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Official 2020 Toyota Prius Prime oil-change instructions

Discussion in 'Prime Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Gokhan, Jul 30, 2020.

  1. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    Official Toyota oil-change instructions for 2020 Prius Prime.

    Unlike what the official Toyota instructions say, I would never install a spin-on oil filter with a wrench. I only hand-tighten them to the specified 3/4 turns, which is sufficient. Spin-on oil filters are meant to be tightened by a specified number of turns, not by a specified torque. Installing a spin-on oil filter with a wrench and/or torquing it to a specified torque could lead to a removal nightmare in the next oil change. Therefore, simply hand-tighten it, preferably by using a shop towel or rag to protect your hand, to 3/4 turns or whatever number of turns is specified on it.

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  2. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Why does the diagram show element type filter for 2020 PRIME? They have replaced it with spin-on type since mid 2017 model on.
     
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  3. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    The instructions have bought types. Perhaps Toyota wanted to have universal instructions for both types of oil filter, including for past model years. Since the spin-on oil filter is fairly trivial to install, they didn't include illustrations for it.
     
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  4. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Good find, @Gokhan! It says twice at the top that it's specifically for MY 2020 and that it's for cars starting 5/19 so it doesn't look very universal to me. o_O

    So, the torque numbers would apply for the filter illustrated, just not for the filter that's actually in a 2020. You're totally right that the spin-on filters are tightened by how far you turn them.

    Interesting that the instructions for the Gen 3 say to tighten the cartridge to 18 ft/lb and this says 13. Must be trying to fix the problems with people breaking stuff when trying to remove the cartridge cap. I think I'll download that puppy right now. :D

    Edit to add:
    After closer inspection, it does show instructions for both kinds of filters and the cartridge filters housing is still 18 ft/lb.
     
    #4 jerrymildred, Jul 31, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
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  5. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    LOL No find. A while ago I paid for a single-day subscription to Toyota TIS (technical information system) and downloaded most of the repair manual, which is painful because you download every subsection separately and there are thousands of them. I may share the whole maintenance section as well as a section on vehicle resetting.
     
    #5 Gokhan, Jul 31, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
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  6. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    I just took a look, and the factory oil filter in the 2020 Prius Prime is Toyota 90915-10003 made in China.

    The OEM oil filter available in the US is Toyota 90915-YZZF2 made in Thailand.
     
    #6 Gokhan, Jul 31, 2020
    Last edited: Jul 31, 2020
  7. m8547

    m8547 Senior Member

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    Do some years use 0W-16? I thought my 2018 used 0W-20
     
  8. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Not sure of other regions, but the US 2020 model year PRIME uses 0W-16, all previous US PRIMEs use 0W-20. But they are all the same engines. The Japanese version of PRIME (Prius PHV) has been using 0W-16 since the 2017 debut.
     
    #8 Salamander_King, Aug 2, 2020
    Last edited: Aug 2, 2020
  9. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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  10. kepani

    kepani Member

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    Once my "complimentary" oil changes are up, I'll come back to this post. :)

    Thanks @Gokhan !!! (y)
     
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  11. Dael

    Dael Member

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    Just had mine changed at dealer and they used 0W20 on my 2020 prime. Guess not a big deal.
     
    #11 Dael, Jun 3, 2021
    Last edited: Jun 3, 2021
  12. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    That's incompetent. They can't do that. That entitles you to an extra free oil change in six months/5,000 miles according to the maintenance manual, which says that the oil should be changed every six months/5,000 miles if 0W-16 wasn't used.
     
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  13. Clint3200

    Clint3200 Junior Member

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    I just checked the records from March for my 10K complimentary oil change on the 2020 Prime and they indeed used 0W20.
    SMH
     
  14. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    That won't hurt a thing. (y) Except that you might get about one millionth of a mile per gallon less than with 0W16. :D
     
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  15. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    The maintenance manual says that if 0W-16 wasn't used in the previous oil-change, the oil must be changed in 6 months/5,000 miles (15,000 miles in your case). Show it to them, and ask for a free oil change in 6 months.
     
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  16. Michael Wood

    Michael Wood Active Member

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    Many of us have agonized over the 0w16-0w20-0w30 issue. I'll opt for 0w16. Toyota said a lot with the statement "If 0w16 isn't available, use 0w20, but switch back to 0w16 at the next oil change".

    Toyota obviously feels that flow is more important than film strength when considering the applicable trade-offs. It's always a give and take when it comes to oil. Flow wins.

    That 0w16 is some scary stuff though. After 5000k miles.....it's as thin as orange juice.
     
    #16 Michael Wood, Jul 2, 2021
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2021
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  17. Dael

    Dael Member

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    Anyone talk to "the man" yet? going in for a change
     
  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Maybe I can put this tempest in a tea pot to rest. I've done the conversion to spin-on on my 2010, and here's a couple of pics from my last oil change. I installed the oil filter till it just touched down on the machined surface, put a silver sharpie mark at 6 o'clock, then torqued to the spec'd 13 foot pounds, and the mark had gone round to 3 o'clock.

    Before torque:

    17164DC3-1CCB-4E18-90A7-92490B18EF16.jpeg

    and after:

    EAD36C56-673E-43AB-A7A2-46C7D10F5A7F.jpeg
     
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  19. Dael

    Dael Member

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    so that's 3/4 of a turn pretty near
     
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  20. Gokhan

    Gokhan Senior Member

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    As you see, the factory torque spec results in the overcompression of the gasket. It overshot 3/4 turns by 10°. If you manually tightened it, it would be exactly 3/4 turns.
     
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