I have a 2003 Toyota Camary. I seldom drive and average about 30 miles per month. How often should I change the oil? Anything else I should be aware of since it has so little use?
I would follow the manual, which has both a time and mileage figure for oil changes. Having said that, for such extremely low mileage, personally, I would change oil once a year and use 5W30 synthetic oil.
Those 30 miles, are they the total of a whole bunch of one-block-to-the-grocery-store-and-I’m-too-lazy-to-walk trips, or is it a monthly visit to a place that’s about 15 miles away?
If it’s the former, I would definitely change the oil annually or more. If it’s the latter, it probably wouldn’t hurt to keep the oil for more than a year.
Only 30 miles per month? If I were you, I would give serious thought to not owning a car at all. I walk more than that. A thirty mile cab ride probably costs less money than the monthly fixed costs of owning a car (insurance, registration, parking, etc.) Also, your tires will dry rot from age and exposure long before they are worn out.
That’s not even enough use to justify tying up the capital that a car does.
Also get a decent battery charger and charge your battery every month or two.
I am in a similar case. But I drive the car once a week. I avoid traffic, I make sure the engine reaches operating temperature and is driven at least 10 miles after that.
Driving it once a month seems a bit “thin”. Every 2 weeks sounds more reasonable: may be you need to start thinking of your car as a pet.
If the car is garaged and the climate is hot and dry may be it is OK to change the oil every year. Otherwise I would stick to 6 months schedule. In ant case I would avoid doing very short trips only (under 3 miles).
Your owners manual state the interval. I would choose every 6 months if I were in your shoes.
My grandpa’s farm tractor would sit for months at a time under the tractor shed and that old pre-war John Deere still works. Engines don’t really need to be started daily or even weekly. I think that you’re better off not starting an engine than starting it and not really getting it up to operating temps.