Said It Here

Should I trust extended oil change intervals or stick to 5,000 miles?

Shops and manufacturers often recommend longer intervals like 7,500 miles for full synthetic oil, leaving drivers uncertain if they should trust it over shorter schedules like 5,000 miles. For drivers who rarely drive and only cover low mileage, dashboard warnings and time-based maintenance reminders can also cause confusion about whether overdue intervals matter.

What people tried

Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.

  1. 1
    ignoring the shop recommendation and changing oil every 5,000 miles
  2. 2
    consulting the vehicle owner manual
  3. 3
    Changing the oil yourself or taking it to a local shop or dealer despite low mileage.

In their words

Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.

“I usually got my oil change at Walmart and did it every 5k miles. I’d usually go in sooner than that. But i got a coupon for Firestone and they’re closer to me and i went and got my oil change there. They put the sticker on for next recommended oil change and i did the math and it was at 7,500 miles. Yeah it was the full synthetic as well. Do they use a better brand or is that what they always recommend? Anyone else go to Firestone regularly and get oil change and also get recommended 7,500?”source ↗

Gambl33 · r/AskMechanics · 3 upvotes

“recently it's been showing the "yearly maintenance" warning sign. I checked the engine oil menu, but it's showing "-45 miles" instead of percentage of oil life remaining. I'm not exactly sure what this means (maybe 45 miles overdue since "yearly maintenance"), but since Ive only driven for 1811 miles so far, it should be okay, right? I drive rarely. Maybe once or twice a week for groceries, and I work from home.”source ↗

Individual-Mind-2620 · r/AskMechanics

Where this came up

r/AskMechanicscar maintenanceoil change

People with this problem also raised