break in and first oil change

I suggest following the maintenance scheduled included with the car.

 

Just drive it reasonably. The manual should say avoid hard acceleration and braking before 640 (?) miles. I don't think it best to drone along the freeway for 500 miles, same speed in a brand new car. It is good to have a varying load. Mixed city / highway driving will be fine. Just drive.

Follow Toyota's first oil change schedule. Honda told me they put in a special additive in the oil for new engines. If that's the case for Toyota, you wouldn't want to drain that out.

 

I like to keep a close eye under the hood on new cars, even before driving off. I check as much as I can before buying. Look for any problems under the hood when new.

You'll find that brand new cars 'loosen' up over a few thousand miles. Hard to descibe, but the drivetrain feels a little bit more stiff when brand new.

 

My dealer uses Valvoline Syn Power oil

Just had my oil changed by my dealer at 1200 miles. I am old fashion and believe in changing my oil and filter after around the first 1000 miles.

The cost was $40. The dealer used 0W20 Valvoline Syn Power synthetic oil that they charged $3.50 per quart. Not worth my time as this oil would have been over $6 per quart at Walmart if I could even find it. The filter was $5.95 and labor was around $15.

From all the discussion about using only Toyota synthetic oil, I find it silly that my dealer uses a standard off the shelf oil.

Wallyf

 

Years ago, I'd change oil at about 1,000 miles. That flushes out the assembly lube and "metal" flash and wear that "deburrs" the sharp edges in metals. While the oril filter will trap the solids, it will not take out the Liquids" and those solid molecules on the molecular level.

10,000 miles is too long to wait until the first oil change. I'll probably change it at 3,000 on my new "v," let the dealer change it at 10,000 or the first 12 months and the second oil change, and myself at the same interval from then on.

I'll use the Toyota supplied oil filters and Mobil 1 0w20 sythetic.

As far as "break in" driving style, the hybrid is diff The system already varies speed, turns on and off the engine and so forth. There's no need to varit it, yourself. For the first 1,000 miles, I just wouldn't drive it at a constant speed on the freeway.

 

On my 2011, I drove the car normally from day 1. Plenty of 4-4.5k rpm on a daily basis. At 26,000 miles, it consumes zero oil.

For the oil change schedule, this is what I followed. Some of this was planned, some of it was not.

3,000: Mobil 1 0w20 and Toyota Filter
10,500: Toyota 0w20 and Toyota Filter
15,100: Mobil 1 0w20 and Toyota Filter
20,300: Toyota 0w20 and Toyota Filter

For reasons I cannot remember, I did not stick to the strict 5k schedule I had originally planned to. I was going to do another oil change at 25k, but decided to go 10k this time and get an Used Oil Analysis (UOA).

 

I thought the oil change was every 10k and tire rotations at 5k?

 

Those are the minimum requirements, yes.

 

I just took my Prius v for its first 5000 mile service. The manual suggests an oil change if the car is driven in cold snowy conditions and I asked for it when I brought the car in.
However, the service department rep at the local Toyota dealer insisted that we in the NY City area do not fall within this requirement - it apparently applies only to people further up north in places like Minnesota or Maine. is that right?

 

In my opinion NYC is cold snowy conditions. Ours will be done per that recommendation and we are slightly colder (average) and snowier. I think they fight because of cost. I am polite but I won't back down and they can do it or lose my business. I will even pay for it. It is my car and I have to live with it and any warts it develops. It is also something Toyota could use to decline a warranty claim so I dot my ts and cross my eyes. (intended for humor)

Worst case call Toyota for advice and see if they concur with the service rep. If not there is your ammo if you aren't one to be adamant.
W

 

Certainly not necessary.

Per second response in this thread, go with the manual.

I've seen a lot of people online talking about how driving it like it's stolen is best, showing pictures of cylinder heads, etc. but I think the lot of them know less than the manufacturer's engineers, who say drive it gently and this is in the manual

If you really want, maybe half the duration of the first oil change. I did partly because I also just "didn't feel comfortable" with going 10k on the first change.

 

I pan on doing my first oil change at 2k miles or so. 10k is just too long to go with the oil with the factory assembly lube and "flash" metal particles in the oil.

The Aassmbacher TOY640 cap socket is the best tool from what I heard form most all of the posters in these forums.

There is no need for a torque wrench to tighten the filter housing, if you mark its position with dabs of pain in relation to the casting, before you remove it. Just tighten it with the new gasket to the same position to match the paint marks. I'm nearly sure that the dealer service will not even use a torque wrench.

Then, after reassembly, I'd place a small piece of tape on the gap between the cap and the casting. That way, you'd know that the dealer changed the filter, when you take it in for service at 10k.

 

I could not get to the dealer at 5,000 miles when the light went on…so I have scheduled for 10,000 miles (which should be next month). I can see how the car has really loosened up since I bought it at Thanksgiving.

 

The dealer up here in Fairbanks, AK, said that it wasn't necessary up here either. It must not be cold and snowy enough (-17F this morning)...

 

Which brand oil cartridge do you folks use, and where do you buy it from (dealer)?

 

Is 5k miles really 5k miles ?...I'm no Prius expert, so correct me if I'm off base with any of this. The ICE runs what percentage of the time over the course of 5k miles, 2k, 3k....Not sure why you'd change at 1 or 2k miles if the oil is the same color as the day you bought it, if your paranoid just change the filter and top it off.

I used to change oil way to often in my cars, not gonna waste the money with this vehicle, in my opinion the oil and the engines have gotten to good to be changing at the 2500 mile mark, 5 to 7k seems totally reasonable , I'll check the Prius oil at 5k miles, if the color is light the oil stays in it.

 

What my dealer said is 5k for Tire rotation, 10k for the oil.

 

I've had my Prius v three for 6 days and it took me nearly that long to read all of the manuals. In one of them (I don't remember which one or where), it stated that the break-in period was for 1000 miles and during that period you should not brake hard, accelerate hard, drive at "excessive" speed, or drive at a constant speed for a long period of time. Toyota didn't define exactly what they meant by that.

I would think that the optimum break-in for the first 1000 miles would include standard suburban driving (varying speeds up to 35 to 40 mph with an occasional short trip up to 60 mph). I'd avoid a long freeway trip at a constant high speed (i.e., something like a constant 70 mph for 100 miles or more). If you have to do some freeway driving, try to vary your speed a bit and don't go over 60 mph. That's my interpretation of what Toyota recommends.