all day long people will get their oil done every 3k miles.

It's funny the manuals make maintenance recommendations for "severe driving", makes it sound like heavy offroading, racing or something. In reality "severe driving" is city driving.

I wouldn't change the filter every oil change. I've never seen a dirty air filter after 5k or 7.5k miles. That you can judge just by looking at it.

This is for petrol, I don't know if the recommendations are different for Diesel.

 

[planetalaska]

I always do it at 7500 miles. Regular oil for now.

► Alaska 2011 LC200 / Silver / 285-65-18 BFG All Terrain TA/KO ►

 

[hedydd]

I don't have a 200 series but have had a 100 series turbo diesel since new. It is a 1998, so an early one of the series and has now crossed 160,000 miles and does not use a drop of oil and has never been touched up to today apart from routine services. Today it is going in for a new main exhaust box, the first exhaust part ever needed.

Anyhow, the recommended oil and filter change interval for this engine, 1HD-FTE 4.2 litre six cylinder direct injection, was a low 4500 miles. Using long drain mineral oils from new to about 75,000 miles the oil was always changed at no more than 7500 miles. Since then it has been run with synthetic diesel specific oil suitable for ultra long drain intervals [mb228.5 spec] but due to its filtration system has always been drained every 10,000 miles.

Newer engines should run even longer intervals. My Audi 3.0V6 diesel averages 16,000 miles between oil changes using synthetic oil.

 

[sequoia01]

thank you for reply.
It is helpful.
I will try to see synthetic oil as well.

 

[hedydd]

Please make sure that it any oil, including synthetic, is suitable for diesel engines, is a low SAPS emissionised oil, and is of the correct viscosity for your engine and climate.
I use something like this.
Morris Lubricants - Morris Lubricants

Forget the API rating of that oil. The pertinent rating to note is the mb228.51 which signifies an oil suitable for emissionised engines for ultra high performance diesel [UHPD] duty cycles. In adequately filtered diesel engines this oil could be used for up to 100,000 miles between services. However, I do not advocate such intervals in a Toyota under any circumstances. You could have the confidence of knowing that the oil is good enough to way exceed your chosen service interval should you forget or have unforeseen circumstances.

In my view this oil is wasted on Toyota's conservative service intervals. Don't even think of dumping this liquid engineering at less than 50% longer than Toyota's recommended service intervals. If you intend to change according to the book or more often, choose an API CH4 or CI4 mineral oil to use, which themselves are super high performance diesel [SHPD] long-drain oils now that the API has started to catch up with European oil standards.

 

[sequoia01]

Please make sure that it any oil, including synthetic, is suitable for diesel engines, is a low SAPS emissionised oil, and is of the correct viscosity for your engine and climate.
I use something like this.
Morris Lubricants - Morris Lubricants

Forget the API rating of that oil. The pertinent rating to note is the mb228.51 which signifies an oil suitable for emissionised engines for ultra high performance diesel [UHPD] duty cycles. In adequately filtered diesel engines this oil could be used for up to 100,000 miles between services. However, I do not advocate such intervals in a Toyota under any circumstances. You could have the confidence of knowing that the oil is good enough to way exceed your chosen service interval should you forget or have unforeseen circumstances.

In my view this oil is wasted on Toyota's conservative service intervals. Don't even think of dumping this liquid engineering at less than 50% longer than Toyota's recommended service intervals. If you intend to change according to the book or more often, choose an API CH4 or CI4 mineral oil to use, which themselves are super high performance diesel [SHPD] long-drain oils now that the API has started to catch up with European oil standards.

Valuable addition.
Thank you

 

[355spider]

Just do what the manual says. I'm always amazed at car guys who think they know more than the engineers that built the car. Keep in mind that synthetic oils do not reach their maximum effectiveness until about 3500 miles so changing them every 3k is not only a waste but it shortens the life of your engine.

 

[mark71]

[Keep in mind that synthetic oils do not reach their maximum effectiveness until about 3500 miles so changing them every 3k is not only a waste but it shortens the life of your engine.[/QUOTE]

Can you explain this?

 

[hedydd]

The oil is at its best out of the can but new filters do get more effective as they trap whatever dirt they do.

I have a diesel Audi Q7 and have had [US built] Mercedes ML270 and BMW X5 as well as the BMW engined Range Rover, all diesel. All of them have flexible service intervals overseen by a computerised system and using diesel specific synthetic oil. The BMW and Range Rover, which used the same engine model, averaged 14000 to 15500 miles between services while the Mercedes and the Audi easily exceed 16000 miles between services. No intermediate oil or filter changes. And being diesel the oil looks quite dirty within a few miles of an oil change.
My Land Cruiser is also diesel of course, an old style 4.2 litre overhead cam with mechanical fuel injection albeit with electronic control. This is also run on synthetic oil with 10,000 mile change intervals even though the oil in this looks as if it could go for 20,000 miles according to my finger-rub test. The official service interval for this engine is to change every 4500 miles using a very low specification oil, now obsolete. All I can say is that it has covered 160,000 miles of small country roads, towing and farm work and does not need topping up between oil changes and as far as I can tell is no different to new in wear terms. If they were long distance highway miles this would be no big deal but my miles have been anything but that.

 

[Carl L]

Well said, hedydd.

Changing every 5k is a pain in the behind. As you said, the Euro vehicles running synthetic go three or four times as long. Changing it more frequently than 5k would be a waste of time, no matter if it's urban or off road driving which are both a little tougher than highway miles. America has an obsession with oil changes, it's just a money-making scheme.

Following the manufacturers guidelines helps avoid warranty issues, but when it's done stretching it by 50% isn't going to harm anything when the bar is set as low as 5k. YMMV but that's my approach having never owned a car that's developed engine issues (touch wood).

If you don't do many miles, once per year is the change timeline I would go by but it's your car so do what makes you feel best.