Yesterday the wife and I went to see the inlaws and we decided to take her Camry. The car was allready past the 3000 mile interval by about 500 miles and my wife suggested we take our pickup instead. I said no, the car will be fine. She gets upset and says the car "doesn't feel right" to her when she goes past the interval. I told her she was just imagining things, that going 500 miles over the interval would not affect performance so long as the oil level in the engine was withing a safe operating level. This is a 99 Camry with only 75k. On a previous occassion we didn't take her car for the same reason, but this I time I stood my ground. The inlaws are over an hour away and she didn't speak to me for the first hour, she was really mad. Anyway, I'm just looking for comfirmation of what I believe. I routinely went past the interval with my high mileage f150 and never felt a loss or change in performance. But, I can't seem to change her mind.

 

Its something that you can do. There is no really way to tell unless you do an oil analysis. How far along in your 3 month period were you? I wouldn't worry about it. Not something I would do all the time (I change mine way before 3000 miles and just before 3 months - when I get bored!) Now if you were 2 or 3000 miles over, that may be different. But, no real way to tell unless you did an analysis. Plus, it's a Toyota....who cares?

-Matt

 

Wow, I wish more women were that concerned about their car maintance! I see no problem with going a bit past 3000 miles between oil changes. If you are running synthetic, it should be every 5000 miles.

edit:
I just noticed you're in Brownsville. I'm down the road in Mission

 

I thought they were 1 month periods!

Seriously, send off for the oil analysis. When it comes back saying you could have gone xxxx number of miles longer and everything is great, let her read it.

 

Well the really good thing is she isn't mad at me anymore. She just plain forgot to get the oil changed on time, as I'm sure it happens to many people. It's also a month past. The change was due by 5/21/2004. But heck, it's a Toyota I told her. Her main concern was that the car felt more sluggish when she went past the inteval. I told her, honey, it's a four banger, it's sluggish no matter what. Anyway, tomorrow I will get it serviced first thing in the morning to calm her fears.

 

HAHA! I actually laughed out loud on that one! Nice!

-Matt

 

I wouldn't sweat 500 miles.
But....you may already know, but some of the Toyota /Lexus V6 motors will cook the oil and really gunk things up bad. There is a TSB or some such out on it.
We used to own a Lexus ES 300 (with the V6 motor). Only AFTER we bought it did I look in the oil fill hole. I knew then the car would be gone soon. It was. We traded it off.
Not long after we traded we got a letter from Lexus indicating they (Lexus) knew there was a problem and Lexus would cover the cost of any repairs directly related to the design problem causing damage due to cooked oil.

Worth checking in to.

 

How does an oil fill hole cause the oil to get cooked? Just wondering out of curiosity....

-Matt

 

as far as when you need to change the it mostly depends on how it is driven and the qaulity of the oil you use. Do you run it on a lot of dirty roads or is it all highway. the heat and the pressure slowly breaks the oil down(wearing it out). and every time you run the motor it is slowly wearing out, very small pieces of metal end up in the oil and pumping this metal oil mix through your motor is like taking a sand blaster to the inside of your motor. 3000 miles is a safe happy medium according to factory maintance schedul. In your wifes defense the freshnes of the oil in todays small 4cyl and 6cyl engines makes noticeable diffrence in the proformance of the car and the MPG you get. the cleaner you keep the oil the longer your motor will last. try to stay with one brand oil and always use the recommended weight

 

The oil fill hole didn't CAUSE it, it just allowed me to SEE it. Everything was caked with black crud. It was nasty.

 

We live in the city, being deep south Texas and close to the ocean it's hot and humid most of the time. The car is a daily driver in mostly stop and go driving. My wife insists it's peppier with fresh oil in it. I personally haven't noticed a difference. Maybe if I drove it more I would.

 

I'm sure the oil needs to be changed, but it's not like 3000 is the magic number and the engine is going to fall apart if you go past it a little bit. At least your wife cares, I have to keep tabs on my wife's Escape.

 

Oh ok...I get it.....I was wondering.....

-Matt

 

My wife made it very clear with her her new car as well. I believe it went like this...... "I dont care what oil or what filter you give them to use. I want my cars oil changed by the dealer, and I want it on time. I want to keep my warranty. "
So the wants have it. So we reached an agreement. I put 4 quarts of oil and a filter in the trunk. I told her when she hits the magic number, stop by and hand em the stuff. Also, to watch them use the stuff I provide.

 

I'm not trying to be insulting or ruffle any feathers, but I would have to ask her, if she is so concerned, then why did she let go over 500 miles without changing it in the first place? Also, what is the recommended interval in her manual?