Oil change every 5K to prevent excessive oil consumption ?

I'm fine with 10k oil change intervals. I'm trusting Toyota to give me the proper advice. I'll wait to see if BITOG results show that it's too long of an interval. OTOH, I have changed my transmission/transaxle fluid on my Toyotas, even though it is supposed to be lifetime.

I'm undecided with brake fluid. Honda tells me to change it every couple of years on my Accord. My previous Toyotas said just to make sure the fluid level is correct, and it doesn't need to be changed. As of now, I'm following the owner manual's schedule for brake fluid and oil changes for each car.

 

Here's the Toyota Canada schedule, for all Canadian Toyota cars, including Prius:


The Oil & Filter change interval is a little convoluted, with two "services", but it comes down to 8000 km (5000 miles) or 6 months. And there's brake fluid change spec'd, every 3 years or 48K km (30K miles).

In other words: Toyota says different things around the world. Are the cars and climate that much different? Me in lower mainland BC, vs someone in North Dakota? Or Alaska? Australia? There's a fair amount of salesmanship in their schedule, my 2 cents.

 

if you think my comments give you a hangover, you should meet my wife!

 

Heheheheh! Take it easy. Its not just gonna happen. You're just funny.

 

Please do you have a link to these? Would be of immense help a lot in a place like Africa, where such vehicles are driven in SEVERE CONDITIONS(high T°C, bad roads, dusty environment, etc)

 

2014 was the first year (I believe) that Toyota Canada came out with a decently readable graph format schedule. I would suggest to input that, here:

Owner’s Manuals and Emergency Response Guides - Toyota Canada

It's the "Owner's Manual Supplement" you want, the graph format schedule begins on page 25. It's also the first year (I believe they instituted the brake fluid change interval. Long overdue, imho.

For comparison, have a look at the 2010 version. It's a hopeless mishmash, encompasses all Toyota models, no graph, tons of provisos and exceptions. Virtually unreadable, drove me to create this attachment. Just a just a summary of what's in the booklet, I don't necessarily agree with all of it.

 

I love this guys channel, very scientific. I do not really believe in snake oil but this bestline oil additive looks like it works! If you have money to burn, the cleaner your oil is, the longer your engine will last. My old boss did 3k oil changes and his silverado's drove 350k+.

 

I don't believe in snake oil, and I'd tend to put this product in that category. My brother, OTOH, would strongly agree with you and swears by Bestline oil additives- especially if one were to drive with little to no oil in their engine. I just don't have many impartial articles to read about their benefits- I'd love to hear what Toyota would have to say.

 

Is that a threat or a promise .

 

I have never used this product, I just really like what this guy does in his tests by having a control. I never thought the atp reseal would work and when my main seal leaked in my ridgeline, I threw it in. I saved myself the hassle of pulling a motor or handing Honda 1500$. 55k miles later there is still no leak. I found it on Scotty kilmers channel. I take everything with a grain of salt these days. Toyota has yet fix the engine knock at start up so I took it upon myself to install an oil catch can and have had no knock for 2 years. I just find it bizarre that more manufacturers are putting occ’s in their car’s and Toyota has done nothing. I still check my oil level every time I get gas so I’m not worried about it. Blindly trusting Toyota and 10k later without checking the oil level is asking for a blown engine. An oil analysis is the best way to determine if the 10k oci is sufficient @ 60k, 120k, 180k and so on.

 

Of course it LOOKS like it works.
One can design a "test" to prove just about anything you are trying to promote.

Oh, and just because it SOUNDS scientific does not mean that it really IS.

 

Yes, I wish now I had done oil changes every 5k. My '10 Prius has 125k now and burns 1 quart every 1000 miles! Actually talked to two dealers in Nashville, TN who said this was fine! Engine oil light has never come on that I've seen. After talking to Toyota service people and mechanics the more frequent changes seem to be a logical solution. I've also used High Mileage Mobil 1 oil which may be a bit more viscous since the standard OW20 is so thin. Toyota dealers use the Mobil 1 and Toyota brand oil for changes apparently. No recall is in issuance to date from Toyota for this problem though. The manual does say 10K oil changes are recommended interval too.

 

Hello fellow Nashvillian!

Shoot! That is a LOT of oil to burn in 5k miles. I've never had much luck with the beaman Toyota of Nashville. Never had a good experience.

Plain and simple, and engine with 125k miles should not burn a qt of oil every thousand miles, that's completely insane. Its just the icing on the cake for them to say nothings wrong.

Think of the oil that these Prii are emmiting into the air! Sad

 

Once you've used that, stick with it. I've hear it works by swelling rubber parts, and going back to regular oil, the rubber parts will shrink back, more than at the outset, accelerating oil use all the more.

And yeah, a dyed-in-the-wool 5K or 6 month DIY'r here. And we're low mileage, so 6 months governs. I won't disclose the typical mileage, they'd have me committed...