Is the 5,000-mile Internval applicable to me

I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 10:40:11 -0800, morpheus777 wrote:
[color=blue]
> I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that one
> should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips of less
> than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my trips are
> below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can I conclude
> that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]

A lot of things happen to a car that is driven infrequently or for short
drives.

One thing is the oil has a tendancy to acidify. Actually, this happens
whether you're driving 5 miles or 500 miles at a time.

The combustion process creates water. On drives over 5 miles, the exhaust
system gets good and hot, so any water in the system is evaporated and
expelled as steam. On drives under 5 miles, the exhaust system doesn't get
hot enough to dissipate the steam, and the water stays in the exhaust and
rots it out. Good thing Toyota has a Lifetime Warranty on their
replacement exhausts...my Mom is on her thrid on on her Camry, and it only
has 85,000 miles on it. The first one, she paid for, the other two havs
been freebies, because she only drives 5-7 miles at a time.

Also, anitfreeze doesn't fully get up to temp. Antifreeze kind of 'cleans'
itself at temp, this isn't happening if it isn't getting hot enough.

I would stick to the rule of thumb...3,000 miles for oil, 24 months or
24,000 miles on antifreeze, and the same for ATF if you have an automatic.

<morpheus777@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1168800011.403038.247690@11g2000cwr.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?
>[/color]

Sort of yes and no. I mean, it obviously wouldn't hurt to have oil changes
MORE often, but I wouldn't obsess about it. Per my mechanic: "You wanna go
6-7 thousand - fine. If you're planning to forget for 10,000 miles, bad
idea". Reason: It's a good idea for the underside of any car to be looked at
with a bright light on a regular basis. The most likely time this will
happen is during oil changes. Of course, this assumes you are taking the
vehicle to a real mechanic, not the instant oil change places where they
simply don't take the time to look a car over, and often hire people who
have zero mechanical experience.

>I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that[color=blue]
> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]

Us a synthetic oil and the 5000 mile interval will not apply to you. At the
very least, use a synthetic blend oil.

"Mark A" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:QMidnVguP_z5NTbYnZ2dnUVZ_uyknZ2d@comcast.com...[color=blue][color=green]
> >I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
>> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
>> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
>> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
>> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>
> Us a synthetic oil and the 5000 mile interval will not apply to you. At
> the very least, use a synthetic blend oil.[/color]

You can NEVER change you oil too often. Oil changes are cheap, cheap, cheap
compared to the cost of a premature engine failure.


[color=blue]
>
>[/color]

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 09:39:38 +0000, sharx35 wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> "Mark A" <nobody@nowhere.com> wrote in message
> news:QMidnVguP_z5NTbYnZ2dnUVZ_uyknZ2d@comcast.com...[color=green][color=darkred]
>> >I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
>>> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
>>> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
>>> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
>>> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>>
>> Us a synthetic oil and the 5000 mile interval will not apply to you. At
>> the very least, use a synthetic blend oil.[/color]
>
> You can NEVER change you oil too often. Oil changes are cheap, cheap,
> cheap compared to the cost of a premature engine failure.[/color]

One of the few times I completely agree with you!

On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 21:07:06 GMT, Hachiroku ???? <Trueno@AE86.gts>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>On Sun, 14 Jan 2007 10:40:11 -0800, morpheus777 wrote:
>[color=green]
>> I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that one
>> should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips of less
>> than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my trips are
>> below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can I conclude
>> that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>
>A lot of things happen to a car that is driven infrequently or for short
>drives.
>
>One thing is the oil has a tendancy to acidify. Actually, this happens
>whether you're driving 5 miles or 500 miles at a time.
>
>The combustion process creates water. On drives over 5 miles, the exhaust
>system gets good and hot, so any water in the system is evaporated and
>expelled as steam. On drives under 5 miles, the exhaust system doesn't get
>hot enough to dissipate the steam, and the water stays in the exhaust and
>rots it out. Good thing Toyota has a Lifetime Warranty on their
>replacement exhausts...my Mom is on her thrid on on her Camry, and it only
>has 85,000 miles on it. The first one, she paid for, the other two havs
>been freebies, because she only drives 5-7 miles at a time.
>
>Also, anitfreeze doesn't fully get up to temp. Antifreeze kind of 'cleans'
>itself at temp, this isn't happening if it isn't getting hot enough.[/color]

This is a new one. How does antifreeze cleans itself ? Never heard of
that. Not saying it isn't true but....
[color=blue]
>
>I would stick to the rule of thumb...3,000 miles for oil, 24 months or
>24,000 miles on antifreeze, and the same for ATF if you have an automatic.[/color]

with 5 miles or less I would definitely stick to the 3000 mile oil
change.

"RT" <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:spp7r29h6rfo25r690cv2i03hksrn8mpu2@4ax.com...[color=blue][color=green]
>>
>>Also, anitfreeze doesn't fully get up to temp. Antifreeze kind of 'cleans'
>>itself at temp, this isn't happening if it isn't getting hot enough.[/color]
>
> This is a new one. How does antifreeze cleans itself ? Never heard of
> that. Not saying it isn't true but....
>[/color]

I have never heard of antifreeze cleaning itself either...

--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)

On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 17:29:08 -0600, Ray O wrote:
[color=blue]
>
> "RT" <noyabusiness@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:spp7r29h6rfo25r690cv2i03hksrn8mpu2@4ax.com...[color=green][color=darkred]
>>>
>>>Also, anitfreeze doesn't fully get up to temp. Antifreeze kind of
>>>'cleans' itself at temp, this isn't happening if it isn't getting hot
>>>enough.[/color]
>>
>> This is a new one. How does antifreeze cleans itself ? Never heard of
>> that. Not saying it isn't true but....
>>
>>[/color]
> I have never heard of antifreeze cleaning itself either...[/color]


It tends to rid itself of contaminents better at full temp.

Hachiroku ãƒ?ãƒ?ãƒ*ク wrote:[color=blue]
>
>
> It tends to rid itself of contaminents better at full temp.[/color]

Coolant?

Where do the contaminants go?

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 07:46:36 -0500, B A R R Y wrote:
[color=blue]
> Hachiroku ãƒ?ãƒ?ãƒ*ク wrote:[color=green]
>>
>>
>> It tends to rid itself of contaminents better at full temp.[/color]
>
> Coolant?
>
> Where do the contaminants go?[/color]


Instead of being allowed to fester in a closed system, they have a
tendancy to blow out of the overflow bottle as a gas. We're not talking
rust here...

Hachiroku ãƒ?ãƒ?ãƒ*ク wrote:[color=blue]
>
> Instead of being allowed to fester in a closed system, they have a
> tendancy to blow out of the overflow bottle as a gas. We're not talking
> rust here...[/color]

Thanks, I never realized that.

"ToMh" <tlhumm@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1169484618.114675.231250@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...[color=blue]
>
> [email]morpheus777@gmail.com[/email] wrote:[color=green]
>> I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
>> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
>> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
>> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
>> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>
> How much did you pay for your car? You don't need to answer, my point
> being that
> oil changes every 3K is cheap insurance. Never knew anybody that every
> had an oil related problem that changed their oil every 3-4k. I do it
> every 3K, which means by the time I get around to it, it's more like
> 3500-4500.
> Also realize that by definition, most cars, especially cars used for
> commuters, Soccer Mom's etc. fall into the shorter time interval for
> changing oil. Waiting 7500 to change your oil will almost certainly
> mean you will forgot once in a while and go way over. Not worth the
> risk, no matter what the Mfg says.[/color]

We agree on oil changes, if nothing else.
[color=blue]
>[/color]

On Mon, 22 Jan 2007 18:53:36 GMT, "sharx35" <sharx35@hotmail.com>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>
>"ToMh" <tlhumm@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1169484618.114675.231250@q2g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...[color=green]
>>
>> [email]morpheus777@gmail.com[/email] wrote:[color=darkred]
>>> I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
>>> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
>>> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
>>> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
>>> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>>
>> How much did you pay for your car? You don't need to answer, my point
>> being that
>> oil changes every 3K is cheap insurance. Never knew anybody that every
>> had an oil related problem that changed their oil every 3-4k. I do it
>> every 3K, which means by the time I get around to it, it's more like
>> 3500-4500.
>> Also realize that by definition, most cars, especially cars used for
>> commuters, Soccer Mom's etc. fall into the shorter time interval for
>> changing oil. Waiting 7500 to change your oil will almost certainly
>> mean you will forgot once in a while and go way over. Not worth the
>> risk, no matter what the Mfg says.[/color]
>
>We agree on oil changes, if nothing else.
>[/color]



Yes....liberals are not always wrong....except in their politics....


--

Scott in Florida

On 22 Jan 2007 08:50:18 -0800, "ToMh" <tlhumm@hotmail.com> wrote:
[color=blue]
>
>morpheus777@gmail.com wrote:[color=green]
>> I have a 2004 Toyota Matrix. The scheduled maintenance guide says that
>> one should follow the 5,000-mile interval if one takes "Repeated trips
>> of less than 5 miles in temperatures below freezing". A majority of my
>> trips are below 5 miles, but the temprature is well above freezing. Can
>> I conclude that the 5,000-mile internval does not apply to me?[/color]
>
>How much did you pay for your car? You don't need to answer, my point
>being that
>oil changes every 3K is cheap insurance. Never knew anybody that every
>had an oil related problem that changed their oil every 3-4k. I do it
>every 3K, which means by the time I get around to it, it's more like
>3500-4500.
>Also realize that by definition, most cars, especially cars used for
>commuters, Soccer Mom's etc. fall into the shorter time interval for
>changing oil. Waiting 7500 to change your oil will almost certainly
>mean you will forgot once in a while and go way over. Not worth the
>risk, no matter what the Mfg says.[/color]

soccer moms maybe, but the average commute for working people is over
30 minutes these days. I would think that's more than enough to burn
off any moisture or what have you in the oil.

I never forget oil changes. I make an estimate when the next one is
due and I am usually pretty close to when it is needed.