Oil Charge at 7500 or 10k??

It depends what your goal is... I want to keep the car past 5 year ... so I decided to have an extra oil change at 5K which I paid for and then it will be the 10K by Toyota Care.... So the car will have two 5K oil period during the "break-in".. I had the oil analyzed at the first oil change and will compare that two the second to see if the wear metals ... I may or may not do 15K and planning 10K afterwards... (it also depends on the use of the car) I drive in the City (NY) 75% of the time so that puts more wear on some parts.

I was doing this for the previous Prius as well but I lost the car at 40K (or just over 3 year)

So if your goal is longer ownership this is a cheap and probably useful way to ... if you are minimizing cost 10K DYI is the way.

I am planning to change ATF at 30K but not for $300

 

Back to the OP and the thread title.
If you don't have a plugin Prius you don't need to charge your oil.



Mike

 

12 months or 10,000 what ever comes first ...

 

Depending on driving conditions, mileage, style of driving; once a year or 10000 is certainly plenty. The comment on bathing 5 times a day is correct. Less than 10000 is simply unnecessary. Today's filters and the new detergent synthetic oils are amazing. In fact, the only reason to change at 10000 is they say the detergents deteriorate. Not that the oil it's self broke down. I'm sure the actual oil would be fine for much longer.
To change at 5000 miles is like throwing out a bar of soap because you used it 5 times. It certainly doesn't hurt, but it is also pointless.

 

Just asking have you had your oil tested ? or all this "they say" ...

 

I'd be nice if everyone would get a UOA to determine when to change their oil, since everyone's driving habits are different. However, unless your driving equates to "severe" service (like using your Prius as a cab), 10k changes with 0w-20 are cool.

 

Of course, my focus is on people who drive under normal condition and not abuse their cars. Also, I think it's illogical to based your oil change on miles driven. It should be based on fuel (gasoline) consumption. Just say oil change every 250 gallon of gas used or every 12 months which ever comes first.

 

+1

 

Why 250 not 200? You give no scientific reason for your random number.

 

LOL. Ok fair question. Then let me ask what is so scientific about 10k miles between oil change? At least, the idea of oil change based on fuel consumption is more logical. But I see where you're coming from. Since Toyota is the one who said 10k miles, it must be right. They couldn't be wrong.

 

It's funny hearing the same old arguments about motor oil. It's your car, do what you want. I would put money that most Prius drivers barely know how to check the oil level though, if that.

 

LOL. The only real way is to test the oil that comes out of your engine. In actuality 25k may be ok. I really dont know any more than you do.

 

I take my Prius to the dealer every 5k miles for whatever servicing it needs. I used to change the oil at each visit because the dealer I was going to kind of said it was necessary. I switched dealerships to one closer to work and they were perfectly ok with the recommended 10k change so that's what I've been doing since.

 

There is actually formula for the OCI vs fuel burned. I used that and it came even 200 gallons in Corolla. It was more in RAV4. Didn't run the Prius numbers. I will post when (or if) I find that formula.

 

The problem with going with miles is that if someone drove 85 mph all the time compared to someone who drove 55 mph all the time, the stress on the ICE is very different. That's why I believe it is more accurate to use fuel consumption to judge when to change oil. Even this method is not perfect but it is better than going by miles. With hybrids, it is even more illogical to go by miles since now we have two power sources that could move the car.

I think we should focus on what the ICE is doing when comes to oil change. It isn't about how far the car has moved. When the car is running on EV or gliding, it doesn't do anything to degrade the oil.

 

Let me exaggerate a little bit to see if this would make sense to you. Let's pretend for a moment that you're a hyper miler that gets 80 to 90 mpg and I drive like a maniac and only get 45 mpg. Are you going to tell me that we should follow the same oil change schedule every 10k miles? I know we have to do it so that we don't void the warranty. But I'm asking if this would sound logical outside of the warranty.

 

Two power sources ????

One is gasoline and what is the other ??? (we are not talking about PiP just normal hybrid)

Although I do agree somewhat that mile ALONE is not really good enough indicator .. this is why only UOA with the particular car with the particular use pattern (also environmental factors) can tell you if you can go longer or not.

Most extreme is that taking some oil sample at 10k have it analyzed and keep doing that until analysis tells you to change...

I would rather change early than late that just me ... oil change is relatively cheap and unless you drive way over the average 10-15k per year you wouldn't save much (unless you even doubt that you need to change after 12 month regardless how many miles you drive)

 

Even though the electricity is coming from gas, it is still a separate power source at a given time. I could run my Prius at low speed going down a slope using just the battery for a good long distance.

 

The conversation about oil change isn't just about saving money. I assume many of us purchase the Prius so that we would pollute less as well. Each oil change uses 4.4 quarts of oil plus filter. For me, I have to use 1/2 gallon of gas round trip to the dealer. If you take those numbers and multiply it by millions of cars, tell me how much are we wasting. Dealers don't make money by being green. Green is something that is good for the consumers and not good business for the dealers. So we need to be more educated and the truth isn't going to come from the dealers.

 

I do doubt that. I'd like to see an oil analysis prove that this is needed. I've never driven few enough miles that I'd care to worry about this. But if someone drives 5K miles per year I'd like to see some prooof that they need to change yearly and not every two years.

Mike