10,000 mile oil change I don't think so

Last time I looked at my dip stick it was at the half mark, maybe 20k miles on that oil I think, still amber color, I'm sure the filter didnt look so good. But going to buy 5 quarts of oil, I came out with a 2014 Camry Hybrid, so I still have the oil and filter. I can use the oil. Now my 2 year old Prius had 86k on it. and maybe 4 if not 5 oil changes in its life time. Most were in the free 25k mile maintenance. Still was ging me 45-47mpg..

 

My mom is at 177k miles. I gave her the Civic at 160k or so when I got the Prius and it was getting 45 mpg. I loved how maintenance minder counted down the last 5% increments so I could time it to change at 0%.

Toyota should really adopt a similar system. It's just software.


iPhone ?

 

I see 5k mi or 6 months the first oil change then 10k mi/1 year after that: http://mediapv4.toyota.ca.s3.amazonaws.com/media/pdf/14manual_e.pdf

 

tach18k, 86k mile and only 4-5 oil changes lifetime? OMG - you should have been at 8 oil changes - when was the last time you had it changed?

 

^ Thanks for that pdf. Finally a spreadsheet format maintenance schedule, specific to Prius. Our 2010 booklet is a mishmash: no charts, just text, and it covers EVERY Toyota vehicle, peppered with exceptions and provisos. Nice, revamped booklet, I'll be saving this.

And as you say, Toyota is changing with 2014, saying 3 changes at 8000 km (or 6 months), 16000 km thereafter.

Addendum: I see the schedule still covers all Toyota vehicles. Still, the chart format is a BIG improvement.

Also, one thing I just noticed that's new for Toyo:

brake fluid change every 3 years.

 

Its cheap insurance, and as one that does keep my vehicles for a very long time, I will pay for the extra oil changes.

 

I've been repairing cars forever, and I can't remember the last time I've seen a worn out engine. Usually a car is beat up , or has been in too many accidents to keep anymore.

 

That just means you have a good customer base, people that actually care about their cars.

 

spEvery 7500 miles for me. More worried about the filter lasting 10K than the oil. Especially the Toyota OEM oil filter.

Having said that, I'm having a hard time seeing how "X" number of miles for maintenance really can apply to an ICE on a hybrid. Way too many variables and very dependent on how the hybrid is driven.

A more accurate measurement would be the number of hours the ICE has been running. It would be nice to know what Toyota assumed the number of run hours would be for the Prius ICE when they recommended a 10K oil change interval.

Time to figure how to install an hour meter to the ICE.

 

Toyota Oil Filters are some of the best.

 

Finally they get it with brake fluid! DOT3 is DOT3. I don't care what you drive.

 

Changing at 5000 miles will certainly do no harm other than, in my opinion, wasting money. I am very comfortable with the manufacturer's recommendation in this case, and I have noted that the oil, even after 10,000 miles, looks the same as it did when it was new. In my case, the ICE runs, at most, about 2/3 of the time and the closer tolerances of modern engines means less blow-by makes into the crankcase. Regardless of my anecdotal experience however, the numbers don't lie. Oil testing by members of this group shows that the 10K interval perfectly acceptable.

 

FWIW, the postcard we just received from Toyota-USA, about the purchase of our new 2014 Prius, states "5,000-mile/6-months" oil-changes.

 

Look at it more closely. It says 5k mile maintenance. If you look under what services are included in the 5k, 15k, and so on service intervals oil changes are not included as they are for the 10k.


iPhone ?

 

With 112,000 miles on our Prius I change myself every 10,000 miles. When change with a new filter
I put in 4 quarts of Mobil One 0w20 oil. When I change nearly all 4 quarts comes out and the oil still
looks good.

My 2003 VW TDI I did the same with Mobil one 5W40 Turb0 Diesel oil at 10,000 miles and never had a problem after nearly 150,000 miles...

 

Ok, that's the funniest thing I've heard all month. Thanks for making my day!

 

This is ritual..again.

People adopt the ritual they feel comfortable with in so much as Oil Changes.

I rarely argue or debate it. People are pretty inflexible, and most choices one way or another I think make ultimately little to no difference.

I changed my New Prius, Oil at 5000 miles, even though the dealership said it wasn't necessary for another 5000 miles. I will change the oil again at 10,000 miles...that's two changes in 10,000 miles. After that? I'm going in 10,000 mile intervals as recommended.

I think the synthetic Oil durable enough. I also think the Prius somewhat unique, in so much as that as a hybrid in any given 5000-10,000 miles, there are a lot of miles and time covered when the engine isn't even running at all. I'm pretty confident I can go 10,000 miles or 1 year, easily.

But really? Do what you feel comfortable with. If more frequent Oil Changes make you feel better? Well it's your vehicle and your money. It is relatively cheap insurance.

 

lol this reminds me of a quote from Mr Burns of The Simpsons fame;

"You there, fill it up with petroleum distillate, and re-vulcanize my tires, post-haste!"

Things have moved on since 1974, but it's your car. You carry on changing it every 5,000 if it makes you happy. You don't regrind the valve seats every 15,000 too do you?

This question you ask has been asked a million times before. Toyota wouldn't recommend 10,000 intervals if they weren't happy. In other parts of the world 15,000 mile or even 20,000 mile intervals are recommended by manufacturers like BMW. Why? Because times have changed, oils have changed and mechanical tolerances have changed, but if you're happy every 5k miles, then it's upto you.

 

I was going to post about BMW and their intervals! Some friends of mine have the new 520ds and we had discussed the oil changes. Some people on here couldn't handle the 15,000+ oil changes!

 

I do some math...

Data: 200k miles ownership
50USD per oil change

5k interval - 40 changes = 2000USD
10k interval - 20 changes = 1000USD

Spending 1000USD extra does not seem a "good trade", knowing the ICE lasts in both OC plans...