# Changing oil every 3000 miles

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Tags:** prius, toyota\
**Created:** [September 13, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042 "2010-09-13T03:04:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![lacharlie13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f08c70/32.png) [@lacharlie13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lacharlie13)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042/1 "2010-09-13T03:04:27Z")

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[http://fin…amily-home](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Like-the-55-Chevy-the-nytimes-3825041162.html?x=0&mod=pf-family-home) this article says that3000 makes no sense;5000-10000 is better any ideas?

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**Author:** ![Goldwing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@Goldwing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Goldwing)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042/2 "2010-09-13T03:07:39Z")

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Oils and engines are better than they used to be. What does your owner’s manual tell you to do? I aim for 5,000 - 6,000 miles.

3,000 would be excessive unless you only drove 3,000 miles every 6 months.

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**Author:** ![lacharlie13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f08c70/32.png) [@lacharlie13](https://community.cartalk.com/u/lacharlie13)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042/3 "2010-09-13T03:07:47Z")

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[http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Like-the-55-Chevy-the-nytimes-3825041162.html?x=0&mod=pf-family-home’this](http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Like-the-55-Chevy-the-nytimes-3825041162.html?x=0&mod=pf-family-home'this) article is the one cited in the previous comment

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**Author:** ![B.L.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@B.L.E](https://community.cartalk.com/u/B.L.E)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/changing-oil-every-3000-miles/55042/4 "2010-09-13T03:11:36Z")

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I agree with them, modern cars with their ultra clean emmission standards just don’t contaminate the oil like the old carburettor and choke cars did. I pull the dipstick on my car right before its 5000 mile scheduled oil change and the oil is still a light amber in color.  
In the old days, oil would be pitch black after only a thousand miles or so.