Need answers quick! changing oil now... couple questions

Yep, I am trying to get my wife to go visit her father so I can change the tranny fluid. LOL

So all I need to take to the dealer is 3 quarts? I thought it was 4 for mine. Now I need to check.

 

The Prius takes about 3.5 quarts.
The torque of the oil plug is in the Owner's Manual... and I'm sure that it is on this site, too.
This site has a wealth of information you might find useful: John's Stuff

 

Yep 3.5 will fill her up quite nicely!!!!

My wife hates greasy keyboards too!!!

 

~3.5 US quarts is about right for a drain and refill.

28 ft.-lb.

You should replace the drain plug gasket each time you remove the drain plug.

 

Torque spec is not in the manual. Patrick has supplied it above. It can be found in the tech procedure for those that have access. Unfortunately, John's oil change procedure does not include the torque setting either.

I went to 3.0 quarts for my last oil change as others have suggested, putting the level midway on the stick. Comparing this to 1/4" over (as shipped) and about 1/4" under max (first oil change at 3.5 quarts) my mileage is way up, with a low of 49.9 mpg in the seven tanks since the change. It's hard to say how much of this is weather compared to last summer, how much to break in, and how much to driving style changes or routes. I'm not planning to add half a quart of oil to find out.

 

Many people say to do this, but I go several oil changes before replacing the plug gasket not once have I ever had a leak. I have been doing it this way since the 70's with no issues. And I have also never used a torque wrench for the drain bolt.

 

One can generally reuse the gaskets several times. I've done it.

The torque wrench serves three purposes:
1. Getting the bolt on tight enough it won't loosen or leak.
2. Making removal easier the next time...because over-torqued bolts can be very difficult to remove while properly torqued ones are straightforward.
3. Eliminating over-torquing to the point of failure. When the bolts are sufficiently over-torqued the threads strip and the plug will leak, even with the gasket. (I've had this experience before.)

The same is true for lug nuts, although leaking is not an issue, making it possible for a woman to remove a flat tire is. Also, the times I've had trouble with rotor warping have mostly coincide with some doofus over-torqued the lugs, and I didn't loosen and retorque them myself.

Torquing takes the guess work out of the job and eliminates several unpleasant failure modes.

 

Three quarts even is nice 'because then there's no half-empty bottle to fool with. It's almost as though Toyota designed it that way.

 

Oops. I thought it was in the manual.
When I said "this site", I did mean Priuschat. I'm sure, somewhere in the care and maintenance forum, someone posted the torque ft/lbs.

Thanks to PatrickWong for posting the torque

 

Understandable as it certainly should be in the manual. It is in the Bentley manual.

 

It doesn't. What it is describing is the range between the marks on the dipstick. On page 367 of my '08 manual it shows: "Oil quantity (Low--> Full) 1.6 qt. (1.5L, 1.3 Imp. qt.)" Unfortunately, this is the "Adding engine oil section" not an oil change section which is entirely absent. The capacity is listed on page 466.

I understand the confusion as this a very ineptly and inadequately structured section.

Incidentally, my '02 Tundra manual is structured the same way, and the range from low/full on it is 1.6 qt. as well.) It's an unfortunate bit of boiler plate by Toyota. It's poor form to copy a bad system ad infinitum.

Toyota is trying to get folks to use the dealer service dept. by not giving them an oil change section.

 

I know that Shawn knows this, so others should note that that figure is *dry* capacity. During an oil change the system is not dry, therefore the amount to be added is smaller. For those who like to fill things to the tippy-top, it may be better to think of the upper mark on the dipstick as "do not exceed" rather than "full".

 

As far as stated oil capacity causing overfill, not just the Prius that has this problem. You put the stated oil capacity in an FJ, the oil is 5mm over the full dot

For the Prius, I found 3.3 litres put the level right on the full dot, using the Toyota filter

 

Many thanks to Patrick, Shawn, and everyone else for the torque and fill specifications. I just did an oil change today at 7600 miles. I wanted the torque specification as I had never used that type of crush washer before, and I wanted to be certain that it was properly tightened. Interestingly, I though that I had it tight enough without using a torque wrench. But when I put my beam wrench on it, it was still quite short of 28 ft-lbs. However, the beam wrench was really hard to accurately use under there, so I went out afterwards and purchased a click type to use the next time.

The Prius' first oil change was done by the dealer around 3500 miles. I had them do it since I was getting ready to go on a 2000 + mile trip, I had a coupon for a free change, and didn't want to go past 5000 miles before the first oil change.

At that time when they changed it, I told them not to overfill it, that I only wanted about 3.5 quarts. But they wouldn't do it, saying that they had to do what Toyota told them, which was 3.9 quarts. So after that first oil change (which of course overfilled the engine), I took some out with a vacuuum pump when I got home.

This time I decided to change the oil myself.

I have another "free" change coupon that I will use with the dealership at around 10,500 miles for the 10k service. After that, I'll probably be changing the oil on my own.

I bought the oil, filter, and washer directly from the Toyota dealership today. While there, I asked them what I needed to do to "prove" that I had been doing the required oil maintenance (should a warranty issue ever arise). The SM told me to write the date that I did the oil change on the purchase receipt for the supplies. I also wrote it in the Maintenance Record book. I'll keep the sales receipt in the record book. I would think that should be sufficient should I ever be "challenged" about the maintenance record.

It seems as though I got a good price for the Toyota-branded oil: $3.06 a quart. I bought a case of twelve, so that came to about $37 for the case. I also got a 3/8" drive filter wrench, two filters, and three crush washers for a total with tax of around $56. I felt that was a good deal.

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On another topic: anyone know if used oil filters can go to a collection or recycling center? There are plenty of places to bring used motor oil. But I don't know about used filters.


Thanks

 

The collection points here that accept used oil, must also accept the filters too

 

You should come over and see my EV sometime then. NO oil changes ever. Also no plugs or filters. No tuneups of any kind. But I digress...

 

So that means that after draining the oil, there's still around 0.4 - 0.6 qt left somewhere in the engine? (Book says 3.9 qt, general agreement on refill is around 3.3 - 3.5 qt.) Makes one think the effort to drain to "the last drop" is an exercise in futility. Has anyone ever pulled the oil pan to see what's in there after draining through the drain hole?