Warning: my neighbor the retired mechanic told me to change my oil every 3,000 miles, turns out that's outdated

I bought a 2016 Toyota Camry last fall and my neighbor Jim, who worked on cars for 40 years, insisted I needed oil changes every 3,000 miles. I followed his advice for the first two changes at $55 each. Then I looked up the owner's manual and it says 10,000 miles for synthetic blend. I asked a real mechanic at the Toyota dealership and he said 3k is a waste of money for modern engines. Jim got defensive and said I was ruining the car. Has anyone else gotten old advice that ends up costing you more than it saves?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_robinson202d ago

Tell Jim his advice is older than my granddad's tv remote.

williamhenderson2d ago

Well actually Jim might have a point. Modern engines run cleaner and last longer when you change the oil more often even if the manual says otherwise, and $55 is cheap insurance compared to a $5,000 engine replacement at 150k miles.

danielr992d ago

Oh man, that sounds just like my father-in-law. He kept insisting I needed to flush my transmission every 30k miles on my Honda, and when I showed him the manual he got all huffy. It's amazing how much these old school guys cling to what they learned back in the 70s and 80s.