Oil Change 2010 Prius - do it yourself

They shouldn't have done anything at all with the spring stop, Toyota calls it a bracket clip. They should leave it alone and just unscrew the cap. Hope they didn't bend it.

The clip is there to provide a little tension and keep the cap from coming off by itself because the cap is not suppose to be screwed on very tight, 18 ft lbs. The O ring forms the oil seal, not the cap.

 

Well I haven't changed my oil yet, when I do I plan on doing a full analysis. But for now.....here is a pic of what Amsoil SSO looks like after 23k miles.

 

Just for a reference, dip your stick in some new oil and take a similar shot.

 

Good idea.. but fresh amsoil will be clear on a dipstick.

 

64mm Oil Filter Wrench

Any Google search for [64mm "filter wrench"] will lead to Amazon.com and other sources of the Assenmacher filter wrench that costs about $15 plus as much as $10 shipping. Amazon also shows a $6 filter wrench manufactured by CTA and sold by Auto Barn that charges $5.50 for shipping.

I located CTA Tools, its web page on filter wrenches (http://www.ctatools.com/oilfilter.html) and its catalog (http://www.ctatools.com/catalogs/2010MasterCatalog/01-03OilFilter.PDF). The catalog shows the "precision stamped" 64mm/14 wrench, part #A265, that Auto Barn sells for $6, and a heavy duty "with higher torque specs" 64mm/14 wrench, part #2485. Following a "buy online" link from CTA's page leads to the following vendor that sells #A265 for under $2 but charges $10 for shipping, but appears not to sell #2485. http://www.autopart.com/TOOLS/TOOLSMAIN/category/c19.htm (except on eBay, as noted below)

I Googled for the CTA part #2485, and the sole seller I located is likely the same eBay vendor from whom others on this thread have purchased that "looks like stainless steel" wrench, that now sells for $9.95 with $5 for USPS shipping. The eBay link to the "auctioned' product changes with every auction, so the present link is good only for the next seven days. But seller's page will list the item when he re-posts it repeatedly, at http://motors.shop.ebay.com/svetlinabadjiev/m.html

The eBay page identifies the seller as "svetlinabadjiev" but the description of the item ends with "Any questions call Sunny at 781-810-4507 or email to: [email protected]" so it appears to me that autopart.com is the actual seller of CTA part #2485 on the eBay site. Autopart.com is the vendor linked to ctatools.com, and Svetlin Abadjiev is shown on linkedin.com as the owner of autopart.com.

I ordered the shiny wrench #2485, thinking it was worth an extra $3.50 to get CTA's heavy duty version, having read some of the horror stories on this and other threads of this forum.

 

Thanks to this thread I gathered everything I needed to do my own break in oil change @ 1k miles as there's no way I would feel comfortable letting it go to 10K miles.

I did manage to forget to purchase a filter at the out of town dealership when I returned for my license plates so I tried to source one locally with little luck until I found an STP filter #10358 at an Advance store. It's a slightly different design and feels a little more robust with the plastic end caps. It snapped into the housing with a reassuring click.



The only 0w20 synthetic oil I could find locally was valvoline at wal-wart.

From this thread, I also knew I had the wrong, slightly larger filter wrench and dealt with it this way:



I wrapped the filter housing with a couple of wraps of blue painters tape which doesn't leave a residue. This took up enough slack to grip the housing and not slip.

Another thing I hadn't seen mentioned is that the cosmetic valve cover is easily removable. I found this out by accident after discovering that 0w20 is about as thick as water and will quickly spread all over the place if accidentally spilled. No tools are needed as pulling the cover up and off the rubber grommets allowed me to easily wipe up the excess and add the last quart with much less fuss.



+1 on the plastic access cover being easy to bend back upon itself. It's quite flexible and no need to worry about breakage (well, maybe in bone freezing cold temps) and thus no need to get the car to an exact height. I used standard one piece ramps sold at auto parts stores.



Although the original oil wasn't black or otherwise anywhere near spent at 1,100 miles, it was way too dark for my comfort zone especially when I saw that new 0w20 is basically clear out of the bottle so I'm glad I went to the trouble.





Thanks again to everyone who contributed. :rockon:

 

The oil changing from clear to dark is not an indication that there was a problem with the oil or that what you are seeing is some kind of destructive contamination.
There are additives and other things in the engine that will prevent the oil from remaining clear after the car is driven. Sometimes these additives in the factory oil are supposed to stay in for some minimum amount of miles to do their job helping the break-in process.

 

Blanket statements usually send up a red flag for me. (notice I even avoided making one about that. )

As a motorcyclist for over 30 years, I've had several bikes that have used site glass windows instead of dipsticks for monitoring oil level. I've never seen oil go that dark within 1k miles because I typically ride them in the best way possible as far as oil life is concerned: long rides where the oil gets up to full temp.

The constant start/stop of the ICE in the hybrid system combined with the poor conditions a demo car on the lot endures means a tough start for oil. Under normal driving conditions, it should be fine for 10k mile intervals.

Other folks think color can be very important:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]"In many cases abnormal discoloration is a reliable field indicator of an oil that is distressed. In one study, 90 percent of lubricants that were abnormally dark were also found by laboratory analysis to be non-compliant. There are other cases, however, where a dark oil may not be a real concern. The combination of experience with the specific lubricant and routine analysis is necessary in making these determinations. "[/FONT]

Using Oil Color as a Field Test

Mine looked like #6 on their scale so I certainly feel better about changing it. And that's all that matters!

 

It says "abnormal" discoloration. There is no way the oil that has been run in a new engine will "normally" stay clear like it looks out of a fresh can. It is abnormal if it is different than other similar cars using the same oil for the same mileage.

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/oil-change-facts-vs-myths

Sometimes there are also additives in the oil that darken. Sometimes the factory oil is supposed to stay in some minimal mileage (not before severe maintenance schedule mileage) so that the car breaks in correctly.
People would zealously change the factory fill prematurely sometimes not only are not doing anything useful to make the engine last longer, but may actually cause harm due to abnormal break-in of the engine.
If there is really abnormal oil quality at low mileage, that is a sign of a problem that needs to be fixed. Just changing the oil earlier is not the solution. The root cause would still need correction. The same as if the car leaking or burning through oil. you don't just keep adding more oil, you fix the leak

 

I would think an oil sample that visually looks like their stage 6 within 1k miles is closer to abnormal than normal but that's just me and my experiences.

I'll have no problems sticking with Toyota's 10k intervals from here on out since the car will be driven under more "normal" conditions.

 

I'm glad it went well for you.

As for bending the door, I can not agree with you about the wisdom of this. The door "hinge" is not a hinge but only a thinned out section of the already thin plastic shield. Also and the surrounding areas are backed with insulation. It is my opinion that bending and stressing these parts even in warm conditions will risk tearing the fake hinge and causing separation of the insulation, both situations are less likely if the door and surrounding areas are not distorted to gain access. I don't believe the design is robust, nor does it include bending or distortion as part of it's intended function.

My two cents. Or $20 dollars in a few months after the fed has finished running inflation up. But won't you be glad you have a Prius when gas hits $6.00 a gallon

 

If you change oil when it's dark you'll be changing it constantly, at least in a lot of cars. FWIW, I checked my oil yesterday. It was changed at 4500 miles and we're at 14,100 now and it was extremely amber, surprisingly so. My other cars normally would change over much quicker (but still I'd put thousands of miles on even after it's dark as long as it's within a normal interval).

I am sure that overall this car stresses oil much less than another one. If you use the amount of gas burned as some kind of indication of wear in the engine or the amount it's used you could infer less use of oil. The regular start/stops of the engine are immaterial because it's warmed up. Engine starts are harsh because an engine going from cold to warm is hard, but if it's already warmed up all that happens each time it starts is it simply starts moving again and is combusting. It certainly not the same as regularly starting a cold engine.

For the break-in oil it intuitively sounds like it's a good idea to replace it early, but whether this car has special oil to break in or not (I've not read the thread) I'll always defer to the car's engineers before "pundits" and anecdotes. The manual in no unequivocal terms does not mention changing the oil early. It would be easy for it to do so if it was of apparent use but it simply isn't in there at all.

 

I don't think anyone on here knows for sure but there is no evidence to indicate Toyota fills the car with anything other than their own brand of 0W20 probably made be Eneos, no special "brake in oil" that anyone knows about. There is no harm done by an early oil change when the car is new, say 1K or 2K miles. It will definitely get the silicone and metal particles out, this might not be needed but sure won't hurt anything.

Perhaps some of what we might think the Toyota engineers are recommending may be coming from the marketing department, there is no way to tell. It would not be a good selling point to tell people that Toyota recommends the first oil change at 1500 miles or so the get the manufacturing debris out of the engine. Also consider that Toyota recommends no changes for the transaxle fluid at all but UOA by several of us indicate that a first change at 20K or 25K might be a very good idea. But I suspect the car will run just fine either way, with or without an early oil change, at least for the number of miles I will keep it. I decided to do an early change because I have the time, it's easy to do, and the cost for "DIY is minimal.

I think a lot of what the "pundits" are saying is based on past practices from many years ago. The British sports cars, very popular 40 or 50 years ago, required at least 2 oil changes before 3000 miles. But in those days machining was not as precise and oil additives were not as good and those early oil changes were probably needed to get 80K to 100K miles out of the engine.

Since we have no data on this engine after 150K or 200K miles it remains a matter of personal choice.

 

Those plastic clips do indeed look like hell. I invariably break about 50% of those when I've worked on cars in the past, terrible things.

Based on an earlier post Mobil 1 0w20 is not the same as the stuff from Toyota due to "additives". AFAIK a warranty requires regular oil changes of an SAE certified oil and Mobil 1 counts, so even if it's lacking some additives (probably marketing nonsense) then it would still adhere to warranty needs. Is this so; any opinions? I've not checked yet to see what my stealership wants for oil but typically I go to stealerships only for the filter (and I do like OEM filters).

 

I use OEM filters also, available on line for about $4.50 each if you buy a case of 10. I ordered 10 drain plug washers at the same time.

I have heard the Toyota oil does have a different additive package which may be a little better but we don't know for sure. I haven't seen a UOA where Toyota oil was used.

My last UOA (posted in the DIY thread) taken at 28K miles on the car and 8500 miles on the oil, looked great. I changed it 1500 miles early due to an upcoming trip. I have used Mobil1 0W20 exclusively and normally change at 10K intervals.

 

Thanks. I'm not saying it's right but I've never changed a drain plug in my life. My van has 95k on it now and its rubber drain plug washer is original. When i got rid of a maxima with 135k it had the same copper (and you know those move even less) washer as from the factory These fiber ones maybe are different, though.

 

Since we are talking about color... I know oil looks different on your finger or a dipstick verses in a cup.....

But here is Amsoil SSO 0 - 30W brand new after an oil change.


Here is the same oil after 23K miles......


That oil in that last pic is now at 25K miles... I have done the change and have sent the oil off to Blackstone labs for complete analysis.. it will be interesting, especially since its hard to find results at these mileages!

As you can see, while it still looks black in a bucket.. it actually looks pretty great for the miles!

I did notice after about 15K miles or so I had to add 1/2 Qt and after the full 25K, I was down another Quart.

What does this mean?.... humm.. not sure... oil is a tad thinner than specs request, but at the same token to be fair, people who say they don't lose oil don't run theirs this long to compare either!

Like I say, this oil took to between 10K and 15K to be down just 1/2qt.

Nevertheless.. if the oil results are good, the SSO will be more than worth the price of about 10.00/qt since you skip many oil changes in between and the hassle of dealing with it.

For what its worth, both of my GenII's lost more oil than my GenIII.
Maybe since the GenII holds less oil it just "appeared" that way and they all three really lost the same?....

Amsoil recommends for normal use to change the filter at 25K and the oil at 35K.... thats why I just did both at 25K.

Another interesting factoid.... My Prius is pretty accurate at registering gas mileage.....nothing seemed to change out of normal during the 25K or use, and after the change and I again had brand new fresh SSO back in the engine... gas mileage also stayed the same.

I don't know the reputation of this site, but its worth a read
AMSOIL Factory Direct Synthetic Lubricants - Free AMSOIL Packet

 

I"m still using those same filters too Tom.. "forgot to take a pic of the filter but I don't think that helps anyway... looks like a filter with oil on it!

 

I also like the Amsoil. I run it in my Harley as well. I only did 10k on this last OCI but most of my trips are the shorter ones of 5 miles or less. Of course, there's the occasional highway trip, but they are way outnumbered. Knowing that this is a little more rough on the ICE and oil, I don't know that I want to put 25k+ between changes. I might push 15k next time and see what the UOA says.

 

Of course I've never used synthetic.. but at 25K I didn't have any of the expected symptoms of dirty oil.. rough idleing, noisy acceleration, poor gas mileage?

The test will be interesting when they finally get back.... if they look questionable, I'll drop down to 15K if needed.... if not, I"ll prob stay there rather than stray towards 35K.

Once a year change is really nice if I can swing it.. thats what i'm striving for.