Oil Change Recommendations?

They do speak a strange language -- torque, relays, capacitors, inch-pounds. I don't understand it.

 

I had a terrible experience with Jiffy Lube previously - on removing and trying to sell me on a new air filter, they lost the screws to put the air filter back on - then didn't tell me about it, allowing unfiltered air to come into the engine (fortunately I caught the problem after driving home). However places like these seem to vary in service greatly from location to location. There may be some Jiffy Lubes that do a really good job. I get my oil changed at Goodyear by my house that has good service for the price. Most Goodyears charge about $30, but the one by my house charges $15 if you provide your own oil and filter, or about $17 if you just provide your own oil and they provide the filter. I buy full synthetic Mobil 1 0W-30 for ~$23 at Wal-Mart for a 5 quart bottle and then I provide it to have my oil changed. This allows me to have a full synthetic oil change for less than $40, which is a great deal for me as changing the oil is my least favorite thing to do on the car (and I rent so I don't have a good spot where it would be okay to leak a few drops of oil on the ground).

I think that the best oil in general for 2nd gen Prius drivers in the US is Mobil 1 0W-30 Mobil 1 0W-30 Advanced Fuel Economy Full Synthetic Motor Oil, 5 qt. - Walmart.com
It meets 5W-30 specs while being even thinner for easy starting when cold, and is relatively inexpensive. I think there's a Castrol German synthetic that's probably an even better oil, but it's double the cost and can't really be justified.

If I lived in a hotter climate (Phoenix, Florida, etc.) I would use a 5W-30 full synthetic.

If I lived in a colder climate (northern Canada, UK), or at least one that rarely gets very hot, I would use a 0W-20 full synthetic. The Prius sold in the UK and in other cooler parts of the world with the exact same engine is recommended to use 0W-20.

Therefore I recommend to those who don't change their own oil, but want the best oil available to try buying their own oil and then taking it to a shop to be changed.

 

An environmental plug:

I'm now buying Toyota 0W20 in bulk, through a local dealership. Our son's car takes 0W20 too, so I go in with a couple of 4 liter reusable bottles*, they fill them both for $4.50 Canadian per liter. The drained oil I take to a nearby Mr Lube, in a heavy duty gas-can style container, dump it out into their used-oil tank, take it home. No superfluous containers in the recycle stream.

* Repurposed Canola cooking oil bottles, thoroughly cleaned.

 

maybe the magnuson act doesn't cover optional free extended warranties.

 

I did note that they will not void the Subaru warranty, only their "free" supplemental "lifetime" power train warranty which is not covered by the referenced law.

I am a conservative old guy and have always done oil changes at shorter intervals than required in the manual. My 2004 Prius always got fresh syn oil every 5k miles and was still running well when retired at 288k miles.

JeffD

 

Wow! That's a lot of money saved with both of your cars!

 

Certainly not hurting anything by changing it more frequently, and you can't argue with those results.