My dealer wants to get a look at my prius at 1000 miles. I'm just about there. I made an appt yesterday for thursday when I figure I'll have hit the mark mileage wise. I've read the post about oil changes at 1000 miles - some say yes some say no. I don't think it can hurt from what I've read excepting when they overfill it. My question is whether it is too early to replace with a synth oil or should I continue further break in with dino ? Also, should I supply them with the oil and proper volume. From what I've read 3.5 quarts should prevent from overfill. I'd feel better raising it to the full line if necessary by topping it off over the next week or so. So my question is 3-fold. 1. should I go immediately to synthetic like mobil 1 using the viscosity toyota recommends. Is a synthetic oil bad for a new engine still in process of seating and breaking in which case dino would be a better choice. 2. If you recommend sticking with dino for a bit longer, what brand would you recommend 3. Regardless of dino or synth should I bring them the 4 quarts and ask for .5 quarts back ? I don't really care if they think I'm neurotic. I have seen my other vehicles over or underfilled on oil changes before. I don't think it should be that hard to properly fill but it does seem to happen. Thanks in advance and sorry to belabor this topic. I did try to glean all I could from other related threads first but after reading this I boiled my questions down to just these 3 specific ones.
You should have just left your credit card with the dealer... What reason did the dealer have, other than he likes you and wants to see you often? Follow Toyota's maintenance recommendations in your Passport to avoid excess wallet shrinkage. As to your specific questions, the Prius ICE is finely milled and you can put synthetic oil in any time. Take a half quart out of one of the oil bottles, give them 3.5 quarts, get the empty bottles back (you can drain probably an ounce of oil out of the "empty" bottles if you let them sit).
LOL, my dealer sent me a postcard to remind me of the appointment I had made to have my Prius checked on March 22 (or some such day). Despite the fact that I never made such an appointment. Considering my car only had about 1900 miles at the time, I ignored this appointment that I did not remember making. I did however change the oil myself at 1000 miles. I do remember the salesperson doing all the "after delivery checklist" with me when I was about to drive away with my new Prius. He looked at my address, which is about 120 miles away, and said something to the effect of: "Well, seeing that you live a couple of hours away, I doubt you will be coming here for service, so while I would be happy to take you over to the service department for a tour and to meet the service manager, I suppose you would rather skip it..."
Oddly the oil change is gratis - no charge. Who knows what kind of crappy oil they'll be putting in though if left to their own devices. Is there anything else they could possibly inspect or adjust ? They also promised I'd be in at 8:00 and out by 9:00. Not sure what alterior motives they have but there has to be some. Anyway, what special tools if any would I need to change the oil myself ? Are there any links or diagrams discussing the do it yourself oil change ? Are there any special torque requirements for tightning the filter,etc. I haven't changed oil on any vehicle of my own in so long and I don't have any ramps to get the thing off the ground safely. How tight is working under such a low sitting car like the prius.
I did it myself, after backing myself into a corner, because my husband smashed up my NEW car when it only had 400 miles....I told him never to touch my Prius again. Of course, when it came time to change the oil, he reminded me of my words. It's really easy, except that it is a bit tough to pour the oil into the opening. One poster here, Hobbit, told me to remove the air filter box first and it would be a lot easier next time. Anyway, I hadn't done this since I was a teen and my dad was trying to teach me about cars. If I can do it anyone can....although I suppose if you were "weight-challenged" it might make it difficult to slide under the front of the car. Anyway, do a forum search for oil changes, you will find pictures, etc. Some say you should put the car on ramps, but I didn't find that necessary. Oh, the Prius calls for some sort of weird decimal point amount of oil....which took me forever to figure out and I did eventually put that amount in. Later folks here told me to ignore that and Just put in 3.5 qts..... No special tools, other than a filter wrench that fits. Latex gloves were nice for me...some like my husband think they are a bit...well,....I won't say. This might help (I found it by doing a search on google images for "prius oil change"): http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...39094-how-change-oil-your-prius-pictures.html Kristi (who needs to go to bed, since I have to be at work in 4 hours...)
John1701a has a great write up on how to do an Oil Change. You don't need ramps or jack stands if you don't mind laying on the ground working at awkward angles; the drain plug and filter are easily accessible. Some people use a Fumoto Oil Drain Valve to make it even easier.
sas the dealer just want's $$$ they always do follow up stuff. but yeah it's easy to do oils yourself, here check this guide out. John's Stuff - Toyota Prius Maintenance - Changing Oil I usually will forgo the jack stand route, and opt for 2 ton ramps, you can buy them anywhere. Just be sure to block the rear wheels and set your E brake. And use a funnel to pour oils next time, it will be alot easier. with oil filter, pick up the denso one's at a dealer+ the crush washer. Our dealer had a special friday 2.99 denso filters.. i went and bought 5 of them. that was a bargain for a quality filter imo.
Once upon a time all cars came with a "free" service at 1500km or so. However you had to pay for the oil. Personally I think it is a good idea to check the car and ensure you are happy. Maybe the motive is a happy repeat customer who is happy with the care shown by their dealer. I use a 2 litre soft drink bottle, cut the top off to make a funnel to pour oil into my Toyota engines. Cut it with a sharp knife & don't forget to take the lid off!
Back when I was on the Cadillac board we had a factory engineer sign on once and a while. He mentioned that the factory oil fill had extra ZDP, which is the antiwear component in engine oil. I realize it is unlikely we will get a Toyota engineer here but if I had to I would bet Toyota does the same thing. Why second guess those engineers who make a living making decisions like this. I'm sticking to the factory recommendations.
You can see from my UOA there there is not any extra ZDDP in the original oil. Just a lot of extra copper, iron, silicon, and other cr@p that you dont want in there. http://priuschat.com/forums/attachments/file-library/7258d1201550088-uoa-used-oil-analysis-uoa3.pdf Also, it is not just the engineers that have the final say on oil change intervals and/or other service recommendations listed in the manual.
Fine, as long as he doesn't want to charge you any money for anything. No maintenance is needed before 5000 miles. Modern engines need little if any breaking in. Expensive cars ship with synth so that is a non-issue. You can take with you 4 quarts and ask for 0.5 back, or you can take 3 quarts and ask for none of it back (I've done that for four years, and the final level has always been halfway between ADD and FULL). But no matter what else you do always tell them that you will check the level yourself before you drive away, and then do it. Gruesome and expensive mistakes can be caught this way before harm is done.
Ok, I'm going to bring in my own oil. I just don't know what viscosity of mobil 1 to use. Was at walmart this evening and they had no selection. There shutting my store down for a super-store which will open soon. Saw mobil 1 0-20w and 0-30w, and 5-30 (for suv's). The 0-30 claimed to satisfy warranty requirements and exceeds performance of 5W30 10W-30. Do I go with 0-30 and if so are there any warranty issues. Thanks folks. I hope someday to be a contributor here instead of just a taker but for now with only owning the car for 3 weeks I've got a lot to experience and learn before giving any advice so bear with me. Thanks in advance !
An oil change at 1,000 miles is quite unnecessary. I've owned 3 new vehicles and I've not changed the oil prior to 3K miles. The first time was at 5,900 km, the second was at 6,000 km, and on my most recent new vehicle it was at 8,900 km (roughly). I go by the book. The service dept's word means nothing to me, they want me to part with my money, that's their job. I go by what is written in the service guide in the glovebox, that's what counts. Words mean nothing unless they're written down on paper when it comes to dealing with anyone in a car dealership (IMHO). With that said, a free oil change at 1K probably won't hurt anything. I have heard also that the factory adds some additives to help with break-in so in theory if they say change out the oil at 3K miles then why do it sooner? An engine easily takes 10K or more for proper break-in from what I've heard. Yo do realize that many dealerships make more money in the service department than they do on the sales floor, right?
Read the owner's manual and the scheduled maintenance guide (they are two separate documents) that came with the car. They will answer this and other questions, and save you money and bother. (My 2004 uses 5W-30, but this may have changed for later models, so read the books.)
I just wanna add for those doing oil changes without using jack stands or ramps, a mirror comes in handy when putting the new filter on. Prevents possible debris from getting in your new filter while you're blindly trying to screw it in. Took me about 10 minutes trying to screw on the new filter during my 1st oil change.
