Hi, im going to do an oil change tomm. The last time it has been done was 7000 miles ago, normally the oil was changed every 3k. My question is, could this not changed oil for 7000 be bad for my car.

 

Yes. Not changing your oil for 7000 miles is bad for the engine. If you're using normal oil (not synthetic), you have gone beyond the effective life of the oil, and have most likely built up some sludge in your motor.
Bring it into a shop for a change and inspection.
Do not let your oil go beyond 5000 miles when you're running normal motor oil.
If your car is still under warranty, you may have just voided it by falling under the category ofowner maintenence negligence.

Good luck.

 

Yes...SYNTHETIC is the way to go. I use Synthetic and go 7500 between changes and my oil is still a beautiful honey brown at 90,000 miles. It's actually cheaper to if you figure that you should change your oil every 3k vs 7.5k with synthetic (plus the other benefits of reduced engine wear).

 

Regardless of the type of oil used, keeping up with the proper change intervals is probably the cheapest insurance to keep your car running for as long as possible. =)

 

I agree with you nodrogkam, but last night I was reading my owner's manual (cause my engine light was on), and the manual says to change it at eithe 5K or 7500 miles, with 5K being if you drive it in extreme conditions (dusty, dirty, back country, etc...). I was surprised as I imagine you would be. What do you make of that? FYI, my Camry's an 01 LE 4cyl.

 

I can tell you my 98 V6 (basically same generation as yours but not a 4cyl), recommended 5K as light use and 3K as extreme conditions.
Most people operate their vehicles under extreme conditons. I'm sure when you read what those conditions were, you probably fall under at least two of the conditions.
I will admit the 4cylinders tend to keep the oil cleaner and the oil does not break down as quickly as the v6 - for pretty obvious reasons, and the fact that the 1mz v6 had a poor design causing sludge to prematurely build up.

So my response to you basically is, if you change your oil every 5K and have it documented, you will not have any issues claiming warranty repairs to your engine ever. If you do 7500Miles, you will have to document and somehow proove that you dont operate your vehicle under any extreme conditions.

If you modify your vehicle's powertrain such as adding a super charger or turbo, you will of course void your warranty unless its TRD, but you also would have to change your oil more frequently, or at least use synthetics. If you constantly race your vehicle, tow, drive up hills keeping high rpm's etc. those also call for you to change your oil more frequently or use a superior type of oil in order to reduce build up of sludge, deposits, and premature wear on parts due to heat and break down in viscosity.

Sorry for the long post, but one last important point to mention is that frequent city short distance driving is considered operating your vehicle under extreme conditions. =) So those who tend to only make short (less than 5 mile) trips with their car and rarely or never go on the highways, should consider changing their oil more frequently. I think the manual may say something like - if you dont hit 5K, you should change it at least once every6 months? I know the newer cars tell you to change at least once ever 12 months even if the service minder lights dont come on.