Oil change for Old Northwest Reno drivers, 11 minutes away at Reno Northwest (Mae Anne Avenue)

The streets around Rancho San Rafael, Keystone and the north end of the university were built decades before the subdivisions up the hill, and a lot of the cars parked on them are older too. Older engines and the high-mileage oils made for them are an everyday part of the work at Mae Anne Avenue. This page is about getting one of those cars from an Old Northwest driveway to our bay and what it should get when it arrives.

Older engines, high-mileage oil and honest intervals

An engine past 75,000 miles often does better on a high-mileage oil: the seal conditioners keep gaskets pliable, and the formula is built to slow the slight burn-off that older rings allow. It is one of the five oils we carry, alongside conventional, synthetic blend, full synthetic and diesel, and we only recommend it when the vehicle and the manual make sense for it.

On how often: AAA's guidance is that many modern engines on synthetic oil go 5,000 to 7,500 miles between changes, with the owner's manual setting the number and severe service shortening it. For an older car on conventional oil the manual's figure is usually lower, and the kind of driving that fills 89503, short in-town trips with a mean commute of 20.0 minutes (Census ACS 5-year 2024), counts as severe in most manuals because the engine rarely gets fully warm. We tell you the number from your manual, not a slogan.

A walkable neighborhood is hard on oil

Old Northwest Reno owns fewer cars than the newer parts of town: 1.67 vehicles per household, and only 51.2 percent of households have two or more (Census ACS 2024). The median age is 34, so these are young families and students whose one car does a lot of two-mile errands. Those errands never boil the condensation and fuel out of the crankcase, which is why a dipstick in this neighborhood can look dark long before the sticker says it should. The altitude adds to it: the service center sits at 4,917 feet (USGS 3DEP) and the engine runs slightly richer for it. And winter means 122 freezing nights a year at the airport (NOAA 1991-2020 normals), each one a thick-oil cold start.

Getting to the service center from 89503

From Keystone or Rancho San Rafael, take North McCarran west and turn onto Mae Anne Avenue; the service center is at 6100 Mae Anne Ave on the way toward Robb Drive. OSRM free-flow routing calls it about 11 minutes and 4.1 miles. If you are at the south end near Seventh Street, West McCarran up past the river is the same trip from the other direction. Our Longley Lane service center in south Reno is about 15 minutes if you are headed that way instead.

The full-service oil change, item by item

• Oil drained and replaced with up to 5 quarts of the grade your manual specifies
• New oil filter, and the chassis greased where the manufacturer calls for it
• Oil-change reminder light reset
• Engine air filter pulled and shown to you; cabin air filter checked on request
• Transmission, brake, power steering, radiator and windshield washer fluids checked
• Tire pressure, headlights, tail lights and wiper blades checked; battery test on request
• A look under the hood and under the car for leaks and worn parts, explained in plain words

Older cars sometimes show us a weeping gasket or a tired belt. We point it out, say whether it can wait, and leave the decision with you. Belts and engine seals are not something we replace, so we will never push a repair we do not do.

Hours, phone and smog

Mae Anne Avenue is open Monday through Friday 8 to 5 and Saturday 8 to 4, closed Sunday, at (775) 787-1000. There is no appointment system; drive in and stay with the car. Because 89503 is inside Reno, it is inside the Washoe County emissions-testing area, and a vehicle registered there needs a smog check every year once it is past its third registration (Nevada DMV). The 1968-and-newer rule means almost every car on these streets is tested, and this service center does the smog check in the same bay as the oil change.