Service advice for Prius Prime after 2 year warranty ends

We have this problem, too, since we have three vehicles and only one (my little Scion commuter car) gets more than 5,000 in a year. After talking to friends who are master mechanics, the most common answer is, yes, the maximum time you want to leave old oil in a vehicle is a year...no matter how many miles you put on her. I do my own oil changes in the garage with ramps on I have (I buy Toyota OEM filters on-line and get fully synthetic when on sale a my local car parts stores.) But at least every 2 years, I'll have my Toyota dealer do the oil change as they, also, rotate my tires for me AND I makes sure they run the VIN to check for any recalls or TSBs for me. (Yes, I've had times where both a recall was on-going and a TSB was issued on my vehicle.)

 

The Volt can go up to two years before the system calls for an oil change. The called for oil specification is that same as other GM gasoline cars. Presumably, the seals and design clearances are just as tight on the Prius, so it shouldn't be seeing more outside contaminates getting into the oil than the Volt. Engine start up is a less harsh affair with both. With a shorter EV range, the Prime is more likely to see more engine use, but this comes down to the individual use.

So two years between oil changes should be doable with a Prime. Users here doing oil analysis have gone over 10k miles between changes.

 

Simple question: does Toyota also call for a 2-year interval? Based on Canadian owners manual, it does not. It states minimum 1-year interval.

Therefore, why would you want to not follow what is recommended in the owner's manual? There could also be warranty issues further down the line if your cannot show that oil was changed as per manufacturer's recommendation.

 

I love oil related questions, they are so much fun...

Based on past Blackstone oil analysis, I plan on going much further (Now) than my 15K mile interval that I started a thread on.

Oil Change: 18 Months Or 15,000 Miles | PriusChat


Rob43

 

Toyota, at least in the US, calls for an oil change at the same interval for ICE, hybrid, and PHEV cars. The main reason for changing the oil is because protective additives get used up. Since most of the consumption happens while the engine is actually running, and rate depends on how hard it is running, it makes no technical sense for these different car types to use the same service schedule.

When the oil is changed too soon, resources are wasted; time, money, and materials. It may not be much individually, but adds up over the thousands of cars.