Oil Change 2010 Prius - do it yourself

I've been changing oil in all my cars for well over 1,000,000 miles in dozens of cars, and never had an oil pan issue ... EVER. If you know what you're doing and don't overtorque the drain plug ... it's a non-issue. If you crank down on the oil pan bolt like some kind of fool (or a jiffy lube grease monkey).... yeah .... you can strip it. You can strip ANYTHING.

Hit something on the road and snap that stupid valve off, and you end up needing a new engine ... for no reason. It makes no sense. Especially if you can't even trust it to stay closed on it's own.

REV

 

Unless you do extreme off roading and require bottom protection plates, where the oil plug on the Prius is will not likely catch road debris and get ripped off.
I would, however, not install this valve, however on an oil pan, where the bottom is flat and the valve would be sticking directly down the center bottom of the pan.
Having been trained as an engineer, and having done a lot of work over the years with screws, threads and bolts, form my experience, the oil plug and the threaded portion on the oil pan, when seen on the inside, is basically a nut welded to the sheet metal of the oil pan.
Bolts (in this case and oil plug) or other threaded members are like "rubber bands" when tightened or torqued. The side of the threads between the "peak" and the "root" rides or slides one upon the other as the oil plug is tightened. This friction is increased and is directly proportional to the tension applied to the plug as it is torqued. An extraordinary of tension is applied to the small surface of the thread with the recommended tension of 28 ft lbs fot he oil plug.

Every time that the oil plug is installed and removed, the "triangle that forms the peak of the thread and the base of the triangle is "bent" or "flexed" like a lever arm with the lever being the ridge of the tread and the ticker root base being the fulcrum.
Like bending any piece of steel, the more time it is bent side to side,; the more likely the crystals in the alloying matrix of the steel will separate from each other. After a certain umber of bends back and forth, the bonds that hold the crystals together are weakened to the point that they no longer hold. The resulting "fracture" is often termed as "metal fatigue."

So, it is not "if, " but "WHEN" the threads will fail in the threaded nut into which the oil plug is threaded.

The 28 ft lbs that Toyota specifies for tightening the oil plug doesn’t help. It is probably needed, because it is the required tension need to apply adequate tension to the plug to achieve enough friction to hold the plug in place under operation and vibration during the designed cycle of the engine's operating environment.
The plastic washer that seals the oil plug provides little, "if any" frictional resistance to retain the oil plug. In fastening technology, increasing the friction between the bottom surface of the head of the bolt and the mating surface of the nut "prevents loosening," and increases retention of the bolt to the nut. These devices are known as "thread retaining compounds” or are the function of "lock washers."

Even you have stated that the "design life" of the threads in the oil pan is increased, if the so called "grease monkey's" did not over tighten the oil pan plug.

In many cases using a soft copper washer as a gasket instead of the plastic gasket decreases the necessary torque needed to retain the oil plan plug. For economy reasons of saving the cost of a copper washer in each unit produced, Toyota has chosen to use a plastic crush washer. This washer provides little of no frictional retention property as a copper washer between the bottom head of the plug and the surface of the oil pan would.

Copper sealing gaskets have been well known and been used in high end European cars like BMW, Mercedes and internal combustion engines since the dawn of the automobile. Copper fitting place in ancient Greek and Roman times, now found in ruins, have survived nearly intact to this day.

Because of the increased friction against loosening provided with a copper sealing washer, leas torque in the order of about 18 ft lbs would serve the same function as the 28 ft lbs with the plastic washer.

That’s why I would replace the plastic sealing washer with a copper one. The only place where I would use an aluminum washer seal would be in the transmission, where the copper would result in galvanic corrosion.

 

Wrong oil drain plug gasket story: At local auto parts store (O'Reilly), the clerk looked up gasket and advised me that my 2010 Prius could use any of three Dorman Oil-Tite! M12 gaskets, a nylon one, a rubber one, or a fiber (I think) one. I chose the 3-pack of rubber gaskets (Part #65327).

As I torqued the drain plug bolt to 27 ft-lbs, the rubber gasket squished out quite a lot, forming almost a cup around the bolt head. So I removed it and, instead, used the old gasket that I had bought at a Toyota dealership. The removed rubber gasket is quite distorted--now slightly conical with an out-of-round center hole. Today I researched online and found that gasket is sold by Dorman on Amazon's website, but the site reports it as incompatible with a 2010 Prius, recommending instead its Part #65394.

Lesson: Do not trust auto parts store clerks or their reference computers.

Dorman 65327 AutoGrade Oil Drain Plug and Gasket : Amazon.com : Automotive
Dorman 65394 Oil Drain Plug Gasket for Lexus/Scion/Toyota : Amazon.com : Automotive

Doug in Tacoma, WA

 

My wife's rental car was broken into in Tacoma, recently, so I don't trust a whole lot out of there.

The Toyota OEM drain plug gasket p/n is 90430-12031. You can find these on eBay, etc...

 

I don't think it's critical... I've lost mine and so used none, I've also used the metal edged type that almost looks Like a washer, and I've used the fiberglass.
All instances had no leaks... Never torqued, just a reasonable firm snug with a socket wrench.

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
galaxy S3 with Tapatalk 2

 

That is a beautiful thing you done for the Prius 3rd generation owners. You make this forum great place to come.
Thank you!

 

I just got my new car and Prius 2012 comes with 2 years or 25000 miles maintenance, should I change my oil at 1000 for my new car, rather than the 5000 miles on the first oil change?

Will the dealer do the oil change if I ask them to do it at 1000?

Thanks!

 

Magnetic oil plug: What advantage using them? Thanks!

 

Someone can easily empty your oil. On that perspective, not really good idea. Just my opinion.

 

Any tiny metal pieces that come along the magnet grabs it.
When I change my oil, there is always sediment on it..... Sometimes metallic in color.

I've never figured out if that's actually metal particles or normal sedimentation... When oil is all over it, it's hard to tell if the material is attracted to the magnetic since the oil makes everything sticky.

The engines are made of aluminum, but the actual gears and plates I'm not sure about....I can't see gear teeth being aluminum.
Since the plugs are so cheap...I figure why not.

Alan...
Sent with Tapatalk 2

 

Alan...
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The first oil change is at 10,000 miles and that is just fine.

 

OTOH, changing the oil for the first time at 5k miles then every 10k thereafter gets all the assembly/break-in crud out early. It's relatively cheap peace of mind, especially if you intend to keep the vehicle for many years.

BTW, this argument has gone on on this thread and elsewhere before.

 

Lots of factors.. Even though the engine may be a little tight in the beginning, if your starting with synthetic, there should be no breakdown of viscosity. Most feel the oil filter does its job so no reason to fret.

Peace of mind is nice though.. Never hurts to do early, but so many make a religion out of it.
Toyota engines are made very well, so much do its hard to tell the difference between those who do outright neglect on maintenance verses not.

It's a lot of money. I vote for peace of mind.

Alan...
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Don't forget, with a Prius, your car went 10,000 miles, but your engine didn't run for 10,000 miles.

 

My 2010 Prius just outside the 25k factory service and now require oil change. I have changed oils for all my cars when they are out of free service. I bought an oil extractor pump for my Mercedes GL350, it's real easy and clean to extract the oil from the dipstick hole instead of from drain plug hole. Does anyone has experience doing it? I have also used the pump for my RX300 and didn't have any problem. I actually removed the drain plug of my RX300 after oils were extracted and there was no oil left.

 

The purpose of oil change is to take out the sediment and oil at the same time. Using the pump defeat the purpose of oil change. If pumping is the way to go, why isn't the Car company implement that functionality by now.

 

The main reason I've never used a pump is because I want to see if anything's loose and/or leaking underneath the car. Besides, the oil filter is underneath, so you still have to take the trip.