How often do you change your oil?

Every 5,000 miles is what I do...

 

Gen III had 5,000 mile service and about a year after they went on sale, Toyota changed it to 10,000 miles, since I keep my cars over 10 years I am being on the safe side.

 

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Depends on type of oil you put in. Put synthetic oil in, then their no need for every 5k miles.

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I change mine every 5,000 miles with Toyota 0W20 synthetic oil. Like you I would rather be safe than sorry.

Some on here that are beginning to burn oil between changes are beginning to question the 10,000 mile interval. My car has 118,000 miles and does not consume oil.

Your car, your choice.

 

I have them change the oil every 4 months, which is 10,000 miles.

 

For third generation Prius in Canada the interval is 8000 km (5000 miles) or 6 months. I follow this, and it's always months that governs, with our low usage. This is the regular interval; for severe use they say 4000 km or 3 months.

With the fourth generation they've gone to the US interval: 16,000 km or yearly, fwiw.

 

I'm still a little undecided between every 6-Mos, or every 12-Mos.

90% of my mileage is city driving/short trips. Lots of stop & go. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything to do it every 6 Months....right before Winter, and right before Summer.

I'm definitely going to do the first one at 5,000 miles, and just pay for it. ($54.95 Mobil-1 Synthetic special at the dealer.)

 

Tell that to the people who are using excessive oil and doing 10K mile oil change.....

 

Glad to hear you are doing 5K mile oil changes, I believe this is very important. I also question the use of 0W-20 oil, especially if you do a lot of freeway driving at high speed, 70 MPH or above. I just started using 0W-30 oil with the hope that this slight thickness in oil will benefit the motor and rings.

 

I would need references to believe you know more about the2ZR-FXE engine than Toyota's engineers. Until then, I will go with their specification.

 

I know that higher weight oils are being used in Europe and Austraila per Toyota engineers and that US CAFE goals out way the importance of having an engine last more then 150K miles, from any manufacture .

 

@JimboPalmer He's got a point there. I'm sticking with 0W20, have used it for a long time with a Civic Hybrid as well. But with different weights around the world, I wouldn't doubt it's a bit more than just engineering at play.

 

In the US the API is at SN oil (I remember when SE was current and we still sold SA for purists) I do not doubt that other nations have different standard that Toyota engineers have to work with. I would not know how advanced Australasia's oil standards are, or what they are called.

Motor oil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

European oils are of a higher standard then US oils, even Mobil 1. Castro European 0W-30 is thicker then US Mobil 1 0W-30, so using a 0W-30 in a Prius is perfectly safe. Even Mobil 1 lists on their website that we can use 0W-20 or 0W-30 oil

 

My brain is full (doesn't hold much). All I'm capable of thinking: Toyota North America might have had more urgent need to reach some mpg target?

 

Does Toyota also recommend 0W-20 oil viscosity for a Gen3 Prius? How have those engines help up? Any reports of oil burning?

If a thicker oil would improve engine longevity, I would gladly give up a few miles-per-gallon. But Toyota claims 0W-20 is fine, and offers superior cold starts, lubrication, and protection. Do we trust 'em?

(I never had a Prius before. All my other Toyota vehicles used 10W-30 synthetic.)

 

Edit: That should read, how have those engines held up.