How often should you get a car's oil changed?

I have a 2003 Toyota Corolla. It has about 48,000 miles on it. How often as the car gets older is it necessary to get the car's oil changed?





In the past, I have been trying to get the oil changed every 3,500 miles or so.





I do both highway and city driving. Lately, its been mostly highway because I drive 60 miles roundtrip to/ from work and its all highway.How often should you get a car's oil changed?
Stick with your 3500. Personally i use synthetic (personal preference - a little better for the engine up to about 80k miles or so) I am very religoins abou changing every 3,000. you cant to damage changin too often, but you can but not doing it enough.





update: i just saw ed's post below. i would assume he gos through a lot of cars... or sells themHow often should you get a car's oil changed?
thanks for best answer! i just re-read my answer and want to add that about 80k miles consider moving from synthetic to an oil weight recommended in your owners manual or on the oil cap under the hood. ive never used high mileage oil, some recommend it, but i would research it first. Report Abuse

With the age and low mileage on your car, apparently you are doing it right. 3500 is ok as long as you check it every 1000 miles or so. Many manuals indicate 5-6000 is ok, but if you do that be sure you change your filter each time. At 3,000 filter change every other time is fine. Great car, take care of it and you can pdut 200000 miles on it.
Keep with your current interval 3 months or 3,000 miles has always been the norm. If you use synthetic oils you can do 5 months 5,000 miles. But once you go synthetic you have to stick with it
Stick with the 3500 schedule, oil is cheaper then cars.
it depends on the driving conditions


how many miles you have on the engine


new vehicles should go 5,000-7,000 miles before the first oil change


after that i would go 5,000 everytime until it gets older and higher mileage then maybe 3,000 miles





what is the main purpose of the vehicle


racing


mud bogging


everyday stuff like grorcery shopping , dropping kids off at day care, taking kids to school , going to work





well like you said though mostly highway driving


thats better than city driving it is easier on the vehicle.





but, i would say every 5,000 miles.
around 3500 miles is good. Unless you beat up your car and drive long distance a lot, then 3000 miles should be good. You can't go wrong changing your oil between 3000-4000 max miles.
oil is like gas , you dont have to put more in untill you run out
every 3,000 miles.
Dont believe the 3K miles hype. I had a 90 Ranger, and I would regularly go 5K,6K even upto 9K miles per change. I have over 170K miles on it and it runs great(other than my power steering seized up and the truck is currently down).It starts up first try, idles great,....well wait, I do have a leak in the oil pan...so I am constantly putting in new qt. of oil every week or two...so i guess it does get an oil change in a sort of way....anyways...the newer synthetic oils hold up better than older oils...now it is every 7K miles they say to change your oil.
Check the owner's booklet. Follow the schedule there. Changing the oil too often can damage an engine too. Today's oils have detergents in them to keep the engine cleaner. Changing too often cam erode seals and other perts inside the engine.