Oil Charge at 7500 or 10k??

I am planning to do 10k until my Prius is out of warranty, then 15k.

 

Someone said high mileage oil filter is not available for the Prius, so I may have to switch filter at 7k and add more oil to make sure I'm at a proper level.

I owned many cars in my life and this is the first time I own a hybrid using synthetic oil. I have always changed oil every 7k using non-synthetic. I figure synthetic oil in a hybrid should last twice as long. Hybrid engine runs cooler, cleaner, and at a lower RPM. It also shut itself off when it's not needed.

 

Thanks. Besides, I don't think people should change oil based on miles on hybrids. It is better to base it on fuel consumption or time. For example, I think we should change oil every 200 to 250 gallon of gas used or every 12 months which ever came first.

My argument is that I get great mpg when I drive slow on local roads. Therefore, I'm putting less stress on the ICE. Why should I go change oil sooner just because I'm getting great mpg? At lower stress level, I should be able to go more miles before changing oil.

 

The easiest way to track it is by using the trip A/B calculator. It'll give you the miles driven and the mpg, just take the miles divide it by mpg, that is your gas consumed.

 

hahaha I believe you..man. There are people like that out there. These are the extreme cases. But we also have people on the other side of the extreme, these are the people who change oil every 5k on a hybrid, at least that's what they are saying on Priuschat. You know oil change is a very profit business. They don't need to hire a skill mechanic to do this job and it only takes about 15 mins for them to do. If they charge you $60 for the oil change, they probably are making at least $40 from that transaction. This is one of the reasons why they want you to be over concerned about oil change. The more fear you have, the more money they could make.

 

I actually change mine more towards the 5k mark, but that's because mine sits A LOT and I barely drive it more than 5k a year. But then again, I do it myself so...

 

i am going by the book every 10k miles changing oil. though i do bring it in every 5,000 miles. i would assume they check the oil then as well. if it was really bad, they probably would recommend you change it at your expense.

**** 100 posts!

 

Toyota in Canada says 8,000 Kilometers (4970 Miles)

 

If I only drove around 5k a year, I would have just stick with driving my old car.

 

They (whoever is making money from oil change) would want you to change oil as often as possible. It's easy profit for them. The job takes only about 15 mins to do and they don't even need a skilled mechanic for this job. If you're paying $60, they should be making at least $40.

About 20 years ago, my Mazda 323 went 200k miles before I sold it. I used only non-synthetic oil and change it every 7k to 10k miles. The engine ran like new before it wouldn't start. The person I sold it to fixed the problem and it ran like new again.

The car manufacturers will do whatever they could to help their dealers to make money. Oil change is an easy money maker.

 

Exactly right! I do my own Oil changes. I worked in a Ford and GM Dealer doing that when I was 18, and what people don't realize is how easy it is to do. It's a hard sell to my wife that I can do a better job on the car than the dealer, as I make sure it's done right, check everything and it costs a fraction of the price.

Oil changes, Spark Plugs and Brakes are what makes money in a dealership. NOT warranty claims. So they upsell when they can.

 

I will start doing my own oil change too as soon as my "free oil change" deal expires. From my experience with my dealer, they don't even like selling the Prius. I was outside their lot before I walked into the showroom, I didn't see any Prius sitting out there. They had one Prius in the showroom. The rest of the Prius were hiding in the back of the lot where not a lot of people would go. My sales guy didn't know anything about the Prius except how to turn it on, put it in drive and put it back in park.

 

Oil Charge at 7500 or 10k??

Neither.
My company car gets new oil at 5K...probably a new filter too - although I can't say what flavors of each.
Not my lookout.

My POVs get new oil/filters every 4-5k except the bikes which gets oiled every season or 3K.....and no. I really don't need an "expert" to tell me that I'm doing it wrong.
Since I always do my own maintenance....I know it's done right, or.....I know who gets the blame if its not.
When old age and/or senility conspire to prevent me from doing my own preventative maintenance????
I think it will be time to consider mass transit.

 

You could take 10 showers a day and no one would say you're wrong. Right or wrong isn't the point. The point is that the manufacturers want to brainwash people in thinking frequent oil change is needed so consumers would shell out more money for something that is not necessary. It's easy money for them to make.

 

I would. It is a waste of water.

Mike