Guys I use Mobil xhp oil. Most times, I do not know when the vehicle is due for oil change. Please I would like good professionals to give me details on how to know when the vehicle is due for oil change.

jusRadical:
Guys I use Mobil xhp oil. Most times, I do not know when the vehicle is due for oil change. Please I would like good professionals to give me details on how to know when the vehicle is due for oil change.

Firstly, what car do you drive? We wld like to know your engine config, your last oil change date and how often you use this car.

Cheers.

Check if the engine oil in the dip stick is black, pay close attention to your dashboard, the oil change light would come on if it's due.

AutosBay:
Check if the engine oil in the dip stick is black, pay close attention to your dashboard, the oil change light would come on if it's due.

I am by no means a car expert, just a gal who enjoys reading about cars and learning from this forum. However, I know enough to know that the above is terrible advice. I am not certain that the dashboard tells you when an oil change is due! It will indicate low oil pressure and tell you when a service is due. 2 totally different things! Besides, the OP did not say what type of vehicle he has, how do you know if he has a newer vehicle with modern electronics?

@ OP -
Most people would do an oil change either based on mileage or time. I use synthetic oil and change my oil (and filter) every 5000 miles or 3 months.

Hope that helps?

zinaLPF:


I am by no means a car expert, just a gal who enjoys reading about cars and learning from this forum. However, I know enough to know that the above is terrible advice. I am not certain that the dashboard tells you when an oil change is due! It will indicate low oil pressure and tell you when a service is due. 2 totally different things! Besides, the OP did not say what type of vehicle he has, how do you know if he has a newer vehicle with modern electronics?

@ OP -
Most people would do an oil change either based on mileage or time. I use synthetic oil and change my oil (and filter) every 5000 miles or 3 months.

Hope that helps?

Nice one

I drive a Nissan Altima 2006 2.5L.

It's an everyday-use car. I changed my oil (Total) about 4 months back but have driven only about 1500 miles since.

my office isn't that far from home though.

Question is: Am I due for oil change yet? (pls leave oil colour outta it because research has shown that oil clod change to black as early as 1 week after previous oil change).

pls I need urgent answer

kayswag100:
I drive a Nissan Altima 2006 2.5L.

It's an everyday-use car. I changed my oil (Total) about 4 months back but have driven only about 1500 miles since.

my office isn't that far from home though.

Question is: Am I due for oil change yet? (pls leave oil colour outta it because research has shown that oil clod change to black as early as 1 week after previous oil change).

pls I need urgent answer

How long exactly is your office from your house in kilometers? (this will help). What is your total travel time from house to office? (this will also help). What brand of Total oil did you use? Is it the fully synthetic Quartz 9000?

9icetoo:

How long exactly is your office from your house in kilometers? (this will help). What is your total travel time from house to office? (this will also help). What brand of Total oil did you use? Is it the fully synthetic Quartz 9000?

It's a 7mins drive (max 11). No traffic and I ply any extra smooth express way in IB.

Yes. It's fully synthetic Quartz 9000 (as was told to me by d total attendant).

Thanks.

Also, '' Service Engine Soon'' light is not on.

I'm just worried that I've driven for that long and may need servicing

zinaLPF:


I am by no means a car expert, just a gal who enjoys reading about cars and learning from this forum. However, I know enough to know that the above is terrible advice. I am not certain that the dashboard tells you when an oil change is due! It will indicate low oil pressure and tell you when a service is due. 2 totally different things! Besides, the OP did not say what type of vehicle he has, how do you know if he has a newer vehicle with modern electronics?

@ OP -
Most people would do an oil change either based on mileage or time. I use synthetic oil and change my oil (and filter) every 5000 miles or 3 months.

Hope that helps?

Unless your car is serviced by a professional autocare in which case a mtce schedule card will be updated after each service, and the next due date given, I will advice you go with the three months schedule... I service mine every three months used or not.... If I happen to travel far I will service before and after the journey, you may change the filter after every two services etc...

My dear,their's'nothing to bother about then,but i suggest you change it in feb irrespective of the speedometre covered.

kayswag100:


It's a 7mins drive (max 11). No traffic and I ply any extra smooth express way in IB.

Yes. It's fully synthetic Quartz 9000 (as was told to me by d total attendant).

Thanks.

Also, '' Service Engine Soon'' light is not on.

I'm just worried that I've driven for that long and may need servicing

Okay. This qualifies for 'severe driving'. At seven minutes, you engine oil never really gets warmed up. good news is you are using synthetic so you are okay. I would advice a change after 5,000 miles. However, take the car for an extended highway run (average speed of 100km/hr for 15 minutes or more) at least once a month to properly warm up that oil and get rid of condensation and other stuffs currently building up.
That 'service engine soon' light is actually your check engine light. It means your ECM has stored a code and you should scan the car as soon as possible.

zinaLPF:


I am by no means a car expert, just a gal who enjoys reading about cars and learning from this forum. However, I know enough to know that the above is terrible advice. I am not certain that the dashboard tells you when an oil change is due! It will indicate low oil pressure and tell you when a service is due. 2 totally different things! Besides, the OP did not say what type of vehicle he has, how do you know if he has a newer vehicle with modern electronics?

@ OP -
Most people would do an oil change either based on mileage or time. I use synthetic oil and change my oil (and filter) every 5000 miles or 3 months.

Hope that helps?

lol, all of you in CarTalk section wn't join hands and kill Autosbay for us..o!

Could the use of air conditioner be an alternative to 15 minutes drive you advised because I also fall within daily short distance drive ? Thank you.

Same thing dey disturb me sef, I do city driving and I don't even cover up to 5000 miles in 1 year. My question is should I wait to reach the 5000 miles even if it takes more than 1 year? or just change after like every 3 months? Car is 1999 camry, 4 cylinder engine.

anochuks08:
Same thing dey disturb me sef, I do city driving and I don't even cover up to 5000 miles in 1 year. My question is should I wait to reach the 5000 miles even if it takes more than 1 year? or just change after like every 3 months? Car is 1999 camry, 4 cylinder engine.

To me every 6 months or 2000km is not bad since it is a 15 years old car. Otherwise, Toyota recommends 10,000km or 6 months for most of their brand new vehicles but they however advise that after 100,000km, servicing should be done at 5,000km or 6 months intervals, whichever comes first. But, I usually suggest 2,000km for most used car owners since you don't know for sure whether the initial owner has followed the manufacturer's instructions to the later.

FlyboyZee:
To me every 6 months or 2000km is not bad since it is a 15 years old car. Otherwise, Toyota recommends 10,000km or 6 months for most of their brand new vehicles but they however advise that after 100,000km, servicing should be done at 5,000km or 6 months intervals, whichever comes first. But, I usually suggest 2,000km for most used car owners since you don't know for sure whether the initial owner has followed the manufacturer's instructions to the later.

Thanks for the input, I appreciate

FlyboyZee:
To me every 6 months or 2000km is not bad since it is a 15 years old car. Otherwise, Toyota recommends 10,000km or 6 months for most of their brand new vehicles but they however advise that after 100,000km, servicing should be done at 5,000km or 6 months intervals, whichever comes first. But, I usually suggest 2,000km for most used car owners since you don't know for sure whether the initial owner has followed the manufacturer's instructions to the later.

Time or mileage, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. Please Do NOT leave engine oil in your car for 1 year because you have not hit 3000 miles! That is key, especially in Nigeria where people drive short distances, over rough terrain and sit in traffic for long stretches. In Lagos, I average 6000 miles per year; in the US, I average 18,000 miles per year. In Lagos I use time (3 months), in the US I use mileage (5000 miles). In both cases, I average 3 - 4 oil (and filter) changes per year. Simple. No car wahala.

House experts, if I may make a suggestion? Seems like we have a lot of people who do not really understand the basics of vehicle use and maintenance. Would be really cool to have a simple vehicle maintenance topic pinned to the Car Talk landing page. Nothing fancy, just explaining oil changes, manufacturer recommended maintenance schedules (and where to find and print them) etc. Reading through a lot of comments, it is clear that 1. Folks mix up maintenance / service with oil changes, and 2. Folks either do not read their manuals or do not have manuals! Perhaps that may explain why we have so many requests for new engines etc.

zinaLPF:


Time or mileage, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST. Please Do NOT leave engine oil in your car for 1 year because you have not hit 3000 miles! That is key, especially in Nigeria where people drive short distances, over rough terrain and sit in traffic for long stretches. In Lagos, I average 6000 miles per year; in the US, I average 18,000 miles per year. In Lagos I use time (3 months), in the US I use mileage (5000 miles). In both cases, I average 3 - 4 oil (and filter) changes per year. Simple. No car wahala.

House experts, if I may make a suggestion? Seems like we have a lot of people who do not really understand the basics of vehicle use and maintenance. Would be really cool to have a simple vehicle maintenance topic pinned to the Car Talk landing page. Nothing fancy, just explaining oil changes, manufacturer recommended maintenance schedules (and where to find and print them) etc. Reading through a lot of comments, it is clear that 1. Folks mix up maintenance / service with oil changes, and 2. Folks either do not read their manuals or do not have manuals! Perhaps that may explain why we have so many requests for new engines etc.

Guy! What are you saying? You are only rephrasing my post and still trying to paint me black. Hian!

Did I say anything about leaving oil in a car for 1 year? I clearly said "TOYOTA RECOMMENDS... 6 MONTHS OR 5,000 KM, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST". For those who don't understand, it simply means change your car's oil and filter when you have driven the car for about 5,000 kms or if you haven't achieved that mileage by 6 months, please change your oil and filter.

Honda advises that you change your engine oil every year if the oil change reminder fails to come on after the last servicing. Recent Honda cars have their engine oil change reminders set at 10,000 km and as such would keep showing you the oil life in percentage. I use that to do my servicing and resets the reminder after servicing and it has always been 10,000 km. I also use the recommended 5w20 oil to avoid complications. I have attached snapshots of 2 Honda cars, a Pilot and a Civic as well as a pix of the relevant page to let you know I know what I am saying. When I get to the Office tomorrow, I'll update with a pix of Toyota recommendation from the manual.

See some...

Some more...

See also...

FlyboyZee:

Guy! What are you saying? You are only rephrasing my post and still trying to paint me black. Hian!

Did I say anything about leaving oil in a car for 1 year? I clearly said "TOYOTA RECOMMENDS... 6 MONTHS OR 5,000 KM, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST". For those who don't understand, it simply means change your car's oil and filter when you have driven the car for about 5,000 kms or if you haven't achieved that mileage by 6 months, please change your oil and filter.

Calm down and read through the entire topic! "Paint you black" how?

I simply emphasized a sentence from your post. I happen to agree with you, as you can see from my previous post. I bolded your statement because in my earlier post I failed to write "whichever comes first" as I assumed most people know this. It is clear from the follow up questions that we should make no such assumptions. My response was more clearly directed @anochuks08 who asked about 1 year and 5000 miles.

zinaLPF:


Calm down and read through the entire topic! "Paint you black" how?

I simply emphasized a sentence from your post. I happen to agree with you, as you can see from my previous post. I bolded your statement because in my earlier post I failed to write "whichever comes first" as I assumed most people know this. It is clear from the follow up questions that we should make no such assumptions. My response was more clearly directed @anochuks08 who asked about 1 year and 5000 miles.

Okay! Dearie. No probs. Maybe I misunderstood you. Its all good.

Like I promised yesterday, here are pix from the Toyota Owner's Manual...

Like I promised yesterday, here are pix from the Toyota Owners manual...

Its all a function of the type of engine oil used. Synthetic engine oils are available in different grades. For the XHP (commonly available oils), an interval of 5000km or 3000Miles or every three months which ever comes first is the recommendation.
PLEASE Note that a vehicle that is not driven need to be serviced every three months on the basis of this recommendation.

Thank you mod, orí ẹ pe

Dashboard!!

Service your Car by mileage..

I do mine every 4000 Miles or 5000 Km

AutosBay:
Check if the engine oil in the dip stick is black, pay close attention to your dashboard, the oil change light would come on if it's due.

The colour of your Oil won't tell you it's due date Boss.cos even if you ran your engine for just 10 mins oil is going black . However I recon if you are using the recommended Oil for your car then you should go by what the service manual for such car says . These are freely available on line.

Okijajuju1:
Service your Car by mileage..

I do mine every 4000 Miles or 5000 Km

Brilliant

Okijajuju1:
Service your Car by mileage.. I do mine every 4000 Miles or 5000 Km

I've heard a recommendation of 5000 miles = 8000 km ( 1mile = 1.6 km).
Modern day cars utilizing synthetic oils can even go 7500 miles between oil changes.