Is Toyota Canada still advising oil change intervals at 5000 miles? (8000 km)

What oil change interval is specified in the maintenance section of your owner's manual?

 

This is a snapshot from page 25 of the 2014 Prius (hatchback) Owner's Manual Supplement, put out by Honda Canada. In their wisdom, they explain the maintenance for EVERY Toyota vehicle. At least now they include a spread sheet format summary. It's confusing (as always), but look at the yellow highlights in the following. Both "Oil & Filter Service" (obviously) AND "Maintenance Service" include an oil and filter change. So, with one service or the other, you still have an oil change, every 8000 km's (roughly 5000 miles) or 6 months.

FWIW, I'm nearing the end of power train warranty, and with our usage of late getting down to 6000~8000 km's per year, I may switch over to the US schedule, doing one oil change per year, once it's out of warranty.



(Man, I've been waiting all day to post this.)

 

Tidelands, I'm confused: there is an oil an filter change at the first 3 service intervals.

Also, my nearby Toyota dealership sells Toyota 0W20 for $5.63 for single liters, I can't see the dealerships cheating customers, especially with prices like that. And they have the oil in bulk.

That said, I've never darkened their doorstep for an oil change, prefer to DIY.

 

I did a search and this was posted about four years ago in the Gen III forum:
Canadian Oil Change Interval | Page 2 | PriusChat

Please be advised in Japan and parts of Europe, service intervals have been extended by using 0W20 oil, however, given the severe driving conditions that exist in Canada, the current 6 month/8,000km service interval indicated in the owner's manual supplement will be maintained.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us and allowing the opportunity to comment.
Sincerely,
John Ross
Customer Interaction Centre Toyota Canada Inc.
​

This was thought to be BS at the time, as much of the northern USA has conditions at least as bad as much of Canada.

 

If I was getting close to 8000 km's in 6 months, I'd have no qualms about following the Canaduan schedule. And as long as I'm within the power train warranty: 6 months or 8000 km is fine is the way to go.

Seeing how I'm extremely low kms, I'll likely adopt US schedule, beyond the warranty period.

As far as canadian vs US climate, yeah, it seems to be more east/west than North/ south, at least this winter.

 

IMHO, if you drive hwy or longer trips, then the 10,000mile/12 month is doable in canada. if you drive short trips in cold weather, then it's not.

 

In my opinion, the fewer miles you drive and the shorter the average trip, the more often you should change your engine oil. There are a lot of expensive engine parts like timing chain tensioners, VVT components, valve guides, rings, bearings, etc., that have been proven to last longer and perform better with cleaner and fresher oil.

When Toyota extended oil change intervals from 5,000/6mo. to 10,000/12mo., it did so on the basis of engineering testing, not real world owner driving experience. Time will tell how much 10,000 mile oil changes affect the longevity of these parts, but it is really not worth the risk, especially if you do mostly short trips and fewer miles per year.

When our Prius was used five days per week to commute twenty-five miles one way to work and logged 16,000 miles per year I let the engine oil go to about 9,000 miles before changing it. Now that we are retired, the car gets almost all short trips between six and fifteen miles each and logs only about 7,000 miles per year. I have gone back to changing the oil when the oil change light comes on at 4,500 miles at about seven or eight months and I rotate the tires at the same time. At $30.00 per DIY oil change it is only costing me about an hour of my time and $15.00 extra per year for this higher level of preventive maintenance. I consider it a small amount of time and money well spent.

 

Honda recommends once a year, for low km drivers.

Yeah, it's a good idea to consolidate trips when you're low usage, run all yout errands on one day, avoid impulse, short drives, as much as practical.

In our case I find religious use of the block heater helps, makes you think twice about impulse drives.

 

A good conservative idea, but no fun.