1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Fluid Top Off by Third Party Service

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by jdcollins5, Apr 19, 2012.

  1. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2009
    5,131
    1,338
    0
    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Since I do most of my own maintenance I have become good friends with the parts guy at my local Toyota dealership. I went in today to get an oil filter and drain plug gasket. He even gave me the drain plug gasket for free. I know it is only a buck something but hey !

    He asked me if I was doing my own oil change and fluid top offs and I told him that their service department and I were the only ones that I had ever touched my car. He said good and proceeded to tell me a story where another Prius owner had been taking his car to a third party service place and they had been topping off his coolant with the incorrect coolant. This had eventually caused his seals to fail and he had some expensive repairs because of this.

    I am not sure what type of coolant they could have been adding to cause the seals to fail but wanted to pass this along to others to watch out for. The point being that the Prius has some components that are totally different than non-hybrid vehicles and you must be careful about who services your car. Two immediate fluids that come to mind, other than the coolants, are the transaxle fluid with the electric motors and the AC refrigerant with the correct oil for the electric motor.
     
    #1 jdcollins5, Apr 19, 2012
  2. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Good advise ...... Use the correct factory fluids ... it is so easy .... and the possible savings are very small. Most people don't keep cars long enough to see the effects - so they don't even understand that the fluids are different ....... and they are different.

    Many service stations use the "universal" type fluids -- You have to ask -- it can be difficult to get it done correctly. Don't use them.

    We end up keeping most of our cars a long time - it is not worth the potential problems.
     
    #2 yeldogt, Apr 20, 2012
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,781
    48,985
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    couldn't agree more, but would have to add toyota dealerships to the list. if they can't get the oil level right, what else are they doing wrong?
     
    #3 bisco, Apr 20, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  4. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    Unfortunately -- More and more dealers have dedicated oil change areas and the technicians are often only trained to do the oil changes .... and not that trained.
     
    #4 yeldogt, Apr 20, 2012
  5. SoCalBPrius

    SoCalBPrius Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 8, 2012
    563
    118
    10
    Location:
    SoCal
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Tell me about it, on my 10k service done at the dealership, they overfilled by putting in 5 quarts so don't assume even they will do the simple things right. If I take it to any dealership, I'll always check the oil level right away from now on.
     
    #5 SoCalBPrius, Apr 20, 2012
  6. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2009
    5,131
    1,338
    0
    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Yea, I do not trust even the Toyota dealer to do the right thing every time. I check behind every thing that they work on my car and have caught them in mistakes also. It is sad to say but I guess we are saying that the Toyota dealer may make fewer mistakes than other third pary services.
     
    #6 jdcollins5, Apr 20, 2012
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,781
    48,985
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    i would be concerned about taking things like brakes and 12v battery and such to anyone but a dealer or hybrid specialist. so many parts on these cars are so different from your vanilla gasser. fortunately, they don't generally need much.
     
    #7 bisco, Apr 20, 2012
  8. xs650

    xs650 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jul 2, 2010
    4,539
    1,433
    9
    Location:
    Northern California
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    The guy changing your oil today may have been a lot boy yesterday.
     
    #8 xs650, Apr 20, 2012
  9. hlunde

    hlunde Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 2009
    419
    74
    1
    Location:
    NJ
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Unless the vehicle in question were losing coolant, there would not be that much space for adding the incorrect coolant?

    It would really help if Toyota would actually specify the correct coolant -- is it G05, G12, G48, or what? -- and emblazon that on a decal under the hood.
     
    #9 hlunde, Apr 21, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  10. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    The Japanese coolants have always been a bit different. I have not checked the Prius fluid but we have quite a few Lexus vehicles and they have all used the same Toyota fluid since about 2003 -- and it comes premixed. Prior to 03 the fluid was to be mixed with distilled water.

    Getting the correct fluid from Toyota is easy and it maybe $10 bucks more for a change.
     
    #10 yeldogt, Apr 21, 2012
  11. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2009
    5,131
    1,338
    0
    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Toyota uses the Super Long Life Coolant or SLLC for short. This is a bright pink coolant and should be a fairly good indication of what not to use. Anyone that has ever worked on a new model Toyota should know this.

    The Honda coolant is a bright blue, another good indicator of what not to use. Again, anyone that has worked on a Honda should know this.

    The standard anti-freeze coolant is typically yellow in color.

    So, color should be a pretty good indicator to third party shops as to what not to use !! Any good third party service should have the knowledge of what to use and what not to use without having decals emblazon under the hood.
     
    #11 jdcollins5, Apr 23, 2012
  12. yeldogt

    yeldogt Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2012
    810
    313
    0
    Location:
    NE
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Five
    The problem is when shops use "universal" type fluids .... or have the attitude that it does not matter.

    Some coolants do not like to be mixed with others and you can't go by color to determine the coolants technology.

    I just don't play around with it. For the small extra cost -- I get the correct coolant from the dealer when I do a simple service.

    If we were talking about an older car where a flush was occurring and all the old coolant was being removed -- then the coolant choice may not be as critical - especially a US produced vehicle
     
    #12 yeldogt, Apr 23, 2012
  13. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 30, 2009
    5,131
    1,338
    0
    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Totally agree. I get all of my maintenance fluids from the dealer and do my own maintenance.

    The purpose of this thread was to warn those that depend on others for their service to be very careful who they choose to depend on.
     
    #13 jdcollins5, Apr 23, 2012
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)