Maintenance

A "basic oil change" on a 2004 Prius s/b NO different or no more expensive than any other vehicle. The drain plug and filter are as easy to get at as almost any other car on the road. Are you asking them for synthetic oil or "regular" oil?

 

This is in the wrong forum.....

Do not pay extra for an oil change because it is a Prius. As stated above, it is a normal car and does not have special needs. The maintenance light is essentially the oil change light. It can be turned off by you or anyone with an OBDII code reader.

I would recommend having the dealer change the transaxle fluid while your at it. The transaxle fluid change and oil change should come out to no more than $130 (parts and labor) at a dealership unless you choose synthetic motor oil. If they try and quote you more then see another dealer. There are no special procedures for either fluid change unlike the Tacoma and Tundra which do require special procedures.

 

+1

I would recommend printing out the instructions for the transaxle fluid change from the service manual and showing it to the advisor in case they don't believe you.

MB860 ?

 

Do I assume that one can use synthetic oil? If so what viscosity rating?

 

For a 2004 Prius? Yes, but Toyota does not increase the oil change interval I would think 5w-30 is the recommended oil.

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/docu...MS0011/pdf/01omsour/2004/schedmai/04w1smt.pdf

http://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om/OM47482U/pdf/9.pdf

(If you mean the Prius v, it requires synthetic, 0w-20, but it does not appear that you mean to be in the Prius v forum. It is new for 2012)

 

We've been ignoring the "checkup" part of his question. If this salvage car did not have a thorough inspection by a Prius technician before she bought it then it should definitely get one now. $120 for an inspection and oil change is entirely reasonable, and $70 would be cheap. So many in-obvious things can be wrong with a salvage car it'll make you ill.