I picked up my new Prius last night from Rudy Luther Toyota, a dealer close to my office. I bought through the COSTCO program and they are the authorized local dealer. Overall it was a very good experience and I would recommend them. There is, however, a Toyota dealer a bit closer to my home. I have been using their service department for my other two Toyota's. Does it make any difference where I have the car serviced? If there is a warranty issue would it be better to deal with the original dealer?
Makes no difference what so ever. For routine maintenence you can do it yourself at home, Jiffy Lube, Wal-mart, or anyone else you wish if they're competent to change oil and filter. If you wish you can go to Toyota for the 60k service and 100k mile if you want the 'experts' to check it. Routine stuff on the Prius is very routine and many do it themselves at home.
Best is to go to the shop you trust to do the best work. If you've been happy with the dealer close to home, take your Prius there. As Evan says, there's no reason to go to the dealer you bought from unless you trust them to do the best work. And if you normally service your cars yourself, you can continue to do so with your Prius. (For me, it's well worth the dealer price to keep my hands and my garage floor clean.)
I went to a new owners event at the dealer where I bought my Prius. The one surprise I heard there is that the oil filter has a check valve that keeps oil level above the pump. Does anyone know if this is true? and if so, will a Fram or similar filter come with the same feature?
worth noting is that even if you get the extended service plan or even the stamped by the dealer's address prepaid maintaince you can still use those coupons at other toyota dealers
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(rigormortis @ Oct 4 2007, 05:15 AM) [snapback]521063[/snapback]</div> A good quality filter will work well. Fram filters do not qualify! They do sell different grades of filters. The WalMart Super Tech is better than Fram. Yes, the better quality oil filters have a check valve that prevent oil from draining from the pump. It helps the pump to immediately supply oil to the engine when the engine rolls.
Any half reasonable oil filter should have 2 valves in it unless the engines they are specified for have the valves built in. First yes there is a check valve to prevent oil from back-flowing through the pump back into the sump. The other valve is a spring loaded valve which will lift off it's seat if the pressure across the filter is almost high enough to damage the filter medium. This can happen if a cold engine is reved hard or the filter is blocked. When the bypass valve allows oil to bypass the filter unfiltered oil is pumped around the engine into the bearings but that's better than the filter colapsing and no oil circulating. The best thing about the Prius oil filter is it is vertical. Although there is a check valve in the filter they are rarely perfect there fore over time the oil will bleed back to the sump from the filter and galleries. Because the filter is vertical it can't drain back to the sump although the galleries still can. This means oil pressure comes up very quickly on engine start which is important in an engine which starts as often as the Prius engine.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Oct 2 2007, 08:49 AM) [snapback]520215[/snapback]</div> And BEWARE! Some dealers will 'recommend' you need to 'check the timeing belt' at 60K, when in fact the 'recommended' stuf aint no where near the 'required' stuff. Do everything the dealer says to & you'll be broke in no time, and wasting money to boot. Read here, for great advice: http://priuschat.com/What-services-you-nee...39t-t29898.html
