First Oil Change vs. Warranty Issues

[journeydog]

BACKGROUND: Bought our '08 new from local dealer in April '08. I'm a stroke survivor and after a year and a half, am still unable to drive or service the Prius. My wife is the principle driver and in the year we've had it, only managed to put less than 1400 miles on it (yep - that's one thousand, four hundred miles).

ISSUE: No services (oil/filter, etc.) have been done since new. Haven't looked at the Toyota Service Manual to determine if scheduled maintenance must be performed every 6 months regardless of mileage. If so, it sounds like the warranty is bye-bye?

Sales folks said the 1st service cost is on Toyota. Is this a universal Toyota perk or a dealer sales incentive? (I've pretty much always ignored dealer servicing with my other vehicles because experiences have been poor and one of my past joy-filled hobbies has been involved with getting lots of oil and blood imbedded in my hands).

Forgive me if this topic has been discussed over and over, but I'm trying to get my DW up on the curve before she talks with the stealer service folks. BTW, she loves the Prius!

TIA with any useful comments or suggestions you might offer.

[firepa63]

The service should be every 5000 miles or 6 months Toyota Parts and Service. In your case I would only have them change the oil and filter. You don't need to rotate the tires based on the low mileage. As for the 1st service being on Toyota, that's a dealer thing, not a Toyota policy. I don't think your warranty is at risk.

[Patrick Wong]

It is true that the engine oil/oil filter is supposed to be changed at 5K miles or six months whichever comes first, for the sake of the powertrain warranty. I'd suggest that you catch up on that now, since a year has elapsed.

If your engine were to have oil sludge problems (which is unlikely) then Toyota could choose not to honor the warranty due to lack of timely oil changes. Other than that, you should not have any other impact to your warranty coverage. Good luck.

[jayman]

So, how about new cars that sit on a lot for 6-12 months? I've noticed Tundra's sitting that long, not moving at all. I wonder if every 6 months, they pull those brand new vehicles into the bays to have an oil change?

Yeah, right

How about the build date? Say between building a Toyota in Japan, sitting in a shipping lot there, sent on a slow boat over to a port here, sitting for another 2-3 weeks, finally sent to a dealership, might add up to 3 months right there.

Say it takes another 3-4 months to sell, and the proud new owner drives off in a new Prius - or FJ or whatever Toyota is still made in Japan - with only 30 miles on the odometer, but 6-9 months on the oil. In theory, that brand new Prius or FJ with only 30 miles on the odometer, should have had an oil change already

When it's on the dealership or factory, they claim its ok to use that oil that has been sitting in the sump for 6-9 months, subjected to frequent start cycles with zero highway driving. But if you do it to your personal vehicle, suddenly *that* is a problem???

I don't get it

[icarus]

Not to mention the 12v agm batteries!

Wouldn't surprise me to see a lot of "new' cars with very short original 12volt batteries. A conventional lead acid battery can lose ~12% per month,, not including any parasitic drain such as smart keys, or clocks or alarms,,, that could be 50% or more. The quickest killer of lead/acid batteries is leaving them in a state of discharge more than a few days,,, much less a few months. HMMMM?

Icarus

[tochatihu]

Hey Journeydog, I have no concerns at all about this warranty. When you get the chance have the engine oil changed. Go to Toyota or some other shop for this, and just keep records of the date and odometer (at each vehicle service).

Good luck and I often wish I were back in SW New Mexico!

[patsparks]

Warranty only becomes an issue if you need it and that's unlikely, with a Toyota, especially at your mileage. Another part of the first service is checking over the car for loose bolts n stuff, but that isn't likely needed either however as others have said, get the car in for a service as soon as you can.

[zonie911]

I would think that just putting a few miles on the Pri (such as was mentioned) would be more detrimental than it being a car in shipment or just setting on the lot and not moving.
It seems to me that the oil (since it is being carried thru the engine and being heated up) would over time deterioate
I may be wrong, of course "I have been wrong before"
But, get that car into your dealer as soon as possible and get the oil changed.
Also, I'm surprised that the engine battery didn't go down.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by icarus

The quickest killer of lead/acid batteries is leaving them in a state of discharge more than a few days,,, much less a few months.

Well, if there is a problem during the warranty, and it's approved, than warranty covers it. If they can prove "neglect" or its off warranty, than TFB you're SOL

Yeah, now thinking about it, those vehicles at a dealership should have some sort of float charge being applied to the battery. If the build date is 6 months or more in the past, an oil change would be a good idea too

[jayman]

Originally Posted by zonie911

I would think that just putting a few miles on the Pri (such as was mentioned) would be more detrimental than it being a car in shipment or just setting on the lot and not moving.

Well, part of the problem is that the engine may be started 20-40 times during all that shipping/transit. The engine may run for a couple of minutes, tops

All those frequent cold starts really load up the oil with trash, especially oil in a brand new motor. My FJ had a build date around 5 months before I bought it.

When I had the oil sampled at 3,000 km, it was completely shot. Nitration was through the roof, implying the oil had been subjected to a lot of short-cycle operation before I got it.

Even my mostly highway driving to the hobby farm, around 80 miles one way, wasn't enough to burn off the trash. Some of the blowby and other trash just hangs around