NGC-Oil change interval on car

[old head]

We use Toyota Tacoma's in our fleet for all our sales visits.  My truck says 0w-20.  I drive from 1000 with up to 2000 miles a week.  Average about 60k miles a year.  I change my oil every 10k, but its mostly highway miles, very little stop and go, never pulls a trailer.  Carry about 500lbs of supplies in the bed.

Last truck before the new one went 285k before they got me a new one.  Still didn't burn any oil.  It would be dark at 10k, but the truck never used any oil.

Probably could have gone longer than 10k with the way it was used, but the longer changes never had an effect on the life of the truck.  As far as I know, most of the guys are driving what I drive and I have never heard of an engine issue in 7 years I have been with the company.   We run about 20 trucks annually.

I change my oil in the Jeep and Dodge every 5k.  Jeep has 200k, dodge has 350k.  Jeep uses maybe a quart in 5k miles, dodge uses about a quart every 1k.  both of mine use regular oil, 15w40 Rotella.  Change filters every time.

Old Head

[rocker59]

2018 Subaru. Warranty and Maintenance manual states its up to me to follow the schedule listed-6 months or 6000 miles.

Well, 

[steven c]

 My 2012 had the oil usage issue, was using more the a quart at 1k so they gave me a new short block at around 70K then about a year later I noticed while doing an oil change (0 usage) a lot of oil under the car, turns out the new short block had a crack, so new block #2 at 80K which will use a quart of 0-20 in 4K. Then a couple week back I had the central differential replaced at 99K, luckily I had the extended warranty signed over to me for $35 when I bought the car and only had to pay $100 for what would have been a $1750 job. They had the differential in stock which leads me to believe this failure  is not that uncommon. So after owning 3 Subaru's this may be my last one,hopefully with all the new parts it will go another 100k.

[73eldorado]

My 2016 Toyota Highlander has a recommendated oil change interval of 10k with synthetic oil. I have never had to add oil between changes and the is only slightly discoloured when it is drained. The synthetic oil these days is so well engineered that 10k is to soon to change the oil in my opinion. When I worked as a heavy duty mechanic our Caterpillar loaders and dozers had there oil changes at 250 hours of use. These were hard working machines unlike our road vehicles, if you went 250 hrs timed by 60 MPH it comes out to 15k between oil changes. Because of how hard the loaders were working it was probably 20k or more when converted to distance travelled. We always took oil samples and had the oil checked for developing problems and theses machines woul go 25000 hours of hard work between rebuilds. The manufacturers want us to change our oil way to soon in most instances so they don’t have to many warranty claims or other issues such as owners trying to get big miles out of conventional oils.

[rocker59]

if you went 250 hrs timed by 60 MPH it comes out to 15k between oil changes. 

That's a falacy for an automobile.  The only way you'll ever average 60mph is on a road trip where you're running on the interstate for long periods of time.

I have an "average MPH" readout on the info screen of my Ford Fusion.  I drive about 40 miles per day.  25 miles of that is on the interstate at 65-80 mph.  The "average MPH" readout currently shows 21 mph.  Any city traffic at all will kill your average mph.

so, for me:  250 hrs x 21 mph = 5250 miles  (which is 6.5 months of commuting).

[JACoH]

My Toyotas and Hondas since 2009 have all specified 0w-20 oils, and I found you cannot find regular petroleum oil in that viscosity. Only semi-synthetic blend and full synthetic.

[Rough Edge racing]

 Some of you may know of the Bob is the oil guy discussion forum....It's fun to read how anal people can be about oil...What's informative is they post results of oil analysis..Take a sample and mail it into a lab and you see can what metals and contaminants are in it. It seems many new engines, especially turbo supercharged and or direct injection  gas engines have high amounts of fuel dilution, 3-5%....It may be worthwhile to use sampling to determine oil change intervals...

[jumpmaster]

Interesting discussion, but getting back to the op's original observation and implied question - the bottom line is that if you don't follow the manufacturer's recommended oil change schedule religiously, you give them a wide open avenue to make life difficult if you should be unlucky enough to have a premature failure or even just more than average engine/transmission problems.  Some dealers MAY be on their customers' side on warranty coverage disputes, but anecdotal evidence seems to reflect that the manufacturers' first reaction in these cases is generally to deny coverage, and there are plenty of dealers that won't push back on the mfgs' answers unless backed into a corner by lawsuits or at least unfavorable local news coverage.  There's been a lot of discussion about MG's response to flat-tappet vs. roller tappet issues -  complete denial at first, case-by-case grudging acceptance of the existence of a problem eventually but no solution provided, & finally (I think) case-by-case warranty extensions after repeated contacts from the affected customers.  Honda Goldwing stator issues, BMW security key interlock problems, & Harley cam chain tensioner premature failures are issues with similar factory responses (or more correctly, non-responses) in the not-to-distant past that also fit this pattern.   

My solution/recommendation is to religiously follow the owners manual recommendations for the duration of the warranty period, no matter how silly it seems.  As many here have pointed out, you can do that through the dealer, through independent shops or even in your own driveway - as long as you have kept detailed records.  After the warranty period is over, do whatever you are comfortable with.  There are plenty of good recommendations in this thread on what is a reasonable approach to oil change intervals & oils to use, but none of them will be helpful in a warranty dispute with the manufacturer or dealer if they violate the owners manual &/or warranty statement requirements.   

[Scott of the Sahara]

2000 miles a year? That sounds like motorcycle miles.
You bought a NEW car and intend on driving it only 2000 miles a year?
Well, My mom did that, so I guess there are people who drive that little.
Some of the dealerships offer an oil change for life program. If you are only driving that much it could be a good deal.