12,000 mile oil change interval success

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by PAPARYNO

at 10K I have the "maint req'd " light now on. I checked my oil and everything's great there. I'm almot positive it is the oil light as it started blinking at start up for a week before it stayed on.... just as it did at my first oil change. Does the computer use a mileage calculator to determine when to suggest the oil change or something more complicated. Also, why at 10k? Is that what Toyota recommends via the car as the oil change interval? Oil still looks perfectly clear. I'd hate to change it for nothing. I figured to be able to go at least 12-15k with how it looks. Any help or advise please??????????????????

The light comes on initially at 5K and after every 5K after the last time it was reset. I too am going for the 15K mark but may bump up to closer to 20K as my engine is probably off nearly as much or maybe even more than it is on.

[philmcneal]

the maintainence light just comes on as a suggestion you can reset it anytime, its just a reminder light.

so i just keep some of the oil and then send it to this company? or somewhere in canada i can drop off the oil, what do you guys usually catch the oil with?

How much does it cost? I'd really love to see if my 195,000 km car has some bad wear with 0w20 oil

[Shawn Clark]

Changing Prius oil at 5,000 miles doesn't make much sense, especially with Mobil1. Afterall, the Prius engine is not running nearly as frequently as a normal vehicle. Since all my other vehicles were fine with 7500+ miles using Mobil1, it seems likely that the Prius would be good for at least 50% more than them. Hmmm...since I had the 1000 mile initial change done, I think I'll go ahead and wait for 7,500 (total) for the first normal change, and 7,500 throughout the powertrain warranty period assuming the oil looks good. When that expires I might try 10,000 miles.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by philmcneal

so i just keep some of the oil and then send it to this company? or somewhere in canada i can drop off the oil, what do you guys usually catch the oil with?

In Canada, I use Toromont Caterpillar SOS labs.

Toromont CAT : Oil Analysis Services S·O·S

However, the Toromont operating territory is Manitoba and Ontario. For BC, you would use Finning

Finning (Canada)

They have a sample pump for their sample bottles, and I highly recommend you invest the $20 in this pump. It is much easier to draw a sample through plastic tubing you can supply yourself, then to monkey with trying to catch a sample with oil draining out

Toromont charges me $20 to perform an analysis. It appears the cost can vary from $20-$30, depending on what region you are in

Hope this helps!

jay