*The last word* Oil Changes

[Toysrme]

While putting my Alt in I just found a burned up and bearly legiable sticker on my ES 300.

Toyota/Lexus recommends a high grade synthetic oil.
UNDER EXTREME CONDITIONS
Change oil every 3750mi or 6 months
UNDER NORMAL CONDITIONS
Change oil ever 7500mi or 12 months.

**********

That's for a '93 3vz-fe in an ES 300. I'm sure every Toyota Camry has a version of the same sticker with the same mileage recommendations.

*edit* bah wouldn't let me edit this for an hour.
It's not like it's little known information, I've just seen a few posts about it lately.

[Luckynumber5]

[epidemic]

7500 miles ,i change mine now every 2500

[bowlofturtle]

i change mines with normal oil at 2200.

[dstlaurent]

me, every 6000 km (no synthec)

[5spd V6 ClrTail]

Last time I changed the oil was in April. Normal, oil.

[steve97]

Change oil every 2500. It is easy to keep track of and it betters the recommendation of Toyota on these engines.

DIY. It is to the point, that I am quicker than the quick lube joints and of course I do a better job than they do.

10w30 seems to work out better than 5w30. Keeps the famous cloud of smoke at start up to a minimum.

[yotacam98]

I run synthetic and let it go 5k, still looks clean when I change it.

[Mikey21]

This is my second brand new vehicle since the growth of Synthetic oils. This is what I did to my first and what I'm doing to my current Camry SE.

1. First oil & filter change at 2,000 miles. Used oil grade spec'ed by the factory. Checked oil for anything unusual, metal flakes etc.

2. Second oil & filter change at 4,000 miles. Same as above.

3. Next change is at 10,000 miles. Switching to synthetic the viscosity grade spec'ed by the factory.

4. Remaining oil changes will be at every 10,000 miles. With the filter being changed every 5,000 miles.

The reason for the early oil changes to begin, is to put my mind at ease that the engine is breaking in OK.

The reason behind switching to synthetic after 10,000 miles is to ensure a complete break in of the motor before switching. I've read that synthetic works soo good it doesn't allow the engine to break in correctly.

After 10,000 miles synthetic oil is still very viscous. Doesn't seem to need changing at all. I change it because don't want to stretch it too far. One day the factory will spec synthetic oil changes every 25,000 miles just you wait and see.

[S2B_Blown_3.5]

Bought camry with 50k miles, drove 60+ miles every weekday. Oil changed whenever convienient (sp?) ususally about 21k miles

Yeah, tell me my car is abused by neglecting to change oil, but that's the beauty of toyota, 198000 and still going strong. But, once I get a 3SGTE in there, it'll be every 2500, 'cause I'm gonna drive the sh*t out of it.

[Toysrme]

Funny My first oil change is at whatever the normal (for me) interval is. Usually 5000-7500 miles.

I believe all engines are broken in at the factory. The first thing *every* superbike, Honda, Toyota and Mazda I know of all do the second the car is together is work the piss out of the engine.
In the case of Honda(cars and bikes) and with Yamaha, I've read reports that they don't even set the idle on the things. They just rip it through EVERY GEAR bouncing off redline for 15min.

I also believe the claim that it gives performance benifits. Every R/C engine I've ran into INCLUDING ringed gas, ringed 2-stroke & 4-stroke along with high performance ABC (ringless tapering cylinders) give better performance by ripping it richly @ WOT for several tanks of fuel.
(In the case of R/C engines, almost every manuf. instructions gives the explicitly the same break-in proceedures with only minor deviations)

[toyrolla]

At 1500, I'm already reaching for the replacement filter to change mine....