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1st oil change at 5k or 10k?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by priuscreek, Apr 25, 2010.

  1. priuscreek

    priuscreek Junior Member

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    Thanks for the replies. I think I'll bring it in and have the dealer change it now at 5k and then again I'll do it again myself at 10k , besides I've already bought some Mobil 0w20
     
  2. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Sounds like a Plan:cool:
     
  3. hsiaolc

    hsiaolc New Member

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    Hmm. Why not do it yourself at 5K and then have dealers do it at 10K which is the recommended?
     
  4. ABL

    ABL Member

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    Just took my 2010 in for the 5K oil change I have the maint program and they replaced the oil filter, rotated the tires and added 1 quart of syn oil. Said they will adjust and pro-rate my maint contract to adjust the new 10K oil change interval. At 10K they will replace all the oil.
    Jim
     
  5. hsiaolc

    hsiaolc New Member

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    Well not sure if thats standard practice but no dealer I know off just change the oil filter and top up the oil.

    Maybe it is something they do in the US.
     
  6. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    Not Really...That's a new one:confused:
     
  7. rumpledoll

    rumpledoll Member

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    I agree. I changed the factory fill oil at 2100 miles, and just changed again at 5100 miles, using Toyota 0W-20 oil because of the Toyota oil's unusually high molybdenum and viscosity index compared to most other 0W-20 oils. I will now be changing at the specified 10,000 mile internal so the next change is at about 15,000 miles.

    Rumple

     
  8. Duffer

    Duffer Member

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    I love oil threads, shouldn't there be at least 1 person to not fear the reaper and actually let the 1st oil change go to 10,000mi? Perhaps you have heard of a manufacturer named Toyota? They are quite big on this planet called earth. Since Toyota did design, manufacture and services these cars for a living, shouldn't we have some trust in them? If Toyota gives a 1 year or 10,000mi interval for the 1st oil change, then rest assured you are fine to let it go until then. If you change the oil earlier to make it more convenient for you then so be it.
     
  9. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    jcgee88,

    Clearly you either did not read the posts that began my exchange with Octavia, or you simply failed to comprehend what was said.

    I said TWO things, First that IF you lease a car, then you should leave the contaminated oil in the engine, because you gain nothing by paying to change it more often than the bare minimum.

    Then I explained what I do, because I keep my cars.

    I explain this to inform all who take the 10,000 mile oil change for their 25 to 40,000 Dollar 'Investment' in a new Prius, that doing the minimum matters ONLY if you care about the car NOT AT ALL. As is often the case of people who lease cars. I would say that is ALWAYS the case with those I have known who lease their cars.

    I take excellent care of my cars because I usually keep them, or sell them to a clsoe relative who will keep them. So you were "preaching":glare: to the choir.
     
  10. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    Toyota also sold a lot of cars that ended up getting their engines rebuilt from sludge accumulation, and people followed the Toyota minimum requirements then as well. So much for "Trust" in some profit making self serving corporation.

    FYI . . . New engines wear a lot at first, like for the first 5000 miles. They do this because metal upon metal friction causes the metals to wear, and that creates metal particles, 'wear particles' the larger of them get trapped by the oil filter, the smaller particles circulate with the oil. The longer you delay the task of drain and refill the motor oil, the more contaminated the oil becomes from build up of wear particles, dirt, condensation. In the first 5000 miles the wear particles are produced at a rate equal to all the wear particles generated over the next 50,000 miles. Leaving them in the engine is good for the people who want to sell new cars more often. The Toyota company would be counted among such companys. I purchase only new cars. Mainly I wish to avoid buying a car owned by someone with your attitude toward car maintenance. It has served me well. I therefore highly recommend it, and avoid buying Used cars that had originally been rented for a few years by someone interested in only using, and then disgarding the vehicle.
     
  11. hsiaolc

    hsiaolc New Member

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    HAHAHAHAHA Trust them? You kidding right?

    Never trust your dearler.
     
  12. Duffer

    Duffer Member

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    The 2010 Prius come with synthetic oil form the factory, to judge it by other, older Toyota models is not realistic. Modern manufacturing results in far less break in wear than was the case years ago, so oil change intervals are not as short as they were. Damage to engines results from people who never change their oil, not those that follow factory intervals.
     
  13. Duffer

    Duffer Member

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    I trust my dealer only half the distance that I can throw him. I change my own oil and maintain records of all maintenance.
     
  14. vinnie97

    vinnie97 Whatever Works

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    Don't prematurely pat yourself on the back just yet...let's wait to see who's still standing (namely, the middle class) at the end of his term, shall we? ;)

    Also, do you have the wherewithal to not infuse threads in this forum with politics? Yes, I know you were responding to Octavia but I think you're both missing the fact that the real world simply can't entertain an ideologue's vision of utopia (as you have so eloquently and hypocritically proven with your blatant suggestion here that lease holders intentionally contribute to the the misfortune of a potential future owner by being reckless and irresponsible with the vehicle...because by damn, we're gonna' show that evil corporation who's the boss!).
     
  15. adamace1

    adamace1 Senior Member

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    First Toyota will not cover a repair if i go beyond 10k on oil. But they provide a full warranty for 10k oil changes.

    Toyota says 10k i belive they know more about their motors than i do. I still see so many people saying they do the 3k oil change because "it's what they always done" and I know their just wasting their time and money. Why don't we all just change our oil every 1,000 miles then our cars will last millions of miles?

    when GM cars get 5-12k out of regular oil i know a prius can go 10k on synthetic oil. And before you start to bash gm i have seen many of them get well over 200,000 miles with no engine wear doing the long oil changes.

    Everyone can do what makes them happy. I also would like to see a someone send in their used oil at 10k and for the test to come back and say the oil was past it use and was causeing major damage to the motor. Every one i have seen said they could go longer with no harm to the engine.
     
  16. paprius4030

    paprius4030 My first Prius

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    I changed the oil every 5kmi. on our 99 Chevy Venture. It had 230,000mi on it when we sold it 2 years ago and nothing ever went wrong with the engine,except the dreaded LIM gasket, and I still see it running around town today.
     
  17. 32kcolors

    32kcolors Senior Member

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    Not only that, the Prius ICE isn't on 100% of the time and it's spun up to 1000 rpm by MG1 before injecting fuel, thereby minimizing the wear and tear and condensation of the stop/start cycles.
     
  18. jcgee88

    jcgee88 Member

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    Well said...and here is some detail on how...

    In the "old days," various engine parts were cast or machined,
    and Q/A was done by testing some small percentage of the
    finished product. In the case of large components that were
    machined, for example, the engine block, as the grinding bits
    got worn down, the machined results would start to drift.

    Such drift caused two undesirable results:

    1. Greater variability on the finished product, i.e., some
    cars came off the line and they were forever lemons.
    2. Mechanical engineers who designed the product had
    to account for the drift by making tolerances looser
    rather than tighter. Looser tolerances mean you
    can't run "close to the edge," i.e., more efficiently.

    In today's manufacturing process, every major part is
    measured to a high degree of precision using a
    "Coordinate Measuring Machine" (CMM). As a drill bit
    starts to dull, the CMM will detect the drift before it
    reaches an impactful stage, and notify the operator
    to replace the bit. This also means that the end
    result is not beholden to the skill/experience of the
    machine operator.

    Starting in the late-90s, automotive manufacturers
    integrated CMM's into the middle of their manufacturing
    lines, to replace the strategy of "test a few at the
    end of the line." This proved so successful in
    improving quality that automotive manufacturers
    are now the world's largest consumers of CMMs.

    How do I know this? Because I worked for a company
    that provided the computers for the CMMs, for the
    company that is the world's largest manufacturer
    of CMMs. And, when you walked down the assembly
    line of this CMM company, at least half of their CMMs
    had automotive company names listed as the customer.
     
    2 people like this.
  19. jcgee88

    jcgee88 Member

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    New Yorker, if you are saying you take good
    care of your cars and you recommend others
    do so, too, then we are on the same page. This
    obviously covers the cars you own or plan to
    sell to close relatives.

    My post was in response to the first part of
    your original post, which covered leased cars.
    I don't see how I could fail to understand your
    meaning, since you were quite clear:

    >If you Leased the Prius and will be turning it over
    >to somebody else, keep the contaminated oil in
    >the engine as long as possible, it won't matter to
    >you, and it saves you $ $ $ !

    I would give you the benefit of the doubt that your
    phrase "as long as possible" may correspond to
    the maximum recommended oil change interval,
    what you also call the "bare minimum." In that
    case, I have no disagreement with that.

    But, if you really meant "as long as possible" in
    the sense of beyond Toyota's recommendation,
    that's where we would disagree. Your original
    post could be easily construed that way.

    Lastly, I have been driving leased cars for the
    last twelve years, and my own practice was to
    follow the manufacturer's recommended oil
    change intervals. I would do the oil change
    at the recommended time even if I only had a
    month to go on the lease. Again, this was to
    ensure maximum reliablity of the car while it
    was in my possession.
     
  20. New_Yorker

    New_Yorker New Member

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    Engine technology advances but metal to metal surfaces still exist, still 'wear-in', and still produce vastly more "wear Particles" as they do. Engines are worn, aka slightly damaged, by normal use. That is why they eventually wear out. The trick is in slowing that so they run well, retain their power, and don't waste oil and gas. Oil changes when the engine is wearing in helps in that effort. Keeping the contaminated oil in the engine as long as you can does not.