gfaile

My wife's 2001 ES300 has 80000 miles on it. We bought the car new. I have always changed the oil and filter at 3000 miles with 5w30 Castrol. The car is driven mostly for short distances of 15 to 30 minute duration. I have never had to add oil between changes and as far as I can tell it doesn't use any. The manual says 5000 miles is an adequate oil change interval. Would I be incurring any risk to the engine now if I switched to 5000 miles between oil changes?

LeX2K

I think you should stick with your current OCI. If anything will cause these engines to sludge it is short trips.

Oro

I feel that is poor advice as a) his usage is not exclusively or particularly "short trip" and b) he is not neglecting his oil change intervals. It takes both to generate sludge in the pre-2002 engines. And then, only if you buy the story of the tort lawyers and not actual mechanics. Caveat Emptor.

15 miles as your lower trip range is adequate to get warm-up. This is not a "short" trip as people use the phrase with regard to oil and engine usage. Having done consistent 3k OCIs since new is great; you are likely in excellent shape. We have a 2002 - same engine as yours except a slightly modified PCV valve/cover arrangement. We are now at 250k miles and I have been using Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 synthetics and doing 7.5k mile OCIs for several years and really enjoying the fewer oil changes. Previously it did 3k dino oil changes. Even at 250k, I add no oil between changes at that extended interval - though it goes down about 1/2 qt on the dipstick, partly due to a small valve cover leak I will address at the next timing belt job. I know of other 1mz-fe owners who go even longer OCI's (10k or even more) using quality synthetic oils and have great results, validated with laboratory oil tests. This is well documented online so you do not have to take my word on this if you don't feel like it.

If I were you I would consider the following options. All will work, there is no actual absolute here:

a) do what you are doing, it's fine.
b) go to a 5k OCI with a semi-synthetic blend.
c) go to a 7.5k OCI with a quality full synthetic.

All of those, are, in fact, quite conservative suggestions and you could squeeze more out of each if you wanted. You could go to a 5k OCI with conventional oil in your car with no ill effects. Castrol, though, would not be the best oil for that - a discussion for more detail elsewhere. On extended OCI's, I would also make sure I used a better quality filter for a 5k OCI or longer. Personally, I am now using a slightly oversized filter. There is a wix on the car at the moment, but my future "stash" on the shelf in the shop is:

a) Bosch 3422,
b)Motorcraft FL-400S (these are high quality and cheap everywhere),
c)Toyota -YZDD3/Denso 150-1003 (same filter).

The toyota filter is the one for the V8 (e.g, LS400/430, Land Cruiser, etc. Our filter is the -YZDD1). The Denso one is just the aftermarket equivalent. It fits, has the same specs, but adds extra filtering capacity. Good idea on longer OCIs. Wix also makes good filters, but have become pricey the last few years vs. these equal or better quality alternatives. The Motorcraft one is the real bargain of the bunch for quality/cost.

Another consideration is that 80k miles on a 2001 means just under 6k/year. That would mean an OCI of nearly one year at the 5k OCI, or 1.3 years at the longer OCI. That's an adequate time for oil or a filter to be in a vehicle with worry about oxidation, etc. Two years start to be a worry point. So don't sweat that point at the longer oci.

In my usage (she drives this car a lot of miles each year, clearly) - I buy a 5qt jug of M1 or PP and a motorcraft FL-400S at Walmart for $30 total after tax. That is good for 7.5k miles (or more if I wanted). Good value and top quality oil and filter, and cheaper with less labor than using conventional oil to cover the same mileage.

A last consideration is to use 10w-30 oil. Since you are in AL, it is likely to provide all the cold-start protection you need. It will have the added benefit of not having as many viscosity modifiers in it, and thus less chance for thermal breakdown and oxidative damage. Since I live in the coastal PNW and never see any temps below freezing, I use it to get better protection/longevity than a 5w-30 can give. If i lived in Montana, I'd be using 0w-xx OTOH.

BDSL

Stick with intervals as specified by your owner's manual.

Oro

I think that is great advice when you have a brand new car and there is zero reason to doubt it.

But it is terribly naive when you have a decade+ old car where there have been real advances in lubrication technology and parallel advances in filtration technology and aftermarket options.

Sticking to a technical recommendation written a generation or two ago is not a great idea. If so, my home network would be running on wireless G. Darn glad I ignored that!

BDSL

Obviously the owner is familiar to auto maintenance, That was why he brought up the subject. Unless you have a mechanical / chemical engineering degree with extensive testing result, stick with owner's manual. Don't deviate from owner's manual (i.e. fluid type and interval).

FYI, the colder your ambient is, the lower the x should be for xW30. The lower the x, the more cold start protection you will get. Not the other way around.

Bare in mind that some aftermarket stuff are crap. If you don't know any better, you would do damage.....

yeskay

+1 stick to the service manual

Oro

Wow, what a non-response. I was not able to glean from a really basic question that the OP was thus highly qualified. I got the distinct impression he was not a chemist and wanted info from some of us with training in it.

The real answer is to take the benefit of technology and science and not to get your head stuck down in a "one-size fits all" answer written over a decade ago.

yeskay, you need to wake up to modern advances, too.

BDSL

The OP is using convention (non synthetic) Castrol oil. The owner's manual states 5000 miles for oil change interval for convention oil. OP asked if he should stick with the owner's manual (i.e. 5000 mile oil change interval). The answer is yes....stick to the owner's manual. What is so hard about that?

He/she didn't ask about synthetic oil or about oil grade.

LeX2K

It doesn't make any difference how good lubrication tech has become the oil will still get dirty at the same rate. Oil never wears out it gets contaminated and loses the ability to protect and to hold the contamination in suspension. Also the 1MZ has a way over active EGR system* and some of that inevitably gets into the engine oil, combine that with the fact the engine likes to sludge I think it is best to keep the OCI short.

When I first bought my ES it has 36,000 miles on it always dealer maintained OCI about 6000 miles. I pulled the front head cover engine was just starting to sludge, no doubt in part because the car was driven only short distances it rarely saw any freeway use. The 1MZ is not a clean engine at all unlike its predecessor the 3VZ-FE which runs incredibly clean even after 200,000 miles or more the internals have no build up at all.

*not all 1MZ-FE's have EGR.

Oro

Really, honestly,you would have to stick your head up your *** and to say "yes, no other answer."

Please read my first post and response carefully designated "A" to see that is a totally fine answer in my opinion and in accord with the best of lubrication science. But there are alternative answers subsequently outlined. Which have been scientifically proven to give better lubrication effect at lower cost. And thus a way better alternative than the manual outlines, honestly.

You are entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.

Well, No. Oil does wear out. I don't think you have a good concept of petroleum chemistry and pm me and I will link you to some good articles on the subject. That is nonsense and oil does wear out - in fact it wears out just sitting in the sump without the engine running, given enough time. It's ability to lubricate, suspend wear particles, and resist oxidation, among many other critical functions, are relatively disconnected from any single linear time progression.

So NO, hat is not true in any coherent sense.

LeX2K

Or you could just post the links here. I say oil doesn't "wear out" per say because consider the case of a manual transmission gear box, the oil in that lasts much, much longer. Sure eventually it will break down but because it is not being subjected to all manner of byproducts of combustion (especially water) it remains stable for a far longer period.

tomf

That is an incoherent statement.

What's the shelf life of refined oil sitting on the self at Walmart? It has no limiting shelf life.

How long does oil last in the ground? Thousands of years. But it does become contaminated. That's where refined oil comes from.

Oil just sitting in a sump becomes contaminated primarily with water from condensation.

How is oil recycled if it goes bad? It's recycled because the impurities are removed and additives are replaced.

If engine oil could be filtered effectively enough and additives replaced as they are used up there would be no need to replace the oil.

gfaile

Thanks to all who commented on my post. I appreciate your inputs.

BDSL

You got more than what you asked for....