Do I have to take the Prius to the dealer for its first tune-up?

No tune-up is required. Just oil change. Anyone can do it, but keep the receipt as proof.

 

the mechanic might not know how, you do though:

http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-forum/33649-reset-maintenance-light-dash.html

 

You can also look in your owner's manual. Yes, the procedure is right there in black and white in the section called "Maintenance You Can Do Yourself."

The link that AdamKPL gave is also good....

 

I tend toward a dealer because they have usually know how to start, drive, and stop a Prius. And the quicky places have a terrible rep for carelessness, and often they're no cheaper.

No matter who changes the oil, *always* look under the hood and check the oil level yourself before driving away. It's easy, and it can prevent a lot of expensive trouble.

 

I second that: I finally gave up on quick lube places. Tools left under the hood, under tightening filters and drain plugs (leaks), forget about washing the car first, they'll get palm prints all over it. The list goes on.

 

Are you saying no tune-ups ever?

 

Modern cars don't really have "tune-ups" any more. There is nothing to adjust under the hood. Fluids and filters are what you mostly have to take care of along with the occasional set of spark plugs and timing belt.

 

All of the periodic maintenance that a Prius needs is described in the Scheduled Maintenance Guide that comes with every new Prius. Doing anything else (for example the fixed-price service packages sold by dealers) is a waste of money. Take the Scheduled Maintenance Guide with you; show the appropriate X miles/Y months page to the service writer; tell them to do that stuff and nothing else. In 50 months and 30,000 miles I've spent a total of $240 on periodic maintenance (this excludes only new tires).

 

IMO take it to the dealer if you have a coupon for a free oil change or a discounted price below the Shell guy. Do you really believe the dealer's Prius Tech is going to be paid to change your oil?

 

The stock Goodyear tires didn't make it to 30,000 miles?

 

Depending on the member here, the tires have failed at 12,000 miles and at the most gone the distance at 40,000 - 45,000 miles.

 

all,

I believe that there was recently one other person besides myself who made it to 55,000 miles with the original tires. I probably could have made it to 60,000, but my wife always got very nervous about riding in the car on those tires whenever I had parked with the steer'g wheels turned so that she could see all of the tread.

In actuality the middle 3 inches of the tread was sufficiently above the molded-in wear marks that I should have easily made it to 60,000 miles (& we're not talk'g about getting that far in winter "must have decent tread" weather---I'm at 58,000 miles now & I got the new tires in May). Back in March or April when I had a flat, I got the poor tire shop employee (who removed a nail from the middle area of the tread & plug-repaired it) in some serious trouble with one of his 2 managers. The 1st manager didn't like the looks of the tire & didn't want to risk the liability for repair'g it, and said if I asked them to re-mount the wheel on the car he would NOT do the repair. However, if I just asked them to repair it & throw it into the back cargo area (as though it was only going to be used as a spare) he could overlook the worn condition (even though he agreed the tread was still legal) & authorize the free repair. The 2nd manager wasn't aware of this agreement (or the background of how & when the tires on my car got to look the way they did) & just saw the freshly repaired tire being hand-rolled back to me in the sales area & started yelling at the poor kid.

By the time I was ready to bring my car in for its 10,000 mile service [no, I never call it a xx,000 mile service when I make the appointment or bring it in---that way I've never paid over $50 (usually only about $35) like some of you who got ripped off for as much as $300 have], the inside & outside edges of all 4 tires had pretty severe wear on them (for only 10,000 miles). The wear was even & smooth (NOT cupped or jagged), so to me that didn't indicate an alignment or suspension problem. I found the tire pressures at 24 lbs all around before taking the car in, so I discussed this with them & asked that the pressures be set correctly this time. I never thought to check & see where they left them when I got the car back, but before I took it back in for the 15,000 mile service (again, just what I'm call'g it for you folks) I found the pressires at 28 lbs all around (& the wear on the edges was even worse but still only negligible in the middle areas---still looked almost new there). I discussed this situation with them again & insisted they used the pressures on the door pillar (with the 2 lb differential too). This time the pressures were set correctly (because the 35 PSI Fr & 33 PSI Rr were specified on the work order) & I was happy.

By the time I checked them again before the 20,000 mile service, the pressures were still good & the middles still looked great but the wear on the edges looked even worse (maybe only my imagination though). Based on what a lot of you guys here (& over at PriusOnLine too) were saying, I asked them to now bump the pressures up to 42 PSI Fr & 40 PSI Rr. They balked & I told me I couldn't run pressures like that (that it was illegal for them to set the pressures that high), but I informed them that the tires were rated for max pressure of 44 PSI so they relented & put those numbers on the work order (& we've done it the same way at every service since then). The original tires were always good at hold'g whatever pressures were put in them & from then on (20,000 miles), the wear stopped on the edges & started a little more in the middle (to finally equalize the wear across the whole tread of the tires). If I had left the pressures to the dealer & never checked what they were using or spoken up, I probably would have had to toss the original tires at 20,000 miles or so instead of the 55,000 miles I did get or 60,000 that I might have been able to just squeak out.

Since the subject of the original tires not last'g too long came up in this thread, I decided this would be a good place to make this posting (rather than in the maintenance & care section) because it's the ideal place for the newbies to see this early & monitor what the dealer may be doing to be able to speak up & avoid losing all that tire tread life un-necessarily. Sorry it got so long.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

They did not. But I sometimes jackrabbit away from stops, and that is hard on tires. Something like 90% of my driving is a city street commute, so my tires probably have to endure more such starts per mile than those of the average driver. Also no one has yet shown convincing evidence that other tires allow better fuel economy than do the original tires. Overall I'm satisfied with them.

 

There is no timing belt on a Prius so keep your air filter clean, replace the plugs every 100,000km and ensure the water-pump belt is in good shape, that about covers the tuneup side of things. When you check your oil, no higher on the dipstick than 1/4 inch below the high mark. Make sure you use the right oil too, thick oil will cost you fuel.

 

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