More Frequent Oil Changes For Better Resaleability

Your welcome Sir.

Understand I'm not trying to discredit anyone here, or win any argument. These are the basics of maintenance, whether it be a toaster, lawn mower, car, airplane or nuclear plant. Doing more than just the "recommended minimum" is always an investment toward extending the inevitable failure of any machine. Lessons learned from decades of job security have proven this to me, especially as it applies to lubrication. I see some of you points, however mile based duty cycles are for those that have neither the time or ambitition to run an analysis based on all variables of useage. In other words KISS, keep it simple stupid. Let's just agree to disagree, and respect each others opinions like adults. :tea:


:focus:

@ The Critic...most buyers that ask for maintenance records presale have never changed a spark plug, but it gives them a warm and fuzzy if you can produce them. I still say every 5K, but the prospective buyer will be more than happy with 10K, if Toyota says so.

I'm off.

 

Not to be argumentative, but I am not so sure about that. As you remember when the Gen III came out they specified a 5K OCI and what 5-6 months later upped it to 10K. Why? Cause they got the "data" in or because there was pressure from somewhere to reduce waste? Toyota only has to worry about the engine up to 60K miles right?

I am down with a 10K OCI but I am doing mine at 7.5K cause of the conditions up here. In the end though, only an UOA can really tell what is going on inside the engine and how the oil is holding up.

 

Amazing how a benign topic like oil change intervals brings out egos. 10k intervals are more than likely fine; if the person is a worry wart, skeptic, or has reason to think their drive cycle may be an outlier, then an oil analysis or three should resolve the question.

 

You bring up a couple of good points. A manufacturer doesn't necessarily recommend what is best for the customer than plans to keep his car along time. Their lifetime recommendation for tranmission oil in the Gen III is a prime example. Users oil analysis that show loss of viscosity and significant particle contamination shows just how far off Toyota is on that one. OTOH, their 10k engine oil change interval has been backed up by many owners UOAs. Your 7.5k OCI is a reasonable guess for your location, but a UOA or two would be interesting.:rockon:

 

No, you will not recoup your investment. If you perform 10 additional oil changes over the course of 100,000 mile, at $50 per change it is $500. You will not get an additional $500 for your vehicle. Nevertheless, I change my oil at 6000 mile intervals anyway. ( I aim for 5,000 and get it done by 6K).

 

Also a big waste of oil and money. PERIOD!

Biggest reason for a prius going to th junkyard?

1. Crash
2. Transaxel failed
3. Computer fails
4. Inverter fails

I'm still waiting to see reports of worn out ICE because the oil wasn't chaged every 3k. Heck I know a whole fleet of chevy trucks that go 10k on syn oil and they have no engine problems at 200,000 miles when the company sells them. Also they idle for up to 8 hours a day.

 

Oh I'd say he could IF there is an exact same model/yr/miles within the same market and in the same price range and that's a lot of ifs.

But......

Low miles and garage queen condition are what really boost prices. Who cares if it's had extra oil changes if it smells like wet dog inside and has door dings all up and down the sides?

 

Synthetics are not at all like traditional oils. To stir the pot a bit more, with facts rather than opinions, here is a real-world test with lab testing done every 1k miles. The synthetic was just fine all the way out to 18k miles... and they really only quit then because it had been a year.
http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/stories/mobil1.html

Key interesting points:
* Adding oil as needed makes a difference, and obviously must be done
* Changing the filter after 10k is probably more important than anything else
* There's some evidence, which needs verification, that synthetic oil has a "break in" period of 3k miles... it may be actually be harder on the engine to change oil too often!

That's all based on real-world driving and oil monitoring. I found it quite interesting.

 

This is Hilarious!

 

Yay! Finally this was brought up.

IMHO, getting a UOA done is far better than people's opinions and gut feelings here. Unfortunately, they aren't that cheap, at least not thru Blackstone.

 

1. Toyota wants as much of your money as they can get for servicing your car, if the competition has oil change intervals at 5,000 miles they will also try to get your money every 5,000 miles. I checked and in Europe Prius has had oil change intervals at 15,000 km (9,375 miles) for at least 7 years. If they want to sell cars in Europe they had to do this, because 30,000 km oil changes are common here, there is even Opel diesel that require only 50,000 km oil changes. This is the way to gain customers here in Europe with low maintenance cost, but I have experiance with Fiat petrol engine and it never makes 30,000 km oil change, because it's starts to consume oil very fast after 20,000 km.

2. Toyota don't want you to have your car till the end of your life, so they do not make trans fluid change.

 

You are confusing Toyota with GM

Long ago Toyota (and other Japanese manufacturers) realized that an expanding audience is a heck of a lot better than a early-failure-have-to-replace audience.

 

As mentioned, the Canadian oil change interval is still 5000 miles (8000 km), or 6 months, whichever comes first. And also mentioned, but worth belabouring: north-central US winters are a LOT more severe than the Canadian west coast lower mainland winters in my area, so...

I would just consider Toyota's motivation: what are their priorities, what are their vested interests, what ultimately do they care about:

a) Your car's health?

b) Their bottom line?

Obviously a cascade of engine failures will not be good for their bottom line. OTOH, if it's just a few sporadic cases, coupled with more hard-to-prove cases of degraded engine function, a longer service interval makes their cars more attractive to new buyers.

 

Let me add a twist to the OP's original question.

Say you are looking for a good used Prius for your kid and know that this will be their main transportation through their college years with quite a few miles to be added. You come across two Private Sales that in your opinion are equal in model year, package, options etc. and both are in the 75k to 80k mile range. After meeting with both owners you have the following facts:

Owner 1: Has maintained the car through the dealer according to Toyota's recommendations meaning basically 10K oil changes and tire rotations. It is pretty obvious that this owner sees the car as basic transportation and does minimum upkeep.

Owner 2: Has maintained the car above and beyond recommended including additional oil changes, replacing the transaxle fluid at 30K and replacing the engine and inverter coolant at 50k. He has all of the records and receipts. It is obvious that this owner takes very good care of his car both inside and out. This owner wants $1000 more than Owner 1 because he valued his car at Excellent and you agree with him.

Which car are you most likely to buy?

 

I would buy the car that saves me $1000 and put the money on one side to cover any problems that could arrive.

 

Toyota engineers the cars and they want them to last. Should bring any concerns to the Toyota technicians. I'm sure they know a lot about it.

At the Honda new owner's clinic, they said, do not change out your oil early, there is break-in fluid in the oil you want to be in there, not drain out.

The Accord Coupe had synthetic blend in it from factory, and it was looking like the oil would be up for change at about 7k miles (was at 30% left, car sold at 5400 miles)

 

#2, but not because of any value in 5k mile oil changes or an early coolant change.

Given your description, #2 would show the better care it had recieved. The early transmission fluid change has some real value, the early engine oil and coolant changes were worthless and might be an indication that the PO was getting advice from his grandfather. I would also be wary of other unnecessary maintenance that might not be good for the car. I would get him into a conversation about additives, super duper spark plugs, etc to see if he also poured random miracle elixors into his engine.