So then besides your obviously biased anecdotal evidence…show me some valid stats that say otherwise.
Now, what reason should I have to be biased? It’s in no way important to me whether americans drive more or less than we do over here. I’m only telling You based on the fact that I live here, get around in Europe a lot, have a lot to do with cars and a lot more within the issue. Whether You believe it or not, is not my problem and I am not telling You or asking You to believe me. Notice please, that I have never made the claim that we drive as much as people do in USA.
And now it’s time for dinner 
Edit: Dinner is cooking now. Average lifespan in Germany as of 2014 is 18 years.
I bought a 2011 Toyota Sienna in the spring of 2010. The owner’s manual specified 5000 mile oil changes. Three months after I bought the Sienna, I received a letter from Toyota that said that their research indicated that the oil change interval had been extended to 10,000 miles. I would think the research by Toyota engeers would be legitimate. I already owned the Sienna when I received the letter, so it wasn’t sent as an inducement to buy a Toyota product.
I still prefer the oil life indicator that was on my 2006 Chevrolet Uplander. The oil life indicator changed with the season and the type of driving I was doing. In the winter with short hop driving, the oil life indicator would show that the life of the oil was depleted in less than 5000 miles while in the summer the oil life would not be depleted for over 10,000 miles with open road vacation travel. The chance oil message my Sienna comes on at s flat 10,000 miles no matter what type of driving I do.
I remember when my dad extended the oil kichange interval back in the 1950s from 1000 miles to 2000 miles. The owner’s manual in.my 1965 Rambler specified a 4000 mile oil and filter change. I changed oil and filter at 3000 miles and still had to have the cylinder pulled at 95,000 miles to have an oil passage cleared out in the block. Interestingly, the charge for this work in 1972 was less than $50.
$30 for a synthetic oil change? I need to know where you get those done! You can barely buy 5 qts for $30. I agree with your comments, except I pass on the flu shot:wink:
I bought 0W-20 full synthetic motor oil at our local Rural King store for $2.79 a quart under the house brand RK label. It met the specifications for my 2011 Sienna. I bought it in case I had to add oil between 10,000 mile changes, but I never needed it. When I bought my 2017 Sienna a year ago, I transferred the quart to the new Sienna. I haven’t needed it there and just had the 10,000 mile oil change.
I think Rural King now sells the oil under the Harvest King label.
Great info. Thanks!
In my experience, European drivers drive their cars harder and have fewer highway miles than American drivers do, I have seen many cars in Finland with well over 150k kilometers on them.
you may dismiss this as ‘anecdotal,’ but your arguments appear to be equally anecdotal.
as for the the original poster’s question, I follow the maintenance minder on my cars. Oils have changed in the last 20 years as have manufacturers’ recommendations. Many people say "well, changing every 5,000 miles can’t hurt. But then why not change it every 3,000 miles? How about every 1,000 miles? Where did the 5k mile recommendation come from?
Changing the oil too often can waste money and waste oil, so it’s not a frivolous question. There actually is data behind the engine oil monitor systems, which is more than you can legitimately say for the flat ‘5,000 mile’ recommendations.
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Back in the old days, I was my own oil life monitor. In the winter when I drove short hops and the engine wasn’t fully warmed up when I got to my destination, I changed oil more frequently–about every 2000 miles. In the summer when we took vacation trips, I might go 5000 miles before I changed the oil. Now I realize that today’s fuel injected cars with electronic ignitions and onboard computers to control the richness of the fuel mixture and the ignition timing through sensors is a lot easier on the oil than carburetors dumping in fuel, I still think that colder weather with short runs before the engine is fully warmed up is hard on engine oil.
If I did highway driving with a distance of more than 20 miles, synthetic oil might be good for 15,000.miles or more. On the other hand, short run driving in cold weather might call for the oil change at 5000 miles. I liked the GM oil life monitor in my Uplander. It confirmed that I was right in what I did back in the 1960s. The system on my Toyota Sienna doesn’t take into account varying conditions. It just sets an oil change reminder at 10,000 miles no matter under what conditions the van is driven.
I bought a five quart container of Mobil 1 synthetic today at the farm store for $29 plus I get a $12 rebate from Mobil for it. I buy Honda filters by the half dozen for about $6 each. My Acura takes 4.5 quarts so I think I’m under $30. I don’t pay anyone-I do it myself. Last night it took me about 20 minutes with a lot of idle time. I use dino in my Pontiac and that takes 4 quarts. I paid $19 for five quarts of Mobil today and again I get $7 back for a rebate. I pay $4 for AC filters. I change at 3000. Actually 3000 is the recommended mileage for severe service but usually I try to change at 50% of the OLM, which is 3000 on the Pontiac and 5000 on the Acura.
Like I said I’m not one to try and pinch every penny but I do believe in good maintenance. Considering the $40-50,000 investment in machinery, spending a couple extra oil changes a year doesn’t seem foolish at all. 1000 mile oil changes? Yeah that’s stupid but what really is stupid and a waste of resources is a car that goes to the junk yard with only a couple hundred thousand on it. Think of the waste? My highest mileage was 530K, and 350K, and 480K and 240K so really I don’t need advice from a young whippersnapper 
that drives a couple miles a day. My routine is proven-to me anyway. What you do is up to you but I just don’t want your used car.
That makes sense. I have always changed my oil as well because it’s nice to feel the pulse of your vehicle. My '17 4Runner has a recommended OCI of 10K miles but I’ve been changing at 5K. The 0W-20 is still like honey at 5K and since I’m rotating tires every 5K, I do the oil change too. I wouldn’t be averse to going 10K once or twice however.
If your routine is proven to you - that’s all that matters. And who’s going to argue with 530K, 350K, 480K and 240K? As someone once said “I don’t need to be right, I’m not afraid to be wrong, and I have nothing to prove.” I think that’s a good way to be.
For city folk like myself and my customers that is about 20 years, it takes much longer to accumulate miles in city traffic than farm country, an hour and a half in the car each day might be 25 miles. I am not impressed with the condition of 20 year old plus cars that my customers drive and that has nothing to due with oil changes. Changing the oil twice as often as necessary will not make the average city car more attractive to drive.
Sorry…but I don’t speak German.
Heh heh heh. I thought I did until I thought I’d rented a car for an early morning trip from the hotel clerk. At 5 am a car and driver pulled up to take us to my names sake town. What the hey, she knew where to go and only cost 100 Euro and had us back in time for our 10:00 bus departure. I quit trying to order dinner in German too and just use English.
I use the engine monitor on my Jeep rather than a flat 5000 miles because it takes driving patterns into account. If I do a lot of offroad driving at low speed with lots of stop and go, it might go off at 3500 miles. If I do a long range highway trip, it might go off at 7500 miles. A flat 5000 miles oil change would be wrong in either case – it’d be not soon enough in the former case, and a waste of money and resources in the latter case.
Manufacturers that sell extended warranties for their vehicles have no incentive to break their vehicles with unreasonably long oil change intervals, because that would cause warranty claims, i.e., money out of their pockets. They also have no reason to set oil changes unreasonably short, because they make the same money no matter how often you change the oil (now, dealers, on the other hand … ). And these engines are tested under laboratory conditions for a minimum of 150,000 miles equivalent then torn down and examined for wear, the oil change intervals aren’t just chosen out of thin air.
Today’s oils are a lot better than the old oils, which were more wax than oil. I’m going to trust the guys who designed the engine over the guys who profit if I change the oil more often. Just sayin’.
I don’t disagree but I just choose not to follow their company spiel. After all its my $50,000 not theirs, and my $35 for an oil change. Yes I understand all the algorithms and their research but regardless of how many short 5 mile trips I’ve made it doesn’t seem to have much effect on the OLM.
Years ago Paul Brandt had a local car talk show and was a former race driver. He talked about how they could put new bearings in an engine, hit the track for a few rounds, then pull the bearings and they would show wear just from the start up. So I gotta believe that in their testing, they may not exactly be simulating driving a car five miles, letting it sit over night and running it again five miles, in their 150,000 mile test runs. I’m not saying they are wrong, I’m just choosing to be cautious. It wouldn’t be the first time that the corporate front office dictated what lab results should be.
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This is something that really depends on use and wear. If you do not use your vehicle much and it does not get many miles follow the guide for 10K. However if you are driving the vehicle a lot and it is seeing a lot of distance in stop and go areas or places with hard and drastic changes in engine idle and stop and you may want to do it every 5k or so to maintain the engine. Synthetics are sometimes an exception to this rule as they are made to be a bit more durable but do breakdown just like any other oil so you need to be aware of your vehicle usage and plan your maintenance accordingly. The more your vehicle has to push the more frequent you want to perform changes in order to sustain long engine life and prevent future costly repairs down the line. Dealers and manual suggestions are mainly based on average or standard use and driving of the vehicle which can change from person to person. Hope this helps and best of luck.
@CoderCozz. I think you have it backwards. If s car isn’t used very much and just makes short runs, the oil should be changed having been in the crankcase for fewer miles. One should follow the time recommended intervals in the owner’s manual. Highway driving for long distances is easier on the engine and the oil life should be longer.
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Yes, thanks for catching that I am a little exhausted this week so forgive my lack of attention.
@CoderCozz The thing with buying Mobil 1 at Walmart though is that they don’t participate in the Mobil rebate offers. If you buy at a participating retail store like Mills Fleet Farm, you’ll pay a little more but are eligible for a $12 rebate. Not saying you couldn’t still get the rebate from Walmart but its not worth the effort unless you really like to squeeze nickels.