My daily driver is a 2012 Mazda5 with 172,000 miles on it

My goal is to drive it for about two more years until my wife’s van is paid off and then I can get a new car.

Mazda recommended oil change interval with the full synthetic that it takes is 7,500 miles.

Lately I’ve been heading in for a change at 6,000-6,500 miles.

We just switched to a local place that does excellent work and has good prices relatively speaking for oil changes, got my oil changed this morning and the Tech said he recommended getting it changed at 5,000 miles that “after 150,000 miles we really recommend 5,000 and not 7,500 like Mazda says”.

Am I being bullshitted here? Or is this cheap insurance getting it done sooner?


Paid $79 for a full synthetic which compared to a lot of other places seems like a deal now. I guess the days of $45-$50 oil changes with full synthetic are gone for good.

I do my own so I have a bit different perspective.
The quality of the oil filter is very important. The major oil brands will all be similar so the filter is one area where an oil change place could cut a corner and few customers would know the difference.
I also cut open the filter and look closely inside. That's where you can see if there's a problem starting.
I don't think there's much difference, good or bad, by changing the mileage interval a thousand or two. I also doubt the average oil change tech would have a depth of scientific knowledge to make that determination.
More likely the higher up's tell them to encourage more frequent changes for other reasons.

Scott Kilmer on Youtube as well as my trusted mechanic recommend if you want to keep your engine working for a long time do oil changes every 5000 miles. I've been doing that for a while on two vehicles both past 150,000.

Both of my Fords [2018 & 2020, both EcoBoost] have a 10k interval. I try to get to it between 5-7500 miles.

If you can DIY, and save a few $$, I'd err toward the lower number.

I do 5000 mile intervals for all my oil changes. It’s cheap insurance in my mind and it’s really easy to know when an oil change is due.

I change at 5,000 due to easy number to remember as I rotate the tires at that time. I do use high mileage oil as the additives in that oil help prevent leaks.

I'm just waiting for someone to come in and say they change full synthetic every 3,000 miles and have never had a problem and their 20 year old car still drives like new.

It really depends on what oil you are running. Dino, synth blend, or full synthetic. 5,000 mile oil changes are not unreasonable.

It also depends on how the mileage is put on. City driving vs highway miles. Highway miles aren't as hard on the engine and oil. City driving stop and go and you should change it more often.

5K isn't much less than the 6K you're doing now so expense wise it really isn't a big change.

Will 5K yield better results than 6K, doubtful, same for the 7500K, oils today and filters are much better than they were in the past.

It's cheap insurance. I've also heard of going up a weight in oil for a high mileage car as well. Something I would do is if I'm getting a full synthetic oil change to make sure they're using Mobil 1 High Mileage or something similar that has extra detergents and additives designed for higher mileage engines.

quote:

I'm just waiting for someone to come in and say they change full synthetic every 3,000 miles and have never had a problem and their 20 year old car still drives like new.

Well I'm that guy, at least with the first part of that statement, because "never had a problem" is a stretch. But it's only with the car (down to one of those now) that spends a fair amount of time near or at red line, like on track days. Actually a 2000 mile (or less) oil change isn't unusual for my 993. It still goes through driver's side valve cover seals on a regular interval, but that's another sort of related issue for another thread.

As for our other vehicles that don't see that sort of usage: 5000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first.

1997 Toyota Corolla DX
1.8L Engine
196,800 miles

This is my airport car and is driven once a week to the employee lot, sits for 3 days, and then gets driven home. I put less than 3,000 miles per year on this car; less than 60 miles per week.

I get the oil and filter changed once a year at inspection time in February and I believe the shop uses Quaker State 5W-30 Synthetic Blend. They haven't said one thing about engine wear or recommending to have the oil/filter changed on a more frequent schedule.

That's just my specific situation. YMMV....

It doesn't surprise me that an oil change franchise would try to persuade you to pay for more oil changes every year.

I would follow the manual's recommendations. I think any modern oil, especially synthetics, backed up by a high-quality filter can easily go 7,500 miles.

Most manuals make an exception for frequent short drives, dusty conditions, frequent towing, or race-car type driving. So any of those are reasons to change your oil sooner. If none of that applies to you, don't worry about it.

Is the car leaking or burning oil? Do you need to add oil between changes?

Personally, I do not put 5,000 miles a year on my vehicles. I change the oil myself once a year, whether they need it or not.

Once I'm past the 100,000 mark or 120,000, I do ever 10,000 or a year whichever comes first. I figure I'm been diligent in maintaining the car. Everything should be worn in by now. Past 200,000 it's bound to break down anyway so I'm not going to pump in good money, it's time to squeeze out every value I can get out of it while still doing the minimum maintenance.

I do 5k on everything, no matter the mileage. Not just for oil, but to get under there and shake front end parts and what not. That’s also when I rotate and balance tires. I spend a fair amount of time on dirt roads and in cow pastures (yes, even my little Buick has performed forays out in select meadows to check on things).

I do every 5k, but honestly who knows? There are people who say they only change oil every 10k miles and they're at 300k miles. Some still change it every 3k miles. There are European oils that are supposedly good for 20k miles. I wouldn't do that, but it might be ok. I don't really know.
Without an identical car driven exactly the same to compare with, we're just guessing and playing the averages.

Modern synthetic lubricants are amazing. I change every 10,000 miles and the oil is still good! Lubrication is critical, so I'm not disparaging anyone who changes it more frequently and my miles are mostly highway.

You need to remember the shop makes money when you get an oil change. More oil changes, the more the shop makes.
At 70, I still do the oil changes on our 5 vehicles. Mobil 1 from Costco on sale and a good oil filter. I use the high mileage Mobil 1, I just turned 124,000 today. I have been changing it at 6,000 miles.

You're neither GDI nor turbo, unless you added a turbo kit... I don't believe that decreasing the OCI mileage will be beneficial. You can always pull a sample and send it to Blackstone Labs just before your next change ($30). You'll get the results in 2-3 weeks. They could tell you 10K OCI is acceptable for the oil and filter you are using.
I have a 2020 Mazda6 2.5T (also GDI), it gets oil changes every 6 months to keep warranty valid. I barely put on 2500 mi in 6 months. Once the warranty is gone, I'll go 5K OCI.

I did full synth every 5k and I got 430,000 miles on my 2016 Honda CRV. I also went up from the recommended 0-20 weight to 05-30.