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

Looking to buy Prius but concerned about Maint. record.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Camrymatic, Jul 27, 2009.

  1. Camrymatic

    Camrymatic New Member

    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2009
    1
    0
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Hello All,
    I am looking at a used 2007 Base Prius with 37k miles (right out of warranty). The CarFax has the car listed as a Commercial Lease (Not sure if thats good or bad) but here is what concerns me: The carfax shows oil change visits to the dealer as being performed on average every 6k miles
    (36k miles with 6 changes total). A few times it went over 7k miles w/o an oil change.
    How bad is this for the car in the long run? Am i taking a big risk getting this Prius for 15k or is this not too big a deal? In other words will the engine blow on me at 80 or 110k miles or is this not a big deal provided I maintain it regularly now?

    Thanks!
     
    #1 Camrymatic, Jul 27, 2009
  2. jdenenberg

    jdenenberg EE Professor

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2005
    3,852
    1,847
    1
    Location:
    Trumbull, CT
    Vehicle:
    2020 Prius
    Model:
    LE AWD-e
    Toyota had a sludge problem with some of their engines (not ours) in the US a few years ago so they went conservative and required 5k oil intervals in the US. In Europe Toyota specs 10k kilometers (6.2k miles) for the same car as European owners are more diligent about car maintenance (Their oil is also better on average). If US owners would reliable change their oil at 6k miles, the problems would never have happened, so you should not be concerned. After two oil changes with good oil (use a full synthetic), any excess sludge will be cleaned out and you will be good to go.

    JeffD
     
    #2 jdenenberg, Jul 28, 2009
  3. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

    Joined:
    Mar 2, 2006
    18,058
    3,074
    7
    Location:
    Northern Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    With the way the Prius engine is used, it should be fine with oil changes at 10k. As the previous posted reported, Toyota got burned a few years back with sludge problems, so now their oil change intervals are very conservative. I wouldn't be at all concerned.

    Tom
     
    #3 qbee42, Jul 28, 2009
(You must log in or sign up to post here.)