Road Trip Planned / 5000 mile Oil change recomendation will be passed

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adammc @ Jun 13 2007, 07:39 AM) [snapback]460766[/snapback]</div>

You answered your own question. Go ahead and change it. You're still under warranty. Don't take the chance that will give Toyota any reason to deny any claims. There is the peace of mind thing to consider too.

Good luck on your trip

Regards

Westex

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(adammc @ Jun 13 2007, 08:39 AM) [snapback]460766[/snapback]</div>

Out of curiosity, what kind of oil are you running now? If you are running synthetic, then I would say that you are good to go for your trip.

Also, as others have pointed in other threads, the ICE on the Prius is not on 100% of the time, so the actual miles on your odometer are not the actual miles on the oil. Depending on your driving behavior, your ICE might be on as little as 65% of the time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Swanny1172 @ Jun 13 2007, 08:25 AM) [snapback]460787[/snapback]</div>

True, maybe even less than 65% in town, but I have to guess that a 4,000 mile road trip will predominately be at highway speed meaning the ICE will likely run most of the time.

I just faced a similar question. 15k mile oil change due in 1,000 miles with a 2,700 mile road trip facing me. I changed the oil early. And I'm using Mobil 1. I'm planning on letting the next couple of oil changes "slip" a little to get back on the 20, 25, 30, 35... schedule.

By the way, Prius did awesome on the trip. 80 mph typical speed, 40 mpg overall with one tank at 45 mpg (must have had a tailwind). Four people in the car with luggage packed for eleven days worth of varying outfits (yes, my three passengers were female).

 

Get it done now...thats a no brainer.

 

There is nothing magic about the 5000 mile number. It is just a corporate standard. Maybe someday Toyota will have something like GM's Oil life indicator.

I would not waste the good oil.

 

Wait. It's only 1,000 miles which is well within Toyota's safety factor. My Nissan Frontier called for oil changes every 7,500 miles with conventional motor oil. The engine may be stopping and starting but it stays up to operating temperature. It is cold starts and very short trips that is bad for motor oil and engines because it doesn't all the oil to come up to temperature and moisture builds up in the oil.

 

A find it very contradictory that a company that purports to be "green," with a flagship "green" product, has one of the shortest oil change intervals in North America. The same Prius operated in the EU, running ACEA spec motor oils, has a normal 12 month or 10,000 mile oil change interval

Of course, if you have no-name crap bulk oil delivered by tanker, then perhaps even 5,000 miles is too far and that could go a long way to explain the sludge problem Toyota had. The same motor was used in the EU and there were no reports of sludge there.

 

Everybody here overthinks everything. Oil changes are cheap, ever since I was a kid my Dad taught me "Going on a big trip? Change the oil". If you're going to be on the road for 4K miles the car needs to be thoroughly checked out, all the fluids topped off, and the oil changed.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 14 2007, 07:50 PM) [snapback]462005[/snapback]</div>

That was great advice for the 60's and 70's but is outdated now. When he started driving the 3000 mile oil change was probably still the standard. Now the 3500 oil changes that you see on oil commercials and at quicky lubes are excessive and wasteful. A lot has changed in the last 50 years.

It still drives my dad crazy to not change his oil every 3000 miles but he does the maintenance by the factory manual, which is 7500 on his current car. It also troubles him that there are no longer any chassis points that he has to grease on the suspension.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Jun 14 2007, 10:32 PM) [snapback]462064[/snapback]</div>

I believe the manufacturers went away from zerks on the suspension (Ball joints, spring shackles, etc) due to the simple fact nobody bothered to grease them anyway. In that case, a "lubed for life" design lasted longer than the part that had a zerk, but never ever saw grease.

A good case in point was my 2000 GMC Sierra 4x4. It had zerks on the ball joints and the steering, but oddly enough not on the driveshafts. The first two oil changes were complimentary, so I assumed the dealer took car of the greasing.

Never, ever assume anything.

When I went to grease the front end, I discovered on the drag link and idler arm, the only way to get to the zerk was to jack up the front end, remove that plastic "skidplate," and turn the wheel all the way to the left. THat was for one zerk. Then crank the wheel all the way to the right for the other zerk. That was such a PITA I only did it every fall and every spring.

The first time I did it, I used an inspection mirror to check out the zerks. All of them were rusty, they had NEVER been touched. Only the lower ball joints - the ones easy to get to - had light greasing. The most effective way to grease the top ball joint was to remove the wheel, so naturally they never did it.

Perhaps on extremely rough roads - say nothing but potholed and washboardy gravel - frequent greasing of zerks will allow the suspension and steering to last a lot longer. You can purchase aftermarket suspension, such as tubular A-arms for some vintage cars and trucks, that have zerks on the pivot points and ball joints. Otherwise everything now is "lubed for life."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Jun 14 2007, 10:32 PM) [snapback]462064[/snapback]</div>

He has his oil changed every 5k as the manufacturer of his car says, in fact he's really lax about it...

It just makes sense. Toyota says to change the oil every 5k, you're at 4k, you're going to be driving 4k, what does that make? 8k. Change the oil before you go.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 15 2007, 10:06 AM) [snapback]462236[/snapback]</div>

that's not how I read the OP question. The OP claims he is 3,000 miles away from an oil change, and will soon leave on a 4,000 mile trip. The OP claims that will put him 1,000 miles over the suggested oil change interval, or he will have 6,000 miles on the oil instead of 5,000 miles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SW03ES @ Jun 15 2007, 09:06 AM) [snapback]462236[/snapback]</div>

If this is referring to the OP then no it is not 8K. He is at 12K he is going to drive 4K. So he could:
A: change it now, 3K miles or 60% early
B: When he gets back at 16K, 1K late or 20% late

I vote for late. The manufacturer recommendation is very conservative because it is free insurance for them because they don't have to pay for oil changes and do have to pay for warranty work.

A friend of mind has 35K miles on the current oil in his S-10 ranger, he just tops off when the level gets low. His S-10 has about 110K miles and he has done about 3 oil changes total. I don't recommend it but it goes to show you that oil lasts a lot longer than you think. An extra 1000 miles is not going to matter.

 

I thought he said he HAD 3k miles. Okay, I wouldn't be as concerned about it.

 

Oil changes and FUD. (fear uncertainty and doubt)

You don't need to change the oil at 5000 miles unless you are quite hard on your car. I have a 1997 Caravan in the family with most changes at 2x the rated 3000 miles. Its near 200k now. It has the Mitsubishi 6 cyl in it and it runs well.

Short trips damage oil, 30 minute highway runs clean it up. If you commute mostly on the highway in a non dusty area (desert) the engine is nice and warm and cooks off most of the crap in the oil. Metal shavings are a non issue in most of todays engines except in the break in period.

The way the Prius works and keeps its engine at a nice temp I would change it at 7500 miles not 5000. Look, in europe they are rated for almost 10,000 mile changes and its almost identical.

If you drive in a dusty desert or only short trips change it at 5000 or get synthetic oil.

Oil in the engine is a resource to be conserved too, changing it too often is just stupid.

 

Toyota reccomends changes every 5k. If you ever have an issue where you need Toyota to cover a repair for something like sludge, you're a whole lot more likely to get it covered if you've done all the maintenance to their specifications.

Whether it needs it or not, extending the interval beyond the 5k miles is simply taking your chances if you have issues down the line.