Oil Change Interval: 5,000 miles or 10,000 miles?

I've done the 5 Toyota care services (tire rotation every 5,000 and oil change every 10,000). I did the next one at 30,000 miles myself. I will be doing the 35,000 mile service myself this fall and have not decided whether to just do the tires or do the oil change too.

What do you do, and what is your rationale?

EDIT: I added a poll, so it might be easier to see the big picture.

 

5,000 because my car is a daily driver and im on dirt and gravel roads every week to go to the range and pick up raw milk, and stop and go traffic. If i’m road tripping i’ll push it since it’s mostly freeway driving, but other than that, 5k.

 

Lol

10k with whatever full synthetic I can find at the best price. My engine will last 500k

 

OMG

 

3k... LOL

 

Hoping we can keep this to poll so it doesn't get into bickering I am right and you are wrong. Either works totally preference.

 

Oh man another one. Remember, this is why aliens don’t visit us.

I do 5K because I don’t trust extended oil changes. Toyota only wants to pay for 2 as you get it free so they say 10K.

 

Everyone will have different opinions and good reasons for the opinions they have. Here's mine:

I'm operating 2 Gen 5 4Runners. In the case of my wife's 22' Limited, it lives on the interstate mostly and during a 10k mile interval it will have spent the vast majority of its time at 1900RPM on cruise control rolling up and down I35 on the 150-mile commute between our house and our business base. We use the factory recommended 10k oil change interval for the Limited.

On my 21 Venture, it's more of a workhorse and goes to the beach, pulls boats and Jet Skis. It also goes on trails to get to our destinations sometimes. We use a 5k oil change interval for the Venture.

We use Mobil 1 (or Toyota factory oil which is also Mobil 1) on both. We do 5k tire rotations on both. We had the services done at the dealership while they were free. We use a local shop to do the oil changes now and Discount Tire to do the rotate/balance.

Current mileage on the Limited is about 33k. 42k on the Venture. We plan to run both vehicles to 200K at least.

 

In my case it would be once a year. I never reach either mileage number in one year.

 

Nice logic different use cases. Highway miles are the easiest on oil and motor. At operating temperature just cruising no stop and go. Short trips are harder not getting up to temp burning off moisture.

 

I follow Toyota’s recommendations and do it every 5k. Why because I am just like most everyone on here and use my 4Runner as a daily driver with stop and go traffic or short trips. Per the book in the glove box it says this is considered a harsh environment and should be done every 5k.


On the weekend if I am not crawling the mall I am on dirt and this is also considered a harsh environment.

The 10k change is for very few people or those that get their info from a forum and never read or understand what the maintenance schedule says. Or from some guy named Bob / amsoil salesman

 

In my defense, I did search the site first. After reading a couple pages of the 2,000 mile thread, I decided a poll might be better.

 

This will be fun!

 

This be me too.

Its like a new year tradition.

Lies the horse is beaten 100x over on this one. So much there is no horse anymore.

 

I have two mechanic buddies and one said every 5,000 miles and the other said every 6,000 miles. I do every 6,000 miles.

 

Lou, this is as you can see a contestable topic. You can read everybody’s preferences and rationale in other similar threads. You can also read the owners manual and the Warranty and Maintenance Guide that came with your truck. Enjoy the part about a 5k oil change interval for severe service. And don’t skip the blurb describing what constitutes severe service. Take a deep breath and relax knowing that your truck doesn't see severe service, that you are changing the oil twice as often as Toyota recommends, and that your baby is adequately pampered.

 

I agree it makes me feel better for low mileage vehicle to change once a year. Anyone have any research on it if it can go longer? Hasn't been worth it to me to research over at Bitog. Easiest just to change it and have confidence it's fresh. I suspect cold winters or being stored outdoors would affect it some.

Will Toyota change it for free at a year with couple thousand miles or wait till 10k?

 

Why change the oil at all?

 

Neither.....12 Months or 6,000 miles which ever comes first.

BTW, Very First engine Oil and Filter change 3,000 miles

0-100K+Maintenance+Map+-+4Runner.pdf

 

That’s a little misleading. I’ve heard and repeated that most of us qualify for the severe service schedule, but after actually reading the Warranty and Maintenance guide I’m not so sure.


The emphasis is Toyota’s.

The special conditions are:

• Driving on dirt roads or dusty roads
• Driving while towing, using a car top carrier, or heavy vehicle loading
• Repeated trips of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing
• Extensive idling and/or low speed driving for a long distance such as police, taxi or door-to-door delivery use

I don’t think that most of us do a majority of our driving under these circumstances.

Stop and go traffic isn’t on the list. Short trips are on the list, but only count as severe service in the case of below freezing temperatures.

 

Oh that 2K thread was hilarious. That’s such a waste.

 

Note the words such as. I wound think lots of bumper to bumper traffic would qualify as low speed and idling. I don’t think the oil takes the time to ask or look if you have taxi / police / Uber on the side of your car.

5k for life

 

Most of my daily driving is less than 5 miles or 15 minutes, but it is only below freezing for a few weeks in the winter.

 

Whatever Toyota says to do in the book, follow it.

Fairly certain Toy engineers know what's best for the vehicle.

 

The problem with that is that's fairly vague language by the manufacturer. "Repeated" simply means two or more times.

 

My suggestion is this, do an oil change at 5k and send a sample to Blackstone. Do your next OC at 10k and send it to Blackstone again. Compare results and make a decision based on facts related to your vehicle and driving pattern.

IMO, for the majority of people who own 4runners the Toyota recommended 10k miles fine. For some on this forum earlier is better because of how they use their 4runner. I do 10k intervals on both our Runners and every sample I've sent to Blackstone has come back fine.

Do what you feel is right and enjoy your 4runner, at the end of the day your engine will most likely outlast the frame anyway...

 

what's it cost to send sample to blackstone and testing? Which service option do you use ?

 

https://www.blackstone-labs.com/tests/tests-price-list/

Looks like $35 for standard group of tests. That's what I have always done. Worth the money if it helps you feel better about longer oil change intervals.

Edit - they will email you a report of the findings for each test as well as an overall summary of engine health based on their max/min parameters and what they see with other vehicles like yours of similar mileage.

 

I know people that do it once per 10k oil change to prove they only need to do it every 10k. Always found it strange they spent that much to “save money”. Seems the savings was very small for them. Around my area that only saves them $50-$60 a year. If you can’t afford that then why would you own a 4Runner.

 

I voted for 5K because I don't want Toyota trying to deny an engine warranty claim. I'd hate to have an engine shoot craps and then Toyota tell me I'm out of luck because I didn't follow the severe schedule when they *think* I should have.