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

Well, trust me... you didn't miss out on any fun!
We just like to remember the shared misery our old cars used to put us through on a regular basis

I had a Fiat X19 (mid-engine car) that you had to slide the passenger seat as far forward as it would go, remove the spare tire, open a hatch in the firewall, then lean into the engine compartment from the passenger compartment to get at the distributor! And you had to remove the distributor to clean/adjust the points because you couldn't remove the distributor cap or see the points while it was still installed in the engine...

 

I had a 1976 Fiat 128. Went to change the points and condenser. Had to remove several "C" clips inside the distributor to get to them, using needle-nose pliers. Installed new points and condenser. Re-assembled everything. One more "C" clip to attach, then done........ I dropped the little bugger down into the distributor. Had to take everything apart to retrieve it.

The sad part is...I dropped the same clip TWO MORE TIMES when re-assembling.

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled troll-fest.

 

Maybe for most the purchase of their Prii, had to do with saving money, I bought because I like Toyota's, its a small and good looking car, its uses much less gas than my other cars, which does save me money, and I got a good deal on it. With the savings I get in gas, I will change my oil at 5k miles. Does it not seem strange that Canadian Prius C have their oil done at 5K miles, but USA cars are done at 10k miles? Maybe Canadians keep their cars longer, and Toyota wants the original buyers to be happy repeat buyers, who knows?

 

No you are misreading that. The maintenance service calls for an oil change in addition to other stuff on those alternate 8K periods. The oil change interval is still 8,000 km in Canada.

 

No you have misunderstood, read what a maintenance service includes.

Personally I don't agree with calling it cheap or insurance, it's neither. Changing oil too often is a waste of oil, money and time.

All of this debate could be avoided if people submitted oil samples to a lab for analysis and based their interval off of scientific data.

For me, I'm sticking with 8K km OCI while the car is under warranty since I want to keep the warranty in good standing.

 

I do not know, looking at the table in the linked PDF I think it's 16000 km after 24000 km.

 

Let me try this another way...

Page 25 calls for the following at these intervals:
8K - Oil & Filter Service
16K - Oil & Filter Service
24K - Oil & Filter Service
32K - Maintenance Service (which includes an oil change)
40K - Oil & Filter Service
48K - Maintenance Service (which includes an oil change)
etc.
(they alternate names but both include an oil change)




Page 26 describes the "Oil & Filter Service" and "Maintenance Service":

 

My 97 Tacoma recommends oil change at 5K. I change it every 15K or 1 year which ever comes first. I always use full synthetic. In the past 10 years, I have forgotten to change oil twice already making it 2 years between oil change. For my Prius, I tried to change oil at 5K but the dealer said no need, come back at 10K. I've been changing the oil at the dealer every 10K ever since. My new 14 Sienna which the engine runs all the time calls for 10K/1 year oil change. The sienna rarely gets driven so it'll get an oil change in 7 months. By that time it'll rack up a whole 4K miles, if that.

 

I see your point now.

Still not sure though. I do know it's subtle enough that it's going to stump even a seasoned service writer. The Canadian schedule continues in it's usual all encompassing, confusing as hell style.

Moot point for me, I'll stick with 8000 km or 6 months, per the 2010 book, gives me a fall and spring chore.

 

My Ford is much smarter, it tells me when to change the oil (1 yr or 16K km), this is something I want to see in my next Prius.

 

Honda has similar Maintenance Minder. It appears to be doing some rudimentary monitoring too, to determine intervals.

 

I just picked up a 5 quart container at Walmart for about $25.00 for Mobil One ( 0w20) "Extended Performance" synthetic oil which is a new product from Mobil with a stated 15,000 mile drain interval. The price was the same for the regular 0w20 Mobil One oil I have been using. I don't plan on going 15,000 miles between changes, I change every 10,000 miles, but for the same price It sure is nice to have the extra protection...