Oil changes

That's the same reason I do my oil changes at 7500 miles, haha!

 

Nah doesn't matter what brand of synthetic and 10k oci

 

Does it really matter what the engine looks like? I only care how it runs. I’ve never used any fancy expensive oil and have never had an engine failure. My Tacoma is currently at 194K miles running on lowly Valvoline oil its entire life.

 

and it will likely be fine. But when it’s torn apart it will have more sludge and darker color. You will need to replace your pcv more often (if you haven’t please do so). But overall oil doesn’t kill engines unless you neglect them and use the cheapest oil and go way over in intervals

 

I rebuild engines for a living and see a lot of engines with sludge that seizes lifters and clogs oil galleries.
IF you want to keep the vehicle past 300k miles stay on top of your service. For hard use, cut all service intervals in half. I know it's controversial but that's my opinion. However, I share that opinion with many people in the industry.

Car care nut is a Toyota master tech. Catchy title, but he says here that he doesn't believe Toyota quality overall has gone down, but peoples willingness to do maintenance has. I'd agree with this assessment if you look past the Tundra engine issue, which is an isolated issue regarding one type of engine.

He too believes that oil change intervals should be at 5k miles. Full stop.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsFPk6-igBg

 

That guy doesn't impress me I've watched his videos. He has quite a few errors in the ones I've seen.

 

Is there any science behind a darker color having any effect on performance or longevity? I would argue that any additives or detergents in some of these specialty oils may be worse for bearings than a “dirty looking” oil.