Oil Change: 18 Months Or 15,000 Miles

Once the free 25K mile Toyota Care Maintenance plan has ended, I plan to switch over to a ~18 month / ~15K miles oil change interval using Full Synthetic* with the Toyota OE filter . This of course is about a 50% increase in the oil change interval, but let's face facts; The Prius Prime ICE simply does not run that often. Thus when I or someone that adopts this oil change interval, the ICE "Might" have actually only run ~10% to ~50% of the chassis reported odometer reading of 15K miles while operating under typical conditions.


Rob43


* Super Tech Full Synthetic 0W-20

 

I understand the thinking of "cheap insurance", that's certainly fine.

BUT, you're not buying a name brand 0W-20 Full Synthetic motor oil and filter from the dealer at $38 dollars...unless you have a gun. $38 dollars for full syn and an OE filter is Walmart pricing.


EDIT: In all fairness, I thought the way your statement was worded that it meant you were getting a "Complete Oil Change" through your Toyota service center... Thus my reluctance in believing a $38 dollar price point. My local Toyota dealer quoted me ~$43 OTD for the needed Toyota Full Syn. 0W-20 & OE filter, which of course is close to your $38 OTD price.


Rob43

 

Certainly good pricing....

I also figure I'll be at roughly ~$32 to ~$35 dollars for 0W-20 Full Syn. and an OE filter based on best internet pricing /Walmart buying strategy.


Rob43

 

While I was just searching for Toyota OE oil filter pricing, I stumbled across this:

5 Responses to “How Often Should I Change the Oil in my 2017 Toyota Prius Prime?”

1. cliff says:
   August 30, 2017 at 5:17 pm
   Hi! You didn’t really answer the question that was posed: How often should I change the oil in my Prius Prime? Of the 10,000 miles now on my Prime, maybe 1200 are on the ICE and 9000 on the electric motors. Do I really change the oil and filter at ~6 months just because I have 10,000 total miles? Or wait for 12 months (where I would project my mileage to be 20000 total but only 2000 on the gas engine and 18000 on the electric?
   
   In 6 months I have only filled up at a gas station 3 times. Seems like a high proportion of motor oil for not much gasoline.
   
   
2. Doug says:
   October 7, 2017 at 4:52 pm
   Cliff’s comment is right on. The odometer mileage on my Prime has very little relationship to the hours or mileage on the gas engine. Like Cliff, when my Prime gets to 10,000 miles on the odometer, the gas engine will probably have less than 2,000 miles on it. I’d be silly (and very wasteful) to change the oil at that point. Can a Toyota mechanic tell how many hours a Prime’s gas engine has run?
   
   
3. Dave says:
   July 16, 2018 at 2:21 pm
   How do you tell how many miles the gas engine has been running on my prius prime? I just had my oil changed at the cars ODO of 11300 and the oil looked new before it was changed and still completely full. So I think 10,000 mile of gas engine running would be a good time to change the oil, how can I tell how may miles the gas engrine has been running?
   
   
4. John says:
   September 7, 2018 at 6:34 pm
   It seems to me you can subtract 30 miles per day to arrive at the real engine run time and change the oil accordingly. The point of EV is to use less oil.
   
   
5. ETHAN says:
   November 27, 2018 at 6:29 pm
   DO NOT GO BY MILES, JUST CHECK YOUR OIL, IF IT’S DIRTY, CHANGE IT.
   

Rob43

 

Great input to the thread so far, I like it.

*****************************************

Making some "broad" considerations on miles driven vs ICE useage:

If someone were to drive their Prime 7 days a week all year (365 days) and fully charge / drain their traction battery daily; your math might look Roughly as follows:

~25 (miles on battery) x ~365 (days) = ~9,125 miles driven JUST on battery.

10,000 (Toyota ICE oil change interval) vs ~9,125 (battery miles driven) .... Well you get the idea.

Certainly these numbers can be "worked" back n forth many different ways to get slightly different outcomes, but for the average short duration daily commuter; an extended oil change might workout great for you because the ICE is not accelerating the car.


Rob43


PS, Salamander_King pointed out this type of Battery vs ICE ratio out in post #13.

 

I was waiting for someone to catch that.

If you guys knew what I know concerning Walmart's "Super Tech" Full Synthetic 0W-20 (5 Quarts is $15.98) that's made by Warren Distribution which was founded in 1922 (Not to be confused with Warren oil) and all the different Blackstone oil analysis that have been done on it, you'd buy it without hesitation.

Always do your research, then buy what you feel comfortable with.


Rob43