Oil filter warning

Are you sure? You only need to change your oil and filter every 5000 miles, and now that your Prius is out of warranty, you could probably switch to synthetic oil and a 10,000 mile interval.

The only time I've seen a picture of an oil filter on the MFD, IIRC, is on one of the setup reminder windows.

 

With a used car, I'd do all the periodic maintenance right out of the gate, so that I KNOW it has been done. Don't trust a used car dealer to do ANYTHING. The less money they put into a used vehicle, the more they profit when they sell it. Don't assume they did anything. Do it yourself or have it done and be SURE.

 

Sounds like the previous owner scheduled a reminder to change his oil filter.

Press the 'Info' button next to the touchscreen display, then 'maintenance' on the screen itself. Then press the picture of the oil filter, and select the delete option. You can look at other options that are scheduled and delete those too.

 

Ditto Fray. Don't assume that any of the maintenance is up-to-date unless you received records kept by the previous owner.

 

With any used car, I suggest changing all fluids and filters upon purchase unless visual inspection shows that they are newly replaced. Since the OP's car has 84K miles there's even more reason to replace at least the engine oil/oil filter, the engine and cabin air filters, the transaxle fluid and engine/inverter coolants now.

 

Just touch the "Do Not Display This Message Again" field the next time it is displayed. This looks like a dealer programmed a maintenance reminder into your MFD.

JeffD

 

tom1l21,

It looks like you bought your Prius from the closest Toyota dealer to me in Manchester, CT. My question to you is why would you come all the way down here to CT to buy your Prius when you have about 4 dealers nearer to you (at least back in 2005 when I was looking for my Prius) in Longmeadow, Holyoke, W. Springfield, & one other town that I forget now (maybe Wilbraham?)? Were you looking to buy only a used one & nobody near you had any used inventory?

Also, did you consider buying new from Lynch's new car facility next door (they just moved the used car sales to the vacant old Lincoln/Mercury/Mazda facility, which is probably where you just got your car from)? Last month Lynch had 19 unsold/unclaimed new Priuses of various option levels, some with factory discounts of up to $2,900 & $3,500 right on the factory MSRP window stickers.

I bought my car from Balise Toyota right in W. Springfield because although both Lynch & Balise were only charging MSRP (when many other dealers were asking for a high deposit & charging $3,000 -$5,000 over MSRP), the wait for delivery at/by Lynch was projected to be 28 months while Balise promised a much shorter wait. I actually had ordered at another CT MSRP dealer (Gale in Enfield) & they strung me along for 6 months playing games with me until I got my deposit back & bailed out on them & approached Balise. From the time I saw Balise & ordered from them, it only took them 6 weeks to get me my car [no games & the EXACT car I asked for (with no un-requested add-ons either)].

I would not classify Lynch as un-professional & cheap (but maybe since their recently set-up used car facility is run as a separate operation, that part of it is). I have had some warranty work as well as out-of-pocket service done there at the main facility & they have 3 or 4 Prius-certified techs working there. Most of my service I have had done at Balise's however because they have always treated me very nice there. I highly recommend them & they also have a high number of Prius-certified techs too (4 or 5, I think). However, one caution in scheduling service with Balise : DON'T use their Service phone # to call---it's a call center & THEY (the call center only) try to force a lot of un-necessary services on you to raise your bill.

Not too long ago I wanted to know how much I was going to expect to pay for an up-coming service interval. I went by Lynch's & got a quote. Even after eliminating the things I really didn't need, they still came up with a $400 quote. I called Balise & gave them all of the same specifics & they came back with a much lower quote, so I went up to them for that service. They even honored a service coupon of Lynch's that made my bill only about $110 in the end.

If you do decide to use Balise for your service, do yourself a favor & physically go by their service dept. Grab yourself a business card (with their individual extension #'s) from each of the service writers/consultants desks & keep them either in your car on on your person & ONLY USE one of them to call for any service you schedule. They aren't pushy like the call center (& they know the Prius better than whoever is in the call center---the call center just reads you the things they're tyring to push right off of a scripted page).

The reason you should have more than one business card/phone extension to call is that many times a particular service writer/consultant can't answer the phone either because he/she is with another customer, out in the shop checking on something, or just having a day off (NOT an off day).

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Hi again, tom1l21,

Well, sorry I went into all that un-necessary detail about Lynch's. Yeah, a new one at Lynch's (or any other MSRP Toyota dealer) would set you back at least twice what you paid for yours.

Did you mean your dealer told you the SKS wouldn't work because the little 12 V battery in the back needed charging, or that the fob wouldn't work because the fob battery needs charging? The fob battery can only be replaced. It's a MYTH that you can re-charge the fob battery by driving around in an SKS-equiped Prius with the fob in its docking slot. There is no charging current being delivered to that docking slot.

If your fob battery were totally dead (or even removed from the fob), you could get into your car by using the metal key (hidden inside the fob) to unlock the driver's door, then inserting the fob into the docking slot to start the car. I must confess at this point that I don't know how the security code is verified in a dead fob or a battery-less fob to keep anybody else with another Prius fob from starting your car (if it's already unlocked) & driving off with it.

I can't answer you about the oil filter notification re-set because my car isn't equiped with navigation, so I don't have the same display & buttons around it that you do.

By the way, your car may have gone through my auction at Southern Auto Sales in E. Windsor, Ct. We do see a fair number of Priuses go through there. I never get to drive any because my lane (out of the 20 lanes there) is only Nissans, Infinitys, sometimes Mitsubishis, high-end lease returns [such as stretch limo's, Porches (Cayennes too), Ferraris, Corvettes, BMW's & variuous other makes]. It makes for an interesting driving day on each Wednesday. I can't get in a Toyota lane (to drive any Priuses) because Toyota doesn't have a lane of their own here. All the Toyotas just get mixed in with other car makes in any of the other lanes (except mine). I did clean the snow off of many Priuses in our auction lot in the month of January. Maybe one of them was the one you bought. I hope it's good to you.

Ken (in Bolton,Ct)

 

Does my post above not show up? Re-read the thread and you'll figure out how to reset it.