oil change...ecomomy change

Yes, there have been many people on here with your experience with even Toyota dealerships not putting the correct 0W20 oil in their cars. My dealership put the correct oil on the first change and then put 5w30 in on the second change. I was fortunate to catch it on the Service Report and had them change back out to 0w20.

The only real way to know what is put in your car is to change it yourself which is what I have been doing since the dealer mistake. If you are not a DIY'er then at least carry the correct oil with you and have the garage use your oil.

 

Yep. I am debating whether to take advantage of the free 25K oil change deal with Toyota.
With a Prius, that works out to be 2 free changes.
I can get a 5 qt of Mobil1 0W-20 from Wallys for $20 and a Purolator filter for about $7 at Advance Auto Parts. About $60 saving. Is it worth it?

 

I do my own oil changes. I bought the correct genuine Toyota oil and filters off the internet to do it. Dealers don't usually put the brightest bulbs in the box do the oil changes.

 

I wonder if they will agree to give me 5 qt of oil and a filter instead of doing the change...

 

It's rare that that will happen. The dealer wants to get paid by Toyota for parts and labor. All you can do is try.

 

I have been doing all my own oil changes since new. I was using Mobil One
0w20 motor oil and recently switched to Toyota Brand Synthetic Oil 0w20: $5.50 per quart.
I always use Toyota Oil filters as the last case was a little over $4.00 each with washer.

 

I just purchased a 2012 Prius II. I owned a 2004 Prius which I sold several years ago. I replaced it with a Camry but my wife wanted another Prius so I looked at the 2012's and really liked what I saw. I have been told by several Toyota mechanics and Toyota long-time owners that you should always use a Toyota brand oil filter if you D.I.Y. oil changes due to possible timing issues. Anyone else ever here of this? I also have a 2012 Corolla S and am very interested in long term dependability as well as economy.

 

The only "Timing" issue I see here is it's time to figure out what the heck they are talking about.
Lets start a list ...

1 Engine Timing, doubtful
2 Clock Timing of the various electronics, nah...
3 ...

I am running out of ideas here people, jump on in!!!

 

The only thing I can see is with the flow of the oil filter messing with the variable valve timing, which is usually controlled by a valve controlling the oil pressure. Now I know that Cadillac went to Mobil 1 as the standard oil so the engine could use the VVT when the engine is cold, instead of waiting for it to warm up.

 

Did my first ever oil change on my Five last weekend (hit 5000 miles on Thursday), used Mobile One 0w-20 with TRD filter.
Today with a decent tailwind- I got my best ever 60.5mpg on my 28 mile trip to work. Previous best trip to work with Toyota oil was 56 mpg. Guess Mobile One doesn't kill your gas mileage...