Question about oil change timing and Oil maintenance light

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by taxce, Oct 16, 2025 at 1:42 AM.

  1. taxce

    taxce Junior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2019
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    Location:
    california
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    The yellow oil maintenance light apparently comes on after you drive 5,000 miles. But I am seeing people saying that you don’t actually need an oil change in the Prius until you hit 10,000 miles. So what’s the truth: when should we actually get our oil changed, when the maintenance light comes on or 5,000 miles after that?
     
  2. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
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    Location:
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    It has alot to do with your driving conditions... In general newer engines and a full synthetic oil can go closer to 10K miles between changes and old engines with cheap regular motor oil can go a bit under 5k miles between changes. But keeping a close eye on what your oil looks like as it gets dirty and starts to deteriorate ought to be more important than what amount of miles is. Or at least once a year...