Putting Off an Oil Change – What’s the Worst That Could Happen?

We’ve all been there: you’re driving along in your Toyota, living your life, running some errands or just on the way to work in the morning, and you notice a light come to life on your dashboard. It’s the Check Engine light or the Oil Warning light––either way, it makes you think about the last time you serviced your Toyota. You look at the sticker and the date and see you were due to have your Toyota oil change done about 800 miles ago. Of course, you’ve come this far; what’s another couple hundred miles before you take your vehicle in, right?

Well, if you need to get your oil change done that you’ve been putting off, those couple-hundred miles could mean the difference between quick, inexpensive service and some serious headaches. Failing to change your oil according to what Toyota recommends can result in reduced performance, which means your vehicle runs poorly and is probably thirstier than usual for gas. Even worse, if you continue to ignore it, you can cause damage to your vehicle. A blown head gasket is an expensive repair; seize your engine, and you’re looking at a new engine or a new vehicle. All of this can be avoided by simply following your service schedule and making sure you get your oil changed when it’s time.

What Is Motor Oil and What Does It Do?

In order to fully appreciate what can go wrong if you don’t change your oil, it’s important to first understand what, exactly, it’s doing in your vehicle in the first place. As the name “motor oil” suggests, the oil is in the motor or engine of your vehicle, and it’s there to do what oil generally does: provide lubrication and manage heat. The engine of your car is powered by literal explosions that create immense heat and drive the moving pistons, which send energy to every other part of your vehicle.

When your engine starts up, the oil in it is sent throughout to coat the various moving parts, reducing friction between them as they move during these fiery explosions. This ensures that the parts don’t damage each other as they’re sliding about and shifting hundreds or thousands of times per minute when your vehicle is running and in use. Although the oil isn’t directly involved in cooling your engine––that’s what coolant is for––by keeping friction low, it helps manage heat in a peripheral way.

Motor oil can be made in a variety of ways, depending on the type of oil you’re looking at. Conventional oil is essentially mineral oil mined from the ground, which is processed and refined to be as efficient and long-lasting as possible. Synthetic oil is created in a lab, either starting with some mineral oil or made entirely through engineering and is designed to offer unparalleled viscosity and lubrication while also taking longer to break down due to heat. Blended oils are just what they sound like: a blend of conventional and synthetic oil that works better than standard mineral oils while costing less than purely synthetic ones.

How to Know When It’s Time for an Oil Change

Some people will tell you that the easiest way to know when it’s time for an oil change is to just wait for the Check Engine or Oil Warning lights to illuminate on your dashboard, but we would politely disagree with that idea. They are warning lights designed to alert you when something has gone wrong, not to remind you that something should be done. If a warning illuminates your dashboard, then that’s a bad sign and not something you should wait for or rely on. Using a warning light to decide on when to change your oil is like using your house’s smoke detector to know when your cookies in the oven are done.

The best way to know when it’s time to change your oil is to understand the service schedule for your vehicle and follow it. Your service schedule exists to let you know when to have work done before it’s in dire need and something can go wrong. In addition to this, you can check your oil on a regular basis: you should check it about once each month to see if it’s low or if it looks like it needs to be replaced. Good motor oil is brown or amber in color, mostly clear, and won’t have anything in it. If it’s become very dark, black, or you can see bits of crud or sludge in it, then it’s definitely time to change it.

Following Your Service Schedule

Depending on the model you have and the type of oil you use, you may need to change your oil as often as about every six months or 5,000 miles, whichever comes first. If you use good synthetic oil, then Toyota suggests an oil change about once each year or every 10,000 miles you put on your vehicle. It’s important to note, however, that these numbers are for typical or light use of a modern vehicle––this means nice weather, some freeway and city driving, and no towing. If you put more wear on your vehicle, like going off-roading, doing a lot of towing, or idling a lot in stop-and-go traffic or as a rideshare driver, then you’ll need to have your oil changed more often. Also, if you have an older model, you can expect to have to change the oil more frequently.

Skipping an Oil Change and Serious Consequences

As we said above, the oil in your engine helps coat the moving parts to reduce friction and keep them from damaging each other. You might suspect this means that a lack of good oil can lead to increased friction and cause damage, which is absolutely correct. Before that ever happens, however, failing to change your oil will usually start to impact the performance and efficiency of your vehicle. The engine will have to work harder as your oil thickens and turns into sludge, so your car will start to feel sluggish, and your fuel efficiency will take a dive. These are warning signs that something is wrong, and an oil change can be a quick fix.

If you ignore these types of warning signs and continue driving your vehicle well past when it needs an oil change, then things can get much worse. Friction will build up, which increases heat, and the moving parts of your vehicle can start to warp and damage each other. If you’re lucky, you’ll blow a head gasket, which will require some very expensive repairs to fix but is fixable. If you’re not so lucky, your engine will seize entirely, and there’s no fixing it at this point; you’ll need to completely replace your engine, which can cost so much you might be better off just buying a new vehicle.

The icing on this cake, however, is that since you caused the damage to the engine by not servicing it properly, you can forget about any warranty coverage on your vehicle’s engine. So if you have a new car with coverage on the powertrain, then Toyota will tell you that you’re out of luck for the warranty to cover repairs to your engine. Every warranty requires that you follow the service schedule provided by Toyota in order to keep your coverage intact.

Getting Oil Changes Is Essential

Fortunately, you can avoid a lot of expensive headaches by staying on top of your service and maintenance schedule, getting your oil changed when it’s needed, and using good-quality motor oil every time you do so. Your vehicle will come with a guide as to how long you should go between oil changes, and sticking to that guide, as well as keeping an eye out for any warning signs that something might be amiss, are the easiest ways to ensure your vehicle will stay in good shape. While getting an oil change is something that might be tempting to put off: don’t. You’ll be thankful you didn’t.