Is Toyota dealership oil change fine, or best to avoid?

Well, do you trust your dealership? Only you can answer that. It is true that their oil change is premium priced, although discounts are available sometimes. I usually get a card in the mail for an oil change deal right about the time I need one. If your dealership service shop is pretty aggressive in trying to up-sell services you might not need, then the good part about that is they are looking closely at your car. Of course they could look too closely, maybe "create" a problem that requires fixing. I would hope that most if not all of these dishonest John's are out of business by now. Me personally, I trust but verify my dealership. I am about 50% of the DIY guy I used to be, but still perform regular checks and services on the car. I get an oil change there about every three months, and other services I can't do when I need them. And yes, that is a 10,000 mile OCI. I'm a driving fool.

 

Yeah, it's really if you can trust the dealership.

Fortunately, they have been very good to me when I take it in. It's the only car I take to a dealership as i'm a DIY kinda guy.

To me, it's not them finding warranty issues. Having the dealer do all the service leaves a record of preventive maintenance so if I do have a severe warranty claim, It wasn't from neglect.
It did get me a new set of rear bearing at no charge. After I'm out of warranty, I'll go back to doing it myself or getting a new Prius and start another 7 year 120,000 mile warranty.

It's funny how I get a discount coupon from them just before it's time for an oil change so it's not that outrageous.

 

Well....
If you've never taken the vehicle to the dealership service department for any service, then really why are you asking?
Just keep doing what you've been doing and what you believe has worked for you.

I wonder why you invested into an "extended platinum Toyota warranty" if your approach to vehicle maintenance is to avoid dealerships in fear of them finding "warranty issues"?

To answer your question, I think dealerships CAN be fine as far as maintenance and replacing oil. It really depends on specifically on the dealership and the service department, as they are independently owned and operated.

I don't expect cut rate or "Jiffy Lube" prices at any of them.

Mobile One is from what I've read great Oil.
I've never heard anything disparaging or bad about Toyota's Oil. I think you are fine with that.

 

1. Do you trust the Toyota shop you would be going to? If not, is there another one nearby you'd trust more?

2. If it's been paid for, let Toyota do it. Ask them to show you what they put in. If it's the right weight and Toyota-branded, you have nothing to worry about regarding quality. I'm sure some aftermarket options are even better, but for the next 10K miles, it's a non-issue.

3. Get a list of what a "multi-point" inspection involves. I know they tell you to check for "bolt tightness" at certain intervals, but most every fracking bolt on the Prius is behind a trim panel, and I'm pretty sure the Toyota techs don't pull all those panels to inspect every bolt on the car. At least you'll know what they supposedly did look at, and if it's not listed, you can assume they didn't look at it.

 

You said you only put 5-6K miles per year, so this oil will only be used for half of its intended life of 10K miles by the time you change it again next year. I'd say your fine going to the dealer, if that is your primary concern.

 

If you take the car in to the dealer for the oil change, you can always supply your own oil.

Make sure you check the oil level after the change is done, I've found mine overfilled on several occasions.

 

I use to do that in the past, with some other vehicles I owned.
The only drawback is that most places really wanted to rip you off.

The reduction if any, for providing your own oil was minimal and never matched the cost of the oil itself.
In my memory, it was almost like buying the oil, and then nearly paying full price for a Oil Change.

I'd recommend just using the Toyota Oil, if you are choosing to go to a dealership. Or at least discussing any reduction in price for the Oil Change service if you insist on providing your own Oil.

I think Dealership...Providing your own Oil, might be the most expensive route one can possibly go.

 

Toyota oil seems fine. It's all I've ever used, doing DIY oil changes on ours.

 

Yep, and there's absolutely no guarantee that they're going to use the provided oil. I suspect that they've shelved the provided oil and dumped in vat oil. How else would they overfill the oil when I gave them less than full volume of oil?

 

The general consensus is the Toyota motor oil is top notch quality. The only question unless you DIY is what oil did they actually give you at dealership or other service shop? Correct grade of oil, or not?

Generally you might want to clarify the grade of oil you want when you ask for the service, and then at some point, we have to trust our fellow man to do the right thing.

Personally I DIY with Mobil-1 but I am not saying that is the only valid approach. If Walmart conveniently had the Toyota oil on their shelf, I might use that instead.

 

I have no reason to suspect that Toyota 0W20 engine oil is substandard in any way. There are quite a few threads in the Gen II forum about people participating in an oil analysis program, and plenty of discussion about early engine oil burning in the Gen II and what the causes of that might be. My Gen II also began to use oil suddenly. Good discussions about the quality of various brands. A good source for everything oil would be bobistheoilguy.com The only reason I have defaulted to taking my car to the dealership service center is my inability to crawl under the car and do it myself. Not age or infirmity, hearing loss and Meniere's disease.

 

Just wanted to add my bit. I got 1 oil change at the dealer when I first got my Prius last year. They over filled it and when I took it in the next day, they looked at it and gave me some excuse about how that's how it goes and that the extra oil would be coating the system, and that since the car was parked overnight when I checked it it showed as over the full line.

I've never heard that before, and always read that you check it after the car has cooled down. Got checked about a half hour after I got home and the next day before I took it in. Used a hand pump to remove the extra oil and just did it myself the next one. They did a good job otherwise, I would just rather not have any issues like that myself. Just wanted to mention this so you were aware, just in case.

 

cold, or at least wait awhile for all the oil to drain back into the pan.

 

I don't have the manual on me, but everywhere I've checked says check it first thing in the morning, and that you want all the oil drained in there. I actually check that link you posted before I made my post to make sure I remember it right lol. I knew their story was a lie from the start, got the pump on the way back from the dealer and fixed it.

I'm 6'1'' and 220lbs, so it's a tight squeeze for me under the car, but I get enjoyment in making sure it's done right. Nothing over filled or over torqued. I never worked on a car before this and most of the advice I was given growing up was bad, so I really want to do things right this time around.

Thanks for verifying that. The moment the guy told me that I just took my car and left. I told him all the reasons why it should be over filled when I went back in and the guy came to me with that excuse. On everything else, they seem to be good mechanics, but I'll keep to doing my own oil changes.

 

same thing happen to me on the two free fills from the dealer. i didn't bother going back, i just pumped it out like you. and i never go to the dealer for anything but free, and warranty.