Toyota Repair: Maintenance scheduled for a low-mileage Camry, toyota camry xle, oil change interval


Question
Hi Ted,

I have a 1999 Toyota Camry XLE V6 that I've owned since buying it new in May 2009.  It has a little less than 90,000 miles on it, and currently I average less than 5000 miles per year.

I've been receiving conflicting information about the routine maintenance schedule.  For example, I've been told to change the oil every 3000 miles or 3 months.  However, after 3 months I might have driven less 1500 miles.  It seemed absurd to change the oil so soon, and one technician said that it wasn't necessary and to wait until it actually hits 3000 miles.  That might not happen for 8 months, and that seems too long.  Question 1: what oil change interval should I be using, especially in light of the oil-gelling concerns with Camrys manufactured in this year.

Also, there's major maintenance at 30k, 60k, and 90k.  But as pointed out above, I have a 12 year old car that has less than 90,000 miles on it.  A couple years ago, I wanted to get the 90k service done when it had less than 80k miles, and was told by a technician that it was too early.  But at that point, it had been so long since its last major maintenance that I really felt strongly that something should be done, so he did it for me.

I love this car and hope to drive it for a long time, and I'd hate for something to go wrong because I'm not maintaining it often enough.

Given this situation, what kind of maintenance schedule should I be following?  Going by mileage alone doesn't seem to be appropriate, because it could take 6 or more years to hit 120,000 miles.  How often, regardless of miles, do you recommend getting "major" maintenance, such as automatic transmission flush/fill, coolant flush/fill, spark plugs, belts, etc.  Any other recommendations for ongoing routine maintenance would be appreciated as well.

Thank you for your time.  Sorry for the long-winded post.

Answer
The timing belt and the drive belts should be replaced at 90,000 miles or 6year intervals, the transmission fluid every 60,000/3yrs, the coolant at 30k or two years,spark plugs at 60k,regardless of time, air filter every year, oil and filter at 3000 miles.