2014 Toyota Tacoma oil changes

bought new have only 7,000mi dealer says oil needs changed 1 a year. with such low mileage per year would like to change oil every other year. syn oil 0w-20 opinion?

The dealer is correct and it would be foolish to go longer than 1 year. Case closed.

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I suggest doing what your owner’s manual says.

Just change cars every two years.

Probably not under warranty so you can do what you want. If the vehicle is driven daily, change the oil at least once a year with the 0w20 synthetic. If driven only on weekends or occasionally, but longer trips (>10 miles), then every other year will be OK.

You can’t be serious.

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+1
I think that the ultimate question is…
Does the OP want to save on the expense of a few oil changes, or does he/she want to save on the cost of replacing the engine?

This falls under the category of… a very BAD way to save money.
:thinking:

When the car is still under warranty, do EXACTLY as the owner’s manual calls for.
After that, I would change oil at least once a year. Your 7000 miles are probably just short trips and remember that every cold start equals 500 miles of engine wear.

My wife’s Mazda only goes about 4000-6000 miles per a year and we change oil every year or every 5000 miles, whichever cones first.

But, that involves reaching all the way … over to the glove box, opening the glove box, finding the Owner’s Manual (likely still encased in its original shrink wrap), opening the Owner’s Manual, reading the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, and actually comprehending that information.

Isn’t it ultimately easier, and isn’t it much more cost-effective, :face_with_raised_eyebrow: to ignore the manufacturer’s maintenance schedule, and–instead–ask random internet strangers to rationalize one’s failure to properly maintain one’s vehicle?
:roll_eyes:

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Have we come to this, people are seriously asking if they should have to chang at such low mileage and time as 7000 miles and one year?

Very serious. I only changed the oil in my 97 Nissan Pick Up about every other year from about 2002 on. It was my daily driver for 4 years and racked up about 120k miles, I did oil changes every 7500 then. When I bought my Saturn and only used the truck on weekends, it took about two years to rack up 7500 miles, sometimes more. Since I didn’t have many cold starts (hot shutdowns), I stuck with the 7500 miles regardless of time. It never burned a drop of oil and had 206k on it when it got totaled by a distracted (texting) driver.

Had I been driving it daily but short trips, I would have changed it twice a year.

OP asks a reasonable question. I’d place this in the category of theoretical questions rather than practical. My guess, on a practical basis, is that’s it best to change the oil and filter at least once a year. I’ve never gone over a year w/any of my vehicles. But I don’t really have evidence to back that up. I don’t see the oil inside a seldom used engine deteriorating much over the course of a year. I guess it could get water in the crankcase from when it is run briefly, not reaching full operating temperature, and some kind of reaction with the water might form something that would precipitate out and cause some sludge developing maybe. But I’ve used oil from unopened cans over a year old and never discovered anything had precipitated out when it was inside the unopened can at least.