Call me silly, but I am NOT waiting on 5,000 miles

I hesitate to ask but are you old? I may be old, depends how you define old? I don't think that the old rules applicable to the modern manufacturing techniques. But on the other had an oil change is cheep and if you can afford it why not?

 

I'm not so worried about the engine since it doesn't even run as much as my old cars. And even at 241,000 miles, I never had problems with the engines. The radiator and other parts go first. I'm not going to say the Prius engine runs 2,000 miles less per 5,000 miles. But it does run less. That depends how you drive it.

 

Well I am following the manufacture recommendation. I am using Mobile 1. My mechanic says that my oil looks new after 5K miles. Not Black, not Brown, not Blond (thank god) but clear. I have seen the discharged oil and it is impressive!

 

YC15 the origional had 340,000 km on it with 5,000 mile oil changes, no engine problems at all. In fact if Toyota hadn't taken it back for analysis, I'm sure it'd still be in service with 750,000+ on it.

 

It seems like an emotional reaction to change oil so frequently. Toyota is famous for long-lasting cars. We are willing to use less gas, so why not use less motor oil as well?

I have a Volvo 240DL, a pretty heavy car with a small engine, gets just under 30 mpg. It has about 300,000 miles. Several times I went over 10,000 miles between oil changes. Most of the time I changed oil every 6 months. Volvo recommended changing at 7,500 miles. Seemed like a lot of miles, but at that time Volvo was bragging their cars last an average of 16 years. My engine refuses to die, although much of the rest of the car is falling apart. By the way, 80% or more of the gas on that car is the cheapest stuff from Arco.

Volvo had an interesting break-in period. Drive it at varying speeds and special back-up procedures for the brakes... They had a free oil change and other fluids changed at a special 600 mile checkup. After that it was 7500 miles, 15000 miles... Only the turbo enginers were at 3750 miles, 7500 miles...

 

My first oil change was during my first service (intermediate) at　10k - this is in the service book (the dealer overfilled it and it was a battle to get them to take some out, but that`s another story). There`s no mention of this (controversial) 5k oil change in any of the service documents I have. My next change is at the 20k mark (the full service). $20 for an oil change in the US ? The cost of the oil alone here in the UK (fully synthetic) was 28GBP, never mind the labour.

The oil looked fine at 10k miles so every 10k is fine for me (plus, I`m a bit concerned about the environmental impact of all this waste oil).

 

hehe, i changed my oil around 3.5k miles. when u do it urself, u get a little messy, but soap and water takes care of that! plus, you get the exact amount of oil, the correct care, etc!

 

You're silly!

(Hey, you asked for it. See? Right there in the subject?)


Anyway... after seeing the used oil analysis jayman posted, I have no intention of early oil changes.

An oil change may cost $20, but once you factor in the time it takes, it's just not worth it—especially with the oil lasting 5,000 mi just fine.

 

Not to mention the pollution and waste of petroleum products uselessly. It isn't just about gas. What an under-educated and emotion based people we are sometimes. Good analysis Doc and I second the "OK, you are silly" sentiment.

 

Perhaps getting a GM made car to 180,000 miles is something to brag about, but it surely isn't anything impressive for other brands out there. And just to think you had to do extra work to get to just around 180,000 miles...

 

signboy's second post... *SIGH* ... a real experienced Prius driver.

This subject seems very close to a troll-type arguement from a Prius driver who has failed to educate himself on the design of the Prius.

My read: signboy just wants to start an arguement thread for the thrill of it. I usually avoid such forum members.

 

had an 85 olds calis with iron duke 4cyl. changed oil every 25,000 miles, filter every 7500 ,using mobil 1. engine stil ran good when i got rid of car at 242,000 miles on it.

 

I changed mine at 2500. Probably not needed. But I do not feel bad about it.

 

CHANGE IT EVERY 3K WITH MOBIL ONE SYNTHECTIC IT WILL LAST WITH NO WEAR WELL FOREVER.

 

I have to agree with your first sentence.

The air filter catches any dirt and grit before it ever gets in the engine. It only takes a miniscule amount of dirt to wipe out an engine.

Sludge and metal are virtually non-existent in modern engines, unless there are other problems of a more serious nature that are causing the presence of those contaminants.

I AM old and can vouch for the fact that today's engine building techniques far surpass what they used to be in the past.

By the way, did you know that by-pass filters were used as the only means of filtration until the late 30s or early 40s? Full flow filters only showed up on the scene when mass production of engines came into being and, back then, were required since the relatively primitive machining techniques did leave harmful residues in the engines.