I have a question about oil change intervals on my 1999 4Runner. This used to be my daily driver until January of this past year when I bought a Corolla . Now the 4Runner is used by my wife (who is a stay at home mom) for whenever she wants to make the drive into town to take the kid to the park, run errands etc.

My question is, how "important" is it to follow time interval between changes? When this was my daily driver I easily hit the mileage interval, but since she took it over she has only put 1500 miles on it in 6 months. The place we take it to uses bulk Shell motor oil (Penzoil I believe) and recommends 3000 or 6 months for change. Should I take it in and have it done on oil with 1500 miles? I am also not wanting to send it off for an oil analysis.

Thanks.

 

I am in the same boat. I go with every 3 months because of my low mileage. And do it yourself.

 

Based on the driving conditions described, and my 2002 service manual, it should be changed every 7,500 miles or every 6 months.

"Time-based intervals account for the short-trip drivers who drive short distances, which build up more contaminants. Manufacturers advise to not exceed their time or distance-driven interval for a motor oil change. Many modern cars now list somewhat higher intervals for changing oil and filter, with the constraint of "severe" service requiring more frequent changes with less-than ideal driving. This applies to short trips of under 15 km (10 mi), where the oil does not get to full operating temperature long enough to burn off condensation, excess fuel, and other contamination that leads to "sludge", "varnish", "acids", or other deposits."

 

check out blackstone labs, you can test it and see for yourself! Get the TBN which is $10 extra to find out if your oil is still protecting. If you don't want to do analysis then chances are that it's ok past 6 months (not too much) but not something to do regularly by any means. 6 months goes by and even if there's only 1k miles on it, change it out soon.

my runner is in the same place now; I'm only putting 4-5k if that every year now that it's the dedicated offroad rig/backup DD.

and yup, short trips actually do kill an engine faster than lots of longer trips; startup (cold) is where (no pun intended, hahah) most of the wear occurs.

anyway, my .02 ....

 

I wouldnt be chancing it over $30 twice a year. Get it changed.

 

Change the oil at the suggested intervals. Cheap insurance.

:wabbit2: