I *am* curious how a modern engine that has no appreciable consumption issue could be affected by early oil changes. How many current designs accept significant oil consumption as normal any more?
Toyota MDT in MO
In my personal experience, I have only had to replace one catalytic converter on my cars and I change at 3000 miles. Many of my cars have gone
150,000 -200,000 miles.
The one I had to change, recently, was on my 1997 Dodge van, 318 cid. It has
116,000 miles on it and the engine is quite strong and silent. Burns no noticeable oil between changes. The shop where I had the converter replaced said this life is not unusual at all for Chrysler products.
Therefore, faced with a $100 converter replacement, or a multi thousand dollar engine replacement, I opt for the frequent oil changes. Our new Avalon is not supposed to suffer from the gelled oil failure, but frequent changes will help make sure this phenomenon is minimized.