Oil Change Frequency
 

Being a new member, I am trying to find out from you all a question I keep getting different answers to when I ask Toyota maintenance people. I have a 2013 Camry LE and the owner's manual states to change the oil every 10,000 miles. It does take the full synthetic and my belief is that it is an oil with better protection. Are they wrong changing it after that many miles? Someone I know said their 2013 Camry needed engine work at 175000 miles. His mechanic told him if he had changed the oil every 5,000 then this problem wouldn't have happened. I've always done what the manual said, and my Camry's go well over 200K miles. Now I'm not so sure. My ride has 76,000 on the OD and I'm thinking about changing it at every 5K after hearing his story.

What say you? Is Toyota wrong suggesting the 10K change?

Thanks!

Read the owners manual. It might state 5k miles if severe service. Here the reality may be "up to 10K miles" between changes.

Tough to find a straight answer as in hard technical data and everyone has an opinion.

The correct answer is you will never really know without doing an oil analysis. Companies spend money to do this as doing analysis can be far cheaper then doing premature oil changes and the down time it takes to accomplish this. Synthetic can go longer then 10K miles. It depends on time, operations pattern, engine temp, moisture, etc. Short distance drives, stop and go, idling, pulling a trailer, sustained high speed driving can shorten oil life.

Take note that car companies can have a duality with their recommendations. Longer oil change intervals can be deemed an environmental plus for the auto maker and a cost savings for those who will be paying for the oil changes. The odds are the car will be out of warranty and or sold long before the engine wears out no matter when the oil was changed or wasn't changed.

As to opinions. I change the oil once year or after 5-6k miles. If I was driving 1K miles a week as once done I would do an analyses.

Another issue with 10K changes is the 10K can stretch into 11K and beyond before its changed. If sticking to shorter change period and missing the change date one might assume the oil is still OK.

On a related subject if an automatic trans consider having all the trans fluid changed. Worn out trans fluid is the No 1 killer of transmission and here the oil temp is the prime factor. The hotter the oil gets the shorter its life. Toyota used to state it was lifetime oil but appears to have changed its tune on this. They have a color chart to compare the fluid color to the chart and determine its condition.

I change oil around every 10 to 12months

I think you'd be pretty safe going with every 12 months or 5k miles, whichever comes first.

Thanks All, I've always trusted the Toyota owners manual to tell me the best way to take care of the car. So far it hasn't failed but now I've had doubts since hearing from other owners. With my car at 96K miles I think the best advice is switching to every 5k or 6 months whichever comes first. Why take a chance? The Camry has never let me down in over 30 years. Love this car and plan on keeping it for at least another 5 years if no one crashes into me. Plus, it's the worst time to buy a car right now. Used cost more than new due to the chip problem. You can still buy a new one but most you need to order it and that can take about 3 years. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Sounds like a good plan!

Now, two service managers at my local Toyota dealer had different opinions on frequency of oil changes. One said to do it at 5,000 after the car has over 50k miles. The veteran manager said bullsheet to that and said 10k or 12 months is just fine. Said it was wasting money changing it at 5k. I think I'll split it and do it every 7500k or 12 months.

Approaching the 100k mile mark I decided to have half the major overhaul done now at 97k and the rest at the next oil change. Changed the oil, trans, and filters, etc. The transmission flush was the expensive one but worth it IMO. Next up will be the plugs, radiator, water pump, and whatever else I can think of. Not bad. Between $1200-1800 for a major overhaul and I'm good for another 100k miles. These cars last a very long time if you take care of them.

Glad to be part of this forum!

Preventative maintenance goes a long way. Changing the trans fluid is good idea as bad fluid kills trans.