Prius 2010 Oil Change Interval Revised? Not yet... (closed)

Too big. The canister shell has plastic, you could strip/crack the shell

Please download John's pdf on his 2010 oil change. Very informative

 

Thanks.. will do

 

My reputable dealer has not been informed of this oil maintenance change.Tomorrow, I will call the HQ customer
service and query them on this claim.Also,it seems that the
2010 Prius has an oil filter(paper?) that one inserts in the
canister,sort of like my 69 Jag XKE.To me,this is a backward
step and makes it more expensive for do-it-your-selfers.I
would definitely change the oil at 5000 miles.There are still
questions to be answered re type of oil usage.Yesterday,the
HQ customer service rep told me that 5w-20 regular oil was
OK after the first 5000 miles,but MPG would decline(my guess would be by not too much).If it's OK to use 5w-20
regular oil,why not 5w-20 synthetic,where there is more of
a selection.More questions have to be answered on this
subject.I think Toyota is overdoing it with this 0w-20 synthetic kick.
Yes,I know it leaves less deposits in the engine,but I just
turned 175,000 miles on my 96 Blazer,and I'm still not
burning much more than when it was new.I change my oil
every 5000 miles with the type of driving I do(80%Hwy)

 

You are free to do anything you'd like to your Prius. If you think Toyota's nutty requiring 0W-20 oil, then no one can stop you from using 5W-20 (or 10W-40, for that matter). The only problem is compliance with Toyota's requirements and qualification for warranty.

I'm not ready to toss the latter, so regardles of whether I like the rule established by Toyota, I'm going to follow it in order to best preserve any future warranty claim.

But . . . to each his own!

 

Dealers don't even know what type of oil is used in a 2010 Prius and its been out for 4 months now so I figure it will take them another 4 months to figure this out if they got the message today. Its not in the dealers interest tell us that the oil change interval was increased to 10K.

 

Remember the quote: "No good deed shall go unpunished"?

Next, imagine a world with no good deeds, then grit your teeth and do the good deed anyway:rockon:.

Some people will complain, but many others (myself included) will appreciate it.

 

Thanks for the additional info. Sorry if it seems like some of us are questioning you. I am sure you believe this to be true, and it sure sounds like your dealership believes this to be true as well. I sure want it to be true. But I just think this kind of stuff should be spread more officially than just by word of mouth on here. So if this is true, that's not an indictment of you, you should go ahead and post what info you get, that's what the forum is for. It's an indictment of Toyota for not putting the information out in a way that gets to everybody and is clear is official.
We're obviously getting contradictory information at this point from different dealers. Which again leads me to believe that either A ) someone is misunderstanding somewhere along the line, B ) this change hasn't fully been rolled out yet but is coming, and some have heard about it while others haven't or C ) this has or is being rolled out but Toyota isn't doing the job in getting the word out.
I just personally would want something in writing from Toyota stating this and ideally also a new maintenance booklet that reflects the new schedule.
I fortunately have about 9,600 miles before this is a concern, so I've got some time to let whatever is going on shake out. If I didn't and my dealer didn't know what I was talking about, I'd stick with the 5k schedule until I get official word otherwise. If my dealer were like yours, saying that the new 10k-mile schedule is the real deal, I would ask them to put that new oil change schedule in writing, just in case this turns out to not be true and have some repercussion for the warranty.

Just to be clear, I haven't complained about the original poster posting this, I'm all for the sharing of info. I would just like official word, and I have posted a few times counseling my opinion, which is that while this may turn out to be true and I hope it does, a post on here doesn't make it true. Some people are saying "well, this is the new schedule" without taking into account that it hasn't (in my judgment) been confirmed to a degree that would make me change the oil change schedule on my car yet.
I'll shut up now as I really wasn't trying to offend or criticize anyone, just trying to restrain some of the enthusiasm for this possibility until we are sure it is true.

 

Sphyrna,

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for posting this information when you did. The dissemination of information is what makes internet forums so great!

Thanks again,
Bryan

 

NO WAY should/would anyone here hassle you if this in fact turns out not to be true. Don't shoot the messenger type of thing. Personally I think this topic had been so played out in other threads - it's comforting to perhaps have some positive news. Hopefully that will be the case as I believe the majority of us owners here (like 90%) would like it to be 10K intervals. Only makes sense.

I am a bit surprised that Toyota USA (Doug's crew) may be in the dark on this. The impact on Gen III owners (and dealers) is considerable. Just doesn't make sense that your FL dealer is so proof-positive this is the case. Hopefully Toyota is simply getting their background act together re marketing and technical. Wonder (perhaps) if this document slipped out prematurely to your dealer. The mystery will be solved very soon.

Either way I commend you for publicizing it to us here at PC. No tar & feathers.... just the opposite.

 

That new section, featuring the use of ramps, is available now...

. .


Here's the link for the document download again: Changing Oil
.

 

Our dealer had a new car owner event last evening. They had not been notified of the service interval change. They said that owners could get a letter in the mail and find out about it before they do-said that has happened before for other issues.

 

Just to keep things in perspective and factual.

• One dealer in SE Fla has begun notifying customers of several new vehicles where it believes that the use of 0W-20 synthetic oil revises the OCI intervals to 10000 miles. Thanks for the headsup sphyrna.
• No other dealers in NA participating in PC have any knowledge of such a change - Yet.
• The Prius Team which also participates and monitors the discussions in PC has not issued any comment on this subject - Yet.
• Toyota has not published anything in the press nor though its website about such an OCI change - Yet.

 

For what it's worth, Toyota has not updated the Warranty & Maintenance Guide to reflect any change in service interval It still shows every 5000mi, just like the printed copy that came with the car. An official copy of that guide can be downloaded here:

Toyota Parts and Service

 

I've just fired off an e-mail to Toyota HQ and asked about this. Asked if the interval has been revised for the 2010 Gen 3 Prius and if so, what method would be used to notify owners and as important, the dealerships? I figured not ventured nothing gained.

 

Yea Sphyrna, we all throw out ideas and its everyone else's job to interrogate and analyze the ideas and that how we all collectively seem to know more than the dealers... so don't take anything personal.. we appreciate the new info and it stirs research with many fingers in the pie.

I"m sure some engineer possibly released this without full permission from all the lawyers in play.. they may be trying to look at the legal implications of such a time interval for oil changes.
On the other hand.. Toyota is very big.. and one hand doesn't always know what the other is doing at any given time... so we will have to wait.

Dealers have many distractions to do what they do and doing research is often low on the priority list and without a formal release from Toyota, they may not have a clue.

Also, oil changes make lots of money... not so much for the oil changes, but all the other things they try to gender up while your there.... so no, its not in their best interest to half the frequency of our visits!

 

I just checked with the dealer I purchased mine from and they said they were not aware of this change. At a rate of $140 for the oil change service, I can understand why they would not like to see this changed. Amazing how the dealers get away with this crap charging that much for an oil change and inspection. When I questioned the service manager, he replied back that under normal driving that this will only have to be done three times a year. I told him, nice try and went to look for the number for my reliable independent mechanic who is about 60% less.

 

Yea and buying a case of 10 filters for 45.00 from the post here that tumbleweed provided "post # 70" you can do it yourself for whatever your oil cost plus about 5.00 bucks for the filter.... I'd say 25.00 bucks each oil change ought to cover it!

BTW... they have updated thier site.. you don't have to look up the corolla 2009.. they have the prius 2010! "which uses the same filter.
If you look it up yourself, its under toyota-prius-2010-accessories, then look for oil change.

 

hey, they updated their site.. now look up the toyota prius 2010, under accessories here
then look for oil change. Don't forget, its also recommended you also might want to pick up a 64mm filter removal tool also.

BTW... tumbleweed... where did you pick up your wrench?
I found one here.. wondering if you have a better one recommended?

Looking at the pdf Johns on site, it does look like the canister has 14 flutes on it, so that filter wrench should work.

 

Canonus,
The customer rep stated to me that it wasn't mandatory to use synthetic 0W-20,and the warranty
would be honored as long as I followed the 5000 mile
maintenance program and kept good records of my
purchases.He also said that the 6 month part of the
maintenance schedule is not set in cement.Who would
want to change their oil after driving 1500 miles in 6 months?
That's overkill.I don't think Toyota could win in court if
you used oil other than 0W-20 and you had an engine
problem.It would also be embarrassing to the company if
their 4 banger couldn't handle regular oil.But as you said...
to each his own!