Just bought my first car from my mom, a Prius.

congrats, welcome to priuschat. all the best!

 

tires should be rotated every 5000. and don't go by oil color, change that every 5000 as well.

 

I go with 0w20 in my GenII, but Toyota's manual has 5w30 in it.

Changing oil is simple. Get under the car, unscrew the oil pan bolt, let it drain. Unscrew the filter, put in a new one. Put the bolt back in, and fill it back up with oil.

 

Here's a video on changing oil on the Gen 2. It is pretty straight forward.

Tools needed 14 mm wrench
Filter Wrench or Big Channel Lock Pliers
Torque wrench and 14 mm socket if you torque the drain plug. (Good idea to consistantly crush new washer)
Oil Drain Pan

Parts needed Toyota Oil Filter, Crush Washer for Oil Plug, 3.5 Quarts 5W30 Synthetic is preferred, but any class SL or higher (Ilsac rated) Dino oil will work. Mobil 1 is preferred by most here on Prius Chat.

Torque rating on drain plug: 28 foot pounds
When installing filter, tighten 3/4 turn past contact of rubber gasket to flange.

3.9 Quarts MAX on oil fill, do not overfill. 3.5 quarts is sufficient with oil filter change. Keep oil level between the two dimples on the dipstick. From the lower mark on the dipstick to the upper mark is 1.6 quarts. As long as the oil is between the two marks, you are good to go.

Most auto parts stores will recycle your used motor oil. Dispose of your oil properly. If you consult with your auto parts store, they can recommend containers to you for oil storage and recycling purposes. Changing oil is very easy and will make your engine last a long time. It is the life blood of your car.

Good luck and "welcome" to Prius Chat.

Ron

 

Is the oil change interval still 5K miles on the GEN2 with synthetic oil in the US.

 

No doubt, it still is. In the last few years of owning my 2005, I went to 10,000 miles with synthetic, it did not seem to hurt it. I sold it in March for $10K. It had 107,000 miles on it.

 

10K is the recommended interval in the UK.

 

Interesting

 

For anyone racking up the miles pretty quickly, like 10k per 6 months, then I'd definitely recommend 10k OCI (oil change interval) with a good oil like Mobil-1 Extended Performance. So long as you're not doing too many short trips you could probably stretch that out to 10k over 12 months, but if you're doing fewer miles or lots of short trips then I stick with shorter OCIs like 5k to 6k miles and 6 months max.

 

The actual recommendation in the UK/Europe is 10K miles or 12 months witch ever is sooner.

 

First thing I would do is add air to the tires. Your mom probably didn't watch tire pressure and if she let someone at the dealer or quicklube place do it they may have kept the PSI too low.

Pump it up to 42 PSI front, 40 PSI rear and see how you like the ride. If you want to save money or your mom let the PSI drop too low pump it up even higher to move the wear to the center and save gas. If you think the ride is too rough at 42 front move it down to 40 PSI front, 38 PSI rear. Some tires change ride for the better above 40 PSI some change for the worse. Feel free to start at the sidewall max and drop 2 PSI a day or week to experiment with what you like.

The big downside to high PSI is possibly harsher ride and you are more likely to pick up road hazards (nails, screws, etc) so drive carefully while experimenting.

FWIW I've driven at 51 front 48 rear for extended periods and not had a problem but I've allowed my PSI to drift lower in the summer time. My tires have a 51 PSI max on the sidewall marking, some tires have a 44 PSI max, take a look at yours to see what they say

 

plan to replace the 12V soon if it is the original battery. waiting for it to die and jumpstarting can be expensive if you make a mistake.

check the coolant level for the inverter and the engine. I find that the regular oil change places don't check the inverter coolant level. If you have to add coolant, get toyota oem coolant on amazon.

if your mom had pets in the car, check the air cooling intake for the HV battery. There is not a filter but you can clean out any pet hair or other debris. Passenger side of rear seat. You want to avoid killing the blower fan and overheating the batteries.

 

You mention transmission fluid. Can you find out if it's been changed before? If not, I'd consider doing that, or getting a dealership to do it. Be careful to get the right fluid.

I'm not at all familiar with Gen 2 maintenance, but if it's at all similar to Gen 3:

1. There is a specific Toyota fluid: WSTF (World Standard Transmission Fluid? Again: not sure if this is also the Gen 2 fluid), and the car should be raised (for access) and level when adding the new fluid, to get the level right.

There is no dipstick, and the level is established during the fill process, by filling through a sidewall opening, until it starts coming back out. With 3rd gen the spec. is something like zero to 10mm below lip of fill port (second gen similar?). You basically fill till it starts coming back out (with car level), then splish/splash it a bit with your pinky to get a bit out, to verify it's finished flowing back out.

2. Toyota's recommended fluid change interval is way too long, or never. You may encounter blank looks or resistance from Toyota service/parts departments. Or not, depending on the dealership attitude.

3. If doing it yourself, the gen 2 (I believe) has different fill and drain hole bolts. One requires a male type hex socket (10mm?), the other a largish regular socket (24mm?). There is a third bolt/hole, for drain of coolant, so you need to get some documentation to verify which is which, torque values, and so on.

Assuming it's per Gen 3, there's nothing in the documentation Toyota supplies to owners. There will be instruction in the Toyota "Repair Manual" I'm sure. There are pdf's floating arount the internet, and there's likely 3rd party videos and web pages on the subject.

It is a very good idea to remove the fill bolt first, just to make sure it's not seized. You don't want to drain the fluid and then find a problem breaking loose the fill bolt.

The transmission and it's fill port are buried pretty far down in the engine bay. The simplest, and quite effective, method to add fluid is from above using a funnel with a length of tubing. Some people invest in pumps to fill from below.

4. There are cases of transmissions with lots of miles, still on the original fluid which is slowly evolving into tar. A fairly early first change seems a good idea, followed by a longer interval for subsequent changes. I opted with my 3rd gen to change the fluid at the first anniversary, and will likely do bi-yearly thereafter. Maybe overkill, but the fluid is not that expensive, the service is relatively simple, I do it myself and work cheap.

 

Get totally familiar with maintenance and repair on your car by avidly reading posts related to a problem you may have, the Prius is incredibly simple to work on, but tricky to diagnose, members will help with diagnosis. All subjects can be researched thru the Prius archives. Try not to ask a question unless you research it first, the subject matter has probably been delved into many times already.Many members are extremely helpful as demonstrated by: Mendel, Above.

 

Who can always be counted on to repeat his adages due to decreasing attention span, LOL.