I am getting the maintenance required message thinking it's for an oil change

I asked for an oil and filter change on the Prime at just under 4,000 miles, using the ages-old myth that the first one should be done earlier due to engine break-in and removing manufacturing contaminants and micro metal filings that might be present. There isn't much supporting evidence that this is still a concern in modern ICE engines. So the tech says "Now, at just under 4K, But, why? It is good for 10K miles with the 0W-20 that is in there. We will do it if you really want us to, but there is absolutely no need."

Now, it was one of the up to 5 free services I got with the car, and I think he was trying to save the dealership from the expense of doing one of these a little early, but still - words you might never hear from the dealer ever again.

Easy to eliminate the nag screen on Prii yourself or if your service tech forgot to reset it, or if you absolutely know it is far too early for service. Just remember when the oil change should really be performed or set a reminder in the car's nav, if you model and trim level supports that option.

I learned something new this week while having it in for the oil service again. Some newer Toyotas are spec'd with 0W-16 synth oil. Never knew that existed.

 

hang around the turd gen forum , you’ll hear about the latest and greatest on engine oils

 

Turd Gen forum? No habla turd gen.

When they go down to 0W-0, are ICE fossil cars officially done?

 

In other words: change the oil every 5000 miles.

 

The 2 year/25,000 free service (or 5 services total) on new Toyota vehicles includes oil changes during the second and fourth service, just like the service manual says for regular driving. Oil changes at 5,000 miles are for "heavy duty" driving and are at owners expense (unless your dealer wants to give you some thing extra). My dealer did throw in 2 extra oil changes after the 2 years are up.

 

Was that in writing?

 

I'm going to disagree with this.
It's a hybrid, that means there is quite a bit of difference.

I've read enough posts where people had problems either at a dealership or an independent from things as simple as the mechanics don't really know how to shut down a Prius or didn't know it wasn't off. Batteries being drained during service. Vehicle starting up...with the oil drained.

I felt there was value enough even in routine maintenance to establish a relationship with a repair facility familiar with Prius.

The direct, drain oil, replace oil, change filter is not different than any ICE only vehicle, but..the entire machine is different and that means to me? If you aren't doing the maintenance yourself, having a mechanic familiar with HSD, Hybrids and Prius is a advantage.

I always took my Prius to the dealership. Toyota Care, it was free....but I also hoped, familiarity with Prius would help. It was worth it to me.

 

The oil filter's a leetle tricky...

And the underpanel. You can always tell the cars that have had a steady diet of "pro" oil changes, they'll have the dangling, half-missing underpanel.

 

Unfortunately, hoping does not make it so.
The 5K service, they said the filled the tires to 32 psi. They also said they did not check the battery (under the hood) because the Prius is "Different".

 

Toyota Canada provides two books with their vehicles, the Owner's Manual, and the Owner's Manual Supplement. The latter is similar to the US Warranty and Maintenance Booklet. Except:

The US booklet outlines a Prius specific maintenance schedule, event by event. I kinda love and loath that. I mean: everything's in there, but lordy it's hard to get an over-view, look for patterns, frequencies. But it's all in there.

The (Canadian) 2010 Owner's Manual Supplement that came with our car, had a byzantine maintenance "explanation". For starters, it covers every Toyota vehicle sold in Canada, for that year. And not blow-by-blow, it says to do various "service packages", at various intervals, and oh: see sub-section this-and-that, except when, and on and on. Makes you want to set your hair on fire.

Anyway, I spent a few hours going through it, marking it up, taking notes, and eventually was able to cobble a graph format schedule, in a spreadsheet. Ended up doing the same thing for the US booklet as well.

Checking back in a few years later, 2014 model year, Toyota Canada had introduced a graph format schedule. High-fives and hand-stands, so easy to read. Still for all vehicles, but meh.

With the advent of 4th gen Prius, I again downloaded the Canadian Owner's Manual Supplement, and erm: where's the maintenance schedule?? Yuppers: they've deleted it. Shades of Toyota UK...

For fourth gen Canadian owners, as far as I know: your only recourse is to go to Toyo Canada website, go through a cumbersome event-by-event graph-style schedule, that says "service 1", "service 2" or "service 3", and then amble over to another section, see what those services entail.

Here's the 2014 schedule, the high water mark in clarity:




PDF format attached:

 

Yes. They had a charge for a "Total Care Auto Vehicle Theft Assistance Limited Warranty" ($140) and "Total Care Auto Maintenance" ($110). They initially said that all Larry Miller dealers include the theft warranty for the "customers protection". They sprung those fees at the last minuter but waived them once I objected. They then included them in the contract and provided me with the paperwork. The maintenance 2 year term begins the day that Toyota Care ends.

I'm glad that I won't be buying another new car for a while. You really have to be vigilant.

 

Watch out if the dealership "reprints" the sales contract: surprising how often the bottom line changes...

 

And never downward.

 

They put all of the paperwork on a thumb drive and gave it to me. I did plug it in to my computer. Have I been hacked?

If a car dealer goes to law school and then becomes a politician, then we're all in trouble.

 

That is very nearly the same format as the schedule in my 1962 Chevrolet manual. Ha-ha! How creative Toyota is! (No, I never owned a '62, although my parents coincidentally did have a '61 Chevy.)

 

Regarding the above: one fluid I would leave alone, is the brake fluid reservoir. It's natural for the level to drop as the pads wear, and if the system is normal, the fluid will return to the top with pad replacement. Topping it up is not necessary, or helpful, just necessitates basting out fluid when pads are replaced, to avoid overflow.

This assumes there's not a leak in the system, and if that were the case, topping up is not a sensible course of action either.

And just my 2 cents: tri-yearly brake fluid replacement is a good idea. Toyota Canada recommends it; Toyota USA says nothing on the subject.

 

hahah, i can see that. i started to just skim stuff.

Your question: the maintenance required message popped up means oil?

The answer: the indicator happens every 5k miles and according to Toyota, you should follow their scheduled items that Mendel posted on the first page. Since oil /can/ be changed at 5k miles, most people just do that even though toyota says to do it every 10k. If you reset the indicator at 5105 miles, it will next go off at 10105 (which for all intents and purposes would be 105 miles past the oil change mileage). Since you bought the car used, it would be in your best interest to do an oil change regardless of when it was last done so that YOU know that it has been changed and can start your own schedule. Furthermore since it's at 38k miles, it wouldn't be a bad idea to follow the 40k mile service recommendation at this time to save you a trip/time to wherever you plan on having the work done...or if you are gonna do it yourself.

The only other discrepancy is that toyota says to "Adjust ALL fluid levels", but in the case of brake fluid, as pads wear, more fluid has to fill the caliper lowering the fluid in the reservoir. Then when replacing the brakes, the caliper fluid is pushed back up into the resevoir restoring it's proper level (so if it was "topped off", the extra fluid would now be all over your engine bay and ground). Also, the canadian maintenance schedule is different than the american schedule.

At least that's what I've picked up from the discussion.

 

just read the o/m if you can't figure out the wheat from the chaff here. it tells you everything you need to know

 

Who reads that?! Feed me I’m hungry.