Engine oil replacement?

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

Has anyone put in 3.9 quarts and not had the dipstick indicate full or overfull?

I have measured it out with a graduated container. 3.7 qts puts the level at the "full" line on my car after letting the oil drain for at least 20 min prior to refilling. I have used 3.5 qts on previous oil changes. I let the dealer perform the first oil change and they filled it about 1/4 inch above the "full" mark, so I don't let them do it anymore.

[richard schumacher]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

I let the dealer perform the first oil change and they filled it about 1/4 inch above the "full" mark, so I don't let them do it anymore.

So did mine; undoubtedly they were following the service manual. Who would think that the service manual would be wrong on such a simple point? Anyway, for each oil change since I give them three quart bottles of Mobil 1 and then check the level before driving away.

[dogfriend]

They also made the mistake of leaving 3 wheel nuts loose when they rotated the tires. I only caught this because they also left the valve stem caps loose and one of them fell off with another one hanging by a thread. In an act of self preservation I decided to check the torque on the wheel nuts.

I prefer to change the oil myself anyway. I care more about my car than they do.

[richard schumacher]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

They also made the mistake of leaving 3 wheel nuts loose when they rotated the tires. I only caught this because they also left the valve stem caps loose and one of them fell off with another one hanging by a thread. In an act of self preservation I decided to check the torque on the wheel nuts.

Oops! Yeah, I wouldn't want to go back to those guys either. And it makes me feel even better about not rotating my tires.

[ctbering]

I would like to follow the Toyota's recommendations of 5 K oil changes using a highly rated synthetic motor oil and oil filter. What I am finding, with no help from this website, is a place to have my Prius serviced with this maintenance schedule. I understand service facilities wanting to make a profit on oil and filters, and I am willing to pay a reasonable fee or purchase high end oil and/or oil filters from their facilities. What I don't understand;
are these Prius experts in Chicago unaware of any facility that actually specialize in servicing the Prius? Or should I go to Toyota and just hope for the best?

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

Originally Posted by ctbering

I would like to follow the Toyota's recommendations of 5 K oil changes using a highly rated synthetic motor oil and oil filter. What I am finding, with no help from this website, is a place to have my Prius serviced with this maintenance schedule. I understand service facilities wanting to make a profit on oil and filters, and I am willing to pay a reasonable fee or purchase high end oil and/or oil filters from their facilities. What I don't understand;
are these Prius experts in Chicago unaware of any facility that actually specialize in servicing the Prius? Or should I go to Toyota and just hope for the best?

Do what I do (at least till 60,000 warranty is up). Go to your local Toyota dealer if they have a quick lube bay setup. Bring in only three quarts of Mobile One. Then at home top off the rest. Chance of you overfilling . . . zero. Chance of the dealer overfilling with only three quarts . . . ALMOST zero. <_<

[Shawn Clark]

Originally Posted by dogfriend

They also made the mistake of leaving 3 wheel nuts loose when they rotated the tires. I only caught this because they also left the valve stem caps loose and one of them fell off with another one hanging by a thread. In an act of self preservation I decided to check the torque on the wheel nuts.

I spec the torque when I go in for any tire removal involving service on my vehicles (except when I forget.) When I get home I check the torque on a few or retorque them myself. When I forget to mention that I want tires hand torqued to a specific value I try to go ahead and retorque them all. (I will skip this with particular mechanics that I know, trust, and have a rapport with.) When I've forgotten/not had time to do this it seems I end up with warped rotors within a thousand miles or so.

The other problem that arises when I don't do this is that some jack ass will put the lug nuts on so tight that my wife can't change a tire...and that is a major safety issue! (Yes, this happened, in the rain.) Heck, some moron put the lug nuts on so tight on my old used Ford truck that even with WD-40, some taps with a hammer, and all the torque I could apply with both feet on one side of the cross and both hands on the other couldn't break two of the nuts. Instead the old cross I had failed, turned about 45 degrees--I thought the studs were failing, then I realized that the cross had necked down and twisted in classic yield failure. I went out and bought a beefier new tire cross and finally broke the last two loose. The cheap Ford lug nuts had flimsy chrome caps over them and were all so deformed that I had to replace them--they didn't strip in the socket, but there was so much torque on them that they deformed.

The same clown apparently tightened the oil drain plug for the previous owner as it was stripped out and leaking. Took two weeks to get in a drain plug...nobody carried a simple drain plug for this most common of Ford V-8's. Arrgg, now I'm talking about that unreliable piece of junk.

[rosalina0508]

i was told prius engine wasn't made for synthetic oil,that it would damage the engine .so ended up using castro oil as am not convinced with penzoil..now ready for oil change again and would really wnt to use synthetic oil ..please advice..will appreciate the help

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

When I've forgotten/not had time to do this it seems I end up with warped rotors within a thousand miles or so.

Amazingly enough, I used to take my GF's Avalon to the same dealer for oil changes and tire rotations and had to have the rotors turned last year because they were warped. I don't take her car there anymore either. We were taking it to the dealer because of the V6 oil sludging problem (we wanted to have proof that the oil was changed regularly in case there was a problem), but they use crappy oil, so I would rather do it for her and use better oil.

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by rosalina0508

i was told prius engine wasn't made for synthetic oil,that it would damage the engine .so ended up using castro oil as am not convinced with penzoil..now ready for oil change again and would really wnt to use synthetic oil ..please advice..will appreciate the help

You can use any oil that meets the specification in the owners manual, it doesn't matter if it is conventional (dino) oil or synthetic oil as long as it meets the spec.

Whoever told you that synthetic oil would damage the engine was either ignorant or lying.