How many miles between oil changes?

a lot of people here recommend 5k because of the head gasket issue. idk if it's true or not.
you can't go wrong changing it early except for the financial, time and environmental costs.
if you drive less than 5k/year, change it every spring.
you'll be fine driving home 1,000 miles and changing it when you have time.
how many miles on her?

 

In general with cheap crappy motor oil you can go 5K miles and with high quality full synthetic you can go 10K but I prefer 8K or once a year, whichever comes first.

 

5k miles is a good number. FWIW, for gen 3's (per yours), that what Toyota Canada recommended.

We're doing about 3k kms per year now (~2k miles), I change ours yearly.

When mechanics put a next-oil-change sticker on your windshield, it's both advice and a calling card. Seems like sound advice in this case, but take it with a grain of salt.

 

The old dino oil recommendations for old cars was 7500 miles. With good quality full synthetic oil, they say you should be able to go 10K miles between changes. People pick 5K mile changes because it's easy to reminder - just look at your odometer in the thousandth position; if it's a 0 or 5; it's due for another oil change. Technically speaking, oil manufactures say follow OEM recommendations or one year, whichever comes first. I really don't think oil goes bad in a year - but there you have it.

Now that you got the information; you can now make an informed choice.

Good Luck....

 

Every previous car we've had I recall 5k miles (aka 8k kms), the official manufacturer's recommendation. Our son's 2018 Mazda CX-5 is no exception (see attached). Lovely format btw, Toyota would do well to adopt it, the entire schedule in one table, second page has more explanation.

 

AI is coming up with 3K-5K or 3-months; I've never heard that before. I know Jiffy Lube was the one that started the 3K oil change interval nonsense. I found this in an old Hayes manual that references 7.5K, but oil changes at 3K intervals. Hopefully someone has an old OEM maintenance guide laying around to check. This is the reason I like PAPER; makes it more difficult to gas-light people.
1988-1996 Ford F-150, F-250, F-350 Pickup Truck Routine Maintenance FAQ - Haynes Manuals – Haynes Manuals North America

I believe my old 80s-90s Honda OEM change interval was 7500 miles and that was industry standard for GM and Fords, I believe back then. Somewhere in there Jiffy Lube stated that if you wanted your car to last - they recommended 3000 mile oil changes at a very cheap price. Pretty much the McDonalds of oil changes. IMHO, great marketing and franchising hype, but poor quality parts and services. Had more than a few friends pull out of there without their oil cap. They save money by hiring high school 'wannabe mechanics'. What can go wrong.....
They may have ASE certified mechanics at current surviving franchises now.

 

The original U.S. 2010 Prius manual (April 2009) said 5k, only later did they boost it to 10k and send a notice to earlier owners, including me. But after these engines later began displaying oil and head gasket problems, there was talk that maybe 10k was a bit too "aspirational".

 

@Mendel Leisk you made me walk to my book shelf.

1996-1997 Honda CIVIC service manual P/N 61S0302 page 4-4; replace engine oil every 7.5K or 12 months. 3.5 US quarts.

thought I was losing it again...... I probably am.....

 

Read the "severe" driving conditions. It will tell you to change it more often.
Like 3000 miles.
It will depend on how long you want your engine to last.

 

You've got that right:



from: honda-accord-sedan-1990-owners-manual-linked.pdf

With the caveat, "severe driving conditions", halve the intervals. Too, the "or 6 months" is presumably whichever comes first.

In the early 2000's (not sure exactly when, our 06 Civic Hybrid was thus), Honda went to the Maintenance MInder system, no official, printed schedule, just a built-into-the-dash system, that worked quite well, and was a good bargaining chip when dealing with pushy service departments. IIRC with that our oil changes came up around 8~10k kms. The system seems decidedly smarter than Toyota USA's purely odo-driven maintenance reminder.

 

Yea; I reminder that; It would pop-up maintenance A,B,C, or D - depending on level of maintenance required. I believe these were 'hard-set points' programmed into the semi-electronic dash.
My early 2000s GMC seems to have a variable maintenance minder. A friend has the same model but a year newer, his oil change minder pops around 3K-4K miles - but he tows and has a heavy foot. I don't tow and mine goes off around 7K-8K miles. FWIW