Oil Change 2010 Prius - do it yourself

Well I ended up changing the oil, first time in this car, 1400 miles. I had the 65 mm oil filter wrench and it didn't work for me. I would catch on the cap but then as soon as I tried to turn it to loosen it, the wrench would slip off and I was unsuccessful with that. I ended up using a a rubber strap wrench to finally get the oil cap off. Worked pretty decently. Purch from Advance Auto. What a pain with that plastic door though, but it is done until the 5000 mark when i switch over to Amsoil.

Thanks for the tips all.

 

Thanks for sharing the analysis. How long do you think the brake in period is? I think I may change oil around 3000 miles.

 

Anyone knows what give the most space to work under the car (for oil change considerations only) between jack/stands and Rhino ramps? The latter are on sale this week at CanadianTire and I'm wondering if I should buy a set or not.

I'm wondering if I would gain space by using Rhino ramps instead. The ground clearance of the Prius is 5.5" and the ramps would add 6.5" to this (total 12").

My jack (Big Red Aluminum) provides 3,5-14.75" range, lifting the car about 9,25" higher. When using the central front jack point, I don't get much clearance. As I don't have a garage, lifting the car from the ground a side at a time, I'm afraid I could easily push/pull (on one side of the car) more than I would want on the direction, as the jack doesn't always roll easily on the ground to "follow" its moving saddle. I therefore finish lifting the car by raising the front right a bit higher with the jack on the right side. Doing an oil change close to the underside of a cold and wet car in the winter wasn't that fun!

I haven't really measured the final space I got with the jack and stand in doing so.

Anyone with experience with both (jack/stand vs Rhino ramps) to comment on which is best? I tend to think the jack/stands solution would provide more space but I'm not quite sure...

 

Hello,

I enjoy reading your informative articles on this forum and would like to share what I found out with you on my first two oil changes at 238 miles and 1398 miles respectively.

There was a burning smell coming from the brand new engine when I drove back my Prius from Toyota dealership. My salesman encouraged me to drive home using “B†shift instead of “D†to help accelerate the charging of the traction battery. What a mistake! “B†does not stand for “Brakeâ€. So I changed engine oil at 238 miles and 1398 miles to see what happened for fear that the engine may fail prematurely.

What I found out on my first two oil changes:

238 mile oil change:
1. Drained Oil was fairly dark and metal shavings (gold, silver, blue colors) were sparsely found on the bottom of drain pan.
2. The oil pan access panel could come down only to about 60 degrees (not fully open at 90 degrees) with Rhino Ramp 8000 and 15†Yokoyama tire combination, so I had to hold a drain pan up closer to the opening of the oil pan while draining burned oil.
3. Factory fill oil seemed to be Toyota Castle SM 0W-20 (with organic moly)

1398 mile oil change:
1. Drained oil was much lighter brown this time and practically no metal particles were found.
2. Fumoto 103N is intalled and Torin 4 ton double ram bottle jack wes used.
3. There are two types of SAE 0W-20 oil available from Toyota. Red-labeled “Full Synthetic†oil ($7.76/qrt) and green-labeled “Synthetic†oil ($6.25/qrt). I used the green one as I plan to change oil at every 5K miles. Toyota oils may be from Idemitsu USA, as Idemitsu claims to be the exclusive supplier to all Japanese OEMs.
4. Viair 00078 air compressor ($40) is a handy item to adjust tires’ air pressures at home.

 

Any procedure for changing the engine air filter?

 

It's easier than it first looks. Just unfasten the two spring clips in front, then kind of lift a little and jiggle the thing toward the front and it will slide forward about a half inch to clear the plastic things in the back. Then you can lift it enough to get the filter right out.

Toyota part number on the filter is 17801-37020.

Here is one for $17.18 Toyota Parts Cheap.com

 

I can't say which will give more room, but I can say I much prefer my RhinoRamps 8000 to my jack and stands.

I put my wife's 2010 on the ramps last night to change oil. I pumped the front tires to over 50 PSI to avoid scuffing any part of the underbody. It appears this gave me just enough clearance to avoid scuffage, although it might have been OK at stock pressure.

AFAICT the RhinoRamp 8000 and the 12000 (on sale this week) have the same 17 degree angle. I'm not sure if any other dimensions are different but they both seem to have 6.5" lift.

I'm glad I bought the ramps. I've had trouble previously getting the jack under the front end of my 2008 Prius. It kind of had to be jammed in going in, and coming back it was catching on the plastic underbody.

Using ramps is less work, and seems safer. Just so long as they are lined up, the car doesn't fall off them somehow, and they don't scoot too far forward when driving up them. I think mine scooted forward a bit last night, and the front end of the car ended up about 1" from the garage stairway. I'll start them farther back next time.

If the ramps are placed on an incline the potential for scuffing can be reduced by lowering the effective angle, and the working clearance might increase. But I'd guess you wouldn't want too much of an incline, or you might be more likely to overshoot the ramps and that would likely be damaging.

 

Thanks to Bill Mazurek and John1701a for the excellent oil change documents.

I did my wife's 2010's first change last night and everything seemed to go well. I ran the ICE for about 45 seconds to ensure no leaks etc.

Then today I added a tiny bit more oil, to raise from 10 mm below full mark to 5 mm below full. I then did most of the 6 month inspections.

I started the car, the ICE kicked in and the ICE was shaking violently with awful sounding banging noises !

Crud ! I shut it down and started poking around looking for signs of oil leakage or anything that might explain this. I find nothing, try starting it again, same thing !

I calm down as much as possible, come here to post of my woes, and check the forum to find this topic: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...troubleshooting/70128-rough-engine-start.html

The violent shaking w/ video in that thread seem to match my symptoms exactly. There were a few reports that mentioned colder temperatures and short runs as possible triggers. It's been several degrees below freezing here lately and in my garage the temp might go a few degrees above freezing when heated.

And yes, the 45 seconds or so to put the Prius on the ramps, and the same time running to check for post oil change leaks, were short runs as reported by some in that thread.

After reading that thread I tried it once more, but immediately moved the car (in reverse, before ICE kicked in), then drove forward about 4 minutes and everything seemed fine.

I have to imagine I won't be the only one to change oil and see this violent shaking ICE issue. I'd bet most who see it, DIYer or garage employee, will freak like I did that they somehow caused thousands of dollars in ICE damage for a simple oil/filter change that seemed to go well.

 

Some notes from my 1st 2010 oil change:

- I used Mobil 1 5W20. The Canadian owners manual says 0w20 and 5w20 are both fine, but recommended 0w20 for better mileage and cold starting. I only found one brand in 0w20 at a NAPA store, but it was not the Mobil 1 I've used exclusively for over 20 years. I got the oil in a 5 litre jug at Walmart; Canadian Tire only had 1 litre containers.

- I tried to source a 64 mm oil filter wrench at the 3 retailers above, but could not. American mail order sources tend to be an expensive pain when shipping to Canada. I settled for a metal 65 mm wrench from the NAPA store. It required a bit of screwdriver prying when the canister was replaced, but it wasn't too difficult.

- I was paranoid about breaking the 3 fasteners, so I left a heater running underneath the car for a few hours before the job (to reduce cold brittleness) and very carefully took my time opening them and they all survived fine.

- The 6.5" rise of my ramps created about 12" of clearance. I thus had to bend the under-car shield a bit, and once past 90 degrees of bend, the shield stayed in place against the floor. With the shield past 90 degrees, I could put the used oil basin right against the shield which prevented a mess when the flow reduced to a trickle.

- I also had to use the screwdriver and hammer trick to remove the original crush washer from the oil pan.

- Working with 12" of clearance, a bent shield and a used oil basin made it a bit tricky to get all the work done. I had to try some different positions to get everything done. I was unable to remove the oil filter without getting oil on my hands.

- I'm not the fastest, and try to be extra careful, so I guess it took me about 2.5 hours to get everything done, from beginning to end. Not REALLY worth it, time and dollar wise, but I enjoy the learning process and know better now what to watch for, if/when I have someone else do it in future.

 

Not sure if you were aware but there are two slits in the filter cap. If you align them vertically, the oil will be able to drain out of the filter cavity before you have to finish unscrewing.

My first oil change, ignoring this, was pretty messy; my second one knowing this was a lot cleaner! I still got some oil on my hands from unscrewing the pan bolt... Since I've installed a Fumoto valve, my next oil change (hopefully the winter will be gone) should be cleanly done.

 

I was sort of aware, but not that vertical is fastest. I unscrewed slowly and didn't note any real gush until the filter was off. Perhaps I could try to be more patient next time.

I think I recall I got oil on my hands before the gush anyway, just from the contortions I put my wrists etc. through, working from the middle of the car, on my back with limited clearance.


Has anyone else mentioned the filter is spring loaded ? I guess I could also mention there is no single direction on the filter. "Up" can be either side.

 

So just to be straight.....it is official (from Toyota) that the new oil change interval is 10,000 miles on "normal" or "light" driving?? Do we need to use a certain oil or filter??

 

Yes all indications are it is official and we should all be notified by mail in February. Here is the post that talks about it: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ally-revised-10000-miles-1-year-verified.html

According to the document attached to post #1 there are "Special Operation Conditions" but if you don't fit into one of those (almost no one will) you can go to the new 10K mile/1 year interval.

Oil required/recommended is a 0W20 weight that meets the ILSAC standard. That means Mobil 1, Amsoil, or the Toyota brand sold at dealers. There may be others and there certainly will be more brands to choose from in the near future. I don't think anything is required but the standard filter. I use Mobil 1 and a Toyota filter.

 

Now of course since I have both GenII and III, that begs the questions... I wonder if the GenII qualifies for 10K and if not.. why not?

The engines are very close to the same... although oil viscosity is different, there has been much speculation that the recommended difference is mostly a green political thing more than a necessary item.

Seems if an engine spec'd to run with 0-20 can do it.. why not an engine spec'd to run a tad looser with 5W-30W?

Seems the looser engine would have less wear and tear than the tighter?

 

I agree Alan, and there is an EPA requirement (I have seen the document posted on a different site but I can't find it now) that what ever oil viscosity is used in the engine when the car is certified for emissions and fuel economy must be the only oil viscosity recommended to customers. I suspect that those earlier, Gen2, cars were certified using 5W30. I plan on using 0W20 but I will always wonder if my engine would have been better off with 0W30 or even 5W30.

 

Well I"m using Amsoil SSO 0W-30W

That stuff is rated at a crazy 35K miles and I plan on going a year.. which will most likely be under 25K.
Wondering if I could also use it in the GenII's just the same.... I really don't see why not.
I've talked to and as you know we have discussed with plenty of oil experts on this forum that have done oil analysis at such great mileages and they look great.

 

I'm sure no oil expert but I would imagine using 0W30 in you Gen2 cars would be no problem whatever. What does Amsoil have to say about it?

 

Other than recommending to change filter every 25K "If Im honestly going to change filter after 25K, the oil is getting changed to!"...only the stuff I see under "service Life" here.

 

Thanks, great information