Oil over filled can affect anything?

that's a nice picture

 

This morn, as long as its family album time. Note no bend, it's a 2010:

 

Our 2012 original motor didn’t have the bend. Our “new” (unsure of the year) has the bend.


-Spiral

 

One thing I do for all my cars - put a 3x5 card in the glove box with wheel nut sizes and torque on one side and oil type & amount & drain plug size/torque on the other. Now that you know exactly how much to put in, write that down for future reference.

 

I chose to go the phone route and keep track of all repairs with mileage and dates






-Spiral

 

Drain what's in there, then refill to the bottom of the overflow. That's pretty much it. No torque converter to fill, this is similar to a manual transmission.

 

Yeah, just refill till it starts flowing back out, with the car level. You can pump the fluid up from below, though I found from above with a funnel and about three foot of hose is very easy. It's just a little tricky snaking it down. Keep the hose OD to 5/8" or less.

And yeah, when you drain you're getting most of it: multiple drain/fill is overkill.

Attached is the repair manual instruction. I've found another document that stresses to not save left over fluid for next time, you should be using fluid from freshly opened bottles. And while there's a few here using alternate fluids, I would stick with toyota ATF WS fluid, play it safe.

You need a 10 mm hex driver "socket" (Stanley makes a set), for both the fill and drain bolts. It's recommended to replace the washers. Torque for both is 29 ft/lb.

They tend to be glued on, hard to break loose. It's good to have a long handled ratchet wrench, and extensions.

 

Toyota is not adamant that you use their coolant, but they roll out such a long list of compatibility requirements it'll make your head spin (in the Owner's Manual). Accordingly, I would use the spec'd Toyota Super Long Life coolant.

And hey: it's the correct (bright pink) colour.

Definitely watch @NutzAboutBolts videos for the two coolant changes; they're linked in a thread pinned at top of 3rd gen maintenance forum.

I'll attach some Repair Manual info too.

 

No need to cock it. Just rotate it to one of the two orientations where gaps in threads let it drain, by design.

Agree with your first paragraph. Liquids hardly ever flow uphill, unless forced.

 

Zerex (Valvoline) Asian, which you can buy at such stores, is a p-HOAT type, equivalent to Toyota SLLC. Do not substitute other types of coolant. (There are several incompatible types.)

 

plug your vin into the toyota owners website for past dealer services and recalls

 

not sure either, there are some cali rules that apply iirc

 

Maybe it's just me.
But the last 3 new cars I've owned (including Gen 3 Prius ) have had pretty clear warnings in the owners manual about NOT overfilling the oil.
And I've read about how overfilled oil can negatively impact MPG. Also about the "frothing" of the oil.

So anyway, I'm pretty focused on having my oil NOT overfilled. I'd much rather slightly below the full filled, than above.

Whether I'm being too focused?
Well...I think doing it right...is always the right way to do it. Overfilled is overfilled. I'd fix it.

 

You seem to be pretty good at thinking things through.......but in this case, you stopped short of the "end".

A couple of extra ounces of oil will not hurt ANYTHING.
Car makers are smart enough to NOT design something like that.

If it ain't broke, don't "fix" it.

But in the end, it is whatever makes you feel good.

 

Good way to avoid overfill is to only put in the spec'd amount, then wait a few days before making level judgements. In my experience it tends to read low till everything's settled.

 

I know a feller here who only pours 4 quarts in his Prius, it runs bueno. Overfill never happens to him.

 

I find 4.2 litres (aka 4.5 qts) gets it just shy of top mark, after it's settled down.