The owners manual of a 2015 Rav-4 specifies oil changes at 5,000 miles but the dealership
insists that isn’t true and specifies 10,000 mile intervals, insisting that the manual was out
of date when placed in the glove box.
@“Rod Knox”
Are you sure you don’t have a typo and have it backwards?
The 2015 Rav-4 oil change interval, from the factory maintenance schedule on toyota.com, says to change your oil every 10,000 miles.
It does say if the majority of your driving falls under severe conditions (and it has the word majority in bold font), then change it every 5000 miles. It also says if you occasionally drive under severe conditions, then it’s not necessary to change it every 5000 miles.
Just for the sake of making a comparison, after assembling all the pieces to rebuild a domestic V-8 engine and attaching a drill to the oil pump drive shaft and spinning it to prime the engine it takes about 10 to 20 seconds to fill the filter and then another 10 seconds for oil to begin pumping up the lifters.
I agree, I’ve seen the same thing on my rebuilds. But on the same engine, in a simple drain, filter change and refill, the indicator light goes out almost immediately. Stock oil pumps, not those HV jobs many people used in rebuilds either…
“Personally - I’m sticking with the 5k oil change interval. The 10k oil change interval is still unproven at keeping an engine running for 300k+ miles.”
Good idea…
Not to mention the number of variables possibly involved in a particular vehicle’s accumulation of 10,000 miles or 5,000 miles or …
_______ miles.
In my opinion nearly everybody’s driving falls somewhere in between normal use and severe use.
When deciding on an oil change interval,
You’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?
I got my hands on the Rav 4 maintenance guide of the vehicle I have serviced and yes, @Nevada, NORMAL service oil changes are scheduled at 10,000 miles, contrary to the Mitchell sites information that is purported to be directly from the Toyota manual. Of course the vehicle’s MAINTENANCE REQUIRED warning light illuminates every 4,800 miles which the selling dealership instructed the owner to either ignore or cancel. And like so many vehicle warranty guides “severe” service appears to include a great many owners’ normal driving conditions.
Maybe the best way to describe the situation is that the manufacturers enjoy a shell game of EXTENDED SERVICE INTERVALS as a sales gimmick while holding a cloud over warranty coverage based on their definition of SEVERE SERVICE. But of course, Toyota is kind enough to allow those who feel the need to use the SEVERE SERVICE schedule the option of not changing the oil filter at the 5,000 mile intervals.
As it stands everyone is correct. We just need to know which shell to pick.
Err On The Side Of Caution. I know what you’re thinking. “Did he idle that car for six minutes or only five?” Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself.
You’ve gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?
You should perform the 5,000 mile service and reset the maintenance reminder. Oil and filter change is not listed in the maintenance schedule for 5K, 15K, 25K etc.
On this on, I believe it's OK to follow the manufacturer's recommended maintenance.
Oh...I certainly think it's "ok," I don't think the MFRs would recommend a regimen that would result in poorly-enduing cars, for fear of driving their loyal customers away. Gotta keep the (original new car) buyer happy!
The question is, is that interval “optimal?” It’s worth noting that GM has timing chain wear problems with their Ecotec engines, that was ultimately traced back to oil change intervals being extended too much, which they then lowered (by re-programming the Oil Life Monitor). This tells me that current maintenance thinking is to push it as long as possible…then titrate downward if durability problems occur. (Also, its worth noting that GM only did something when they too many IN WARRANTY failures; if the oil change interval resulted in chain only going 150,000 miles, as opposed to 250,000…it’s unlikely they would have done anything.)
“This tells me that current maintenance thinking is to push it as long as possible…then titrate downward if durability problems occur.”
May I? “This tells me that current maintenance thinking is to push it as long as possible…then titrate downward if when durability problems occur.”
The excessive timing chain wear you referred to is a result of these ridiculously long oil change intervals. It’s not only timing chains wearing and it doesn’t happen only on GM vehicles. Any vehicle or any engine will wear faster with dirty oil. I starts becoming dirty the first second it starts with clean oil. CSA
But @Joe, does that mean to ignore the MAINTENACE REQUIRED light for 5,000+ miles?
It’s the “fifty shades of gray” situation.
@“Rod Knox”
The MAINTENANCE REQUIRED light doesn’t always mean the oil needs to be changed.
According to Toyota’s Maintenance schedule for your car, when you hit 5000 miles, (and you’ve done normal or occasional severe driving), then it just means things like rotate tires, inspect this and that, etc. It says no oil change is needed.
I can imagine these conversations about 10K oil changes are similar to the conversations that occurred years ago when manufacturers increased the interval from 2K miles to 3K and to 5K miles.
Many millions of car owners have been following their vehicle maintenance schedule for longer oil changes. Europe started a decade earlier. The world has not fallen apart on them.
Is that not a sufficient sample size for success?
I don’t own a Toyota @Joe Mario. I’m just marvelling at the situation that owners of late model cars face with properly maintaining them. The ambiguity of the situation means everyone is right… or is it that everyone is wrong? And how many owners pay to have their tires rotated every 5,000 miles?
I just can’t understand not wanting to care for a $30-60K piece of complicated machinery. An oil change for my Acura with Mobil 1 cost me $26 for the oil and $6 for the Honda filter. I change every 5000 at about a 50% mileage minder. The Pontiac is even cheaper with dino oil. I did order a oil test kit for the Pontiac at the next oil change just out of curiosity but at $28 plus shipping, I don’t see oil analysis as a regular thing to do, and I’m really not interested in how much they think the oil can still go before it is used up. All that money you save, you end up dead anyway and someone else gets it, so what’s the point unless you are destitute and just trying to eat.
It comes down to your definition of CARE. I assure you that there are people out there that think you’re a slouch doing what you believe is taking good care of your car. There’s always someone who thinks you should do more. Another point is it may take you many months to rack up 5000 miles but someone else might do it in a fraction of the time. So what seems like a minor inconvenience to you might be a real PITA for them.
Maybe when self-driving cars become practical they can be programmed to drive themselves to the shop for maintenance.
Would be convenient for it to go while the user is at work.
TwinTurbo: Since retiring I use the calendar instead of the odometer for oil/filter changes. I barely exceed 3,000 miles in 6 months. I don’t understand someone risking a $5,000 engine to avoid a $50 oil change.
I don’t understand someone risking a $5,000 engine to avoid a $50 oil change.
We’ve had these discussions here many times.
Let’s say that you have a hard limit of 6 months or 5,000 miles before you exceed your comfort zone as an example. How did you arrive at that threshold? Is it based on anything concrete or just feels like the right interval that fits in your comfort zone?
By the same token, there are people who say that 5k person is nuts, why risk engine damage and you should change every 3,000 miles just in case. You’re just penny pinching and it’s not expensive so why risk it. How do you answer that challenge if you firmly believe 5000 miles is sufficient?
I use the OLM and then some. I’ve been doing this for decades with my cars. I’ve never suffered an engine failure so to me, there’s little risk in relying on the monitor even if it’s going 10k+. My cars rot out long before they ever need any engine work. My worst oil consumption vehicle might use a quart between changes but that’s 10k miles! It has around 280k on the clock. And I spend a heck of a lot less time changing oil and having to dispose of it, which around here is a royal PITA. And no, I will not pay someone to change my oil until I am physically unable to do it which should coincide with my not being able to drive
As they say YMMV. And it’s hard to argue against fear of the unknown…
EDIT: I forgot to mention- if I was in your shoes, I’d do exactly the same thing. I have a few cars that are treated similarly as they are seasonal vehicles or excess transportation. Two oil changes a year- no biggie. 5-6+ is a different story for me.
TwinTurbo: I was advised by several trusted mechanics more than 20 years ago that due to better oil and filters 5,000 mile service was quite good enough. I still check my oil level every Saturday. I don’t think I can break that habit.
