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About this tool
Plan your next engine oil change from oil type, driving conditions and kilometres run, with severe-service adjustment.
The Oil Change Interval Planner works out when your engine oil is actually due by applying the manufacturer's dual limit — a distance limit and a time limit, whichever arrives first — and then shortening it for severe-service conditions such as short trips, dust, towing and long idling. Enter your oil grade, the kilometres and months since the last drain, and your average monthly running to see how much of the interval is already used. It is built for owners who drive nothing like the manual's 'normal service' assumption and want a defensible interval rather than a guess.
Open Oil Change Interval Planner on AltFTool — it loads instantly in your browser.
Add your input to the workspace.
Adjust the options until the result looks right.
Copy or download the output and put it to work.
Shows the distance limit and the time limit side by side and flags which one hits first.
Short trips, dust, towing, heat and idling each cut the interval by a stated factor.
Combined severity is clamped at half the normal interval, matching standard manufacturer guidance.
Follow whichever comes first: the distance limit or the time limit in your owner's manual. Typical normal-service figures are around 5,000 km or 6 months on mineral oil, 7,500 km or 9 months on semi-synthetic, and 10,000 km or 12 months on fully synthetic — but the manual for your exact engine is the authority.
Yes. Oil degrades on the calendar as well as the odometer, because additives oxidise and condensation and fuel dilution build up in a sump that never gets hot. A car that covers 2,000 km in a year still needs the time-based change, which is why every manual states months alongside kilometres.
Manuals typically list repeated short trips where the engine never fully warms up, extended idling in stop-go traffic, dusty or unpaved roads, towing or carrying maximum load, and sustained extreme heat. Each of those shortens the safe interval; the common rule is to shorten it but not below half the normal figure.
Fully synthetic oil resists oxidation and shear better, which is why manufacturers approve longer drains on it — commonly 10,000 km against 5,000 km for mineral. It only pays off if your engine is specified for that grade; putting long-drain oil in an engine whose manual calls for a shorter interval does not extend the interval. Check the manual or ask your service adviser before switching.