ProfessorP

so I've got my 1997 Lexus 300 still going strong at almost 250K miles. Now that I have my 2013 Lexus ES300h, I don't drive it much anymore, probably about 5K a year. Use it mainly for driving to places where there might be more of a chance of a car break-in, like the train station or the mall.

Anyhow, I'm wondering how often should I change my oil on my car. I usually do it every 5K miles, but got some advice from a car service friend of mine. He said that on that model car, it's probably better to change it every 6-8 months regardless of the number of miles. He said there's a more likelihood of oil burnoff on that car. I last changed the oil around New Year's Day, about 6 months ago. What do you guys think? - I've only put about 2200 miles on it since then. I hate to change the oil well before its time, and the oil dipstick looked fine to me when I checked last week. (use regular oil not synthetic).

jltait

I have an ES300 of similar milage. My personal opinion is to go with 3k OCI unless you're using synthetic in which case 5k is fine, or every 6 months, whichever comes first. Changing your oil more frequently won't hurt anything but your wallet.

RXGS

iTrader: (2)

Once i hit 180k, i started doing it every 3k miles up until 240k when i sold it. I would go with what your mechanic is saying because even if you don't drive it, it is possible that over extended periods of time, il could burn off or even leak dropping the oil low without you realizing it.

ES300MM

I used Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w-30 in my 2000 ES 300. I change it every 15k miles and have done so for the last 100k miles. It's good stuff and keeps the engine super clean. Just make sure to use the Mobil 1 filter that is also guaranteed for 15k miles.

crwys

Every 15k? Yikes
I use mobil synthetic and the mobil filter. But I still try to do mine at 4k as recommended by lexus. I'm almost at 190k

ES300MM

4k with synthetic??? Why waste the money? There have been great improvements in engine oil quality since these cars were built. The 4k recommendation is based on what oil was 15 years ago. Although it depends how much it gets driven. Mine gets well over 1,000 miles a month so I am changing it basically once a year. My oil still looks clean on the stick after 7-10k miles. It only starts looking dirty at about 12k.

crwys

Hm interesting... I'll have to do more research and get more opinions. And cause I got money to waste

brucelee1

iTrader: (2)

Buy a synthetic oil and change it once a year.

ProfessorP

why should I switch to synthetic? I only drive the car 5K miles a year. Seems like a waste of money to me.

ES300MM

Synthetic still offers superior protection. It's especially important in these engines that are prone to sludge. If you only drive it 5k a year then go with Mobil1 synthetic and change it once a year. Should cost you less than $40. For a year...

BDSL

I haven't read the entire thread.
Read your owner's manual!!!!

ProfessorP

Reread my post - the point of the thread was to talk about oil intervals in terms of time, not miles. I did read the owner's manual. It says every 3000 miles (which I've never done before, I always do 5K). Think about it, if one only drove the car say 1000 miles a year, would you change the oil every 3 years???????

crwys

I'm pretty sure the manual states to change it every certain amount of months or every certain amount of miles, whichever comes first.

285exp

If you're driving it that little, I'd change it at least every 6 months, and I wouldn't waste money on synthetic. If you don't drive it very much the biggest problem is that the oil seldom gets hot enough long enough to boil off any water that accumulates in the oil, not that it gets dirty or loses its lubrication qualities. Since one of the major benefits of synthetic is extended oil change intervals, it doesn't make much sense to spend the extra money for oil you're going to throw away with only 2500 miles on it. I'm not sure what he means by more likelihood or oil burnoff or how it pertains to oil change intervals.

ProfessorP

just to follow up on this, I finally went ahead and changed my oil. Turned out to be 6 months 25 days since the last change, and about 3,200 miles later. The oil was clean so I think it easily could have gone a lot more.

I talked to 4 mechanics that I deal with on a regular basis and all said something similar - 6-8 months, or 3 to 5K miles whatever comes first.