Oil change after initial engine break-in?

Toyotas are pretty robust engines. If you plan on driving this car till the wheels fall-off, I would do the initial oil and filter change at or before 5K miles. This would remove any dirt or metal shaving accumulated during the break-in period or left over from manufacturing. I don't get why someone would change the oil and leave a dirty filter in. That's like taking a bath/shower and putting on your dirty smelly clothes. That being said; lots of people have followed Toyota's recommended 10K oil change intervals, you still don't see many engine issues with more than 150K miles on these engines.
BTW, 600 miles is not 600 miles on a Prime. If your like me, plug in every day, make a lot of short trips on battery power only - 600 miles may be less than 100 miles on the ICE. You can make an approximation of ICE mileage by the percentage of hybrid operations; buried in a sub-menu someplace.

 

No, don't change the oil. Any metal shavings larger than the surface asperities will be caught in the oil filter.

Nevertheless, it is very important to drive slow during the break-in period, which is the first 1,000 miles or so. Keep the speedometer speed below 57 mph (55 mph actual speed) in the HV mode. Drive in the eco mode and accelerate very gently. Do not accelerate fast with or rev a cold engine. In addition, do not use the HV mode for trips shorter than 10 miles so that the engine oil can reasonably warm up and form the protective layer on the sliding surfaces.

 

You should change your oil every 5k.

 

Honda maintenance schedule recommends filter changes at every second oil change. I did a variation on that: removing, draining and reinstalling the filter. I’ve not heard of any other manufacturer recommending that, and to be fair, the dealerships ignored it.

 

Shoo.

Don't have a Prime and know nothing about changing oil/filter on it.

But, do it yourself, and what, it is $25 bucks or less and 30 minutes of your time?

Take it in and it $70 or less....
Cheap insurance. It will put your mind at rest. Worst case, you changed oil too early. No big deal.

I always change oil and filter on a brand-new car at 1,000 miles and then at 3,000 and then "as specified" in the manual. My cars go 200,000 miles plus with no problems. Of course, I also know how to rebuild a carb (in other words, in some ways, I live in the past).

Your choice. Oils and filters nowadays are much better than those I ran in the 1970s -- but paranoia is still the same. I err on the side of caution.

 

I don't know that there is a consensus for the optimal oil change interval or break-in procedure... aside from following the manual. There is lots of "folklore" accumulated over the years, and there seems to be some who like to make things harder than they need to be.

It doesn't hurt to change the oil more frequently or baby your car early in life. However, more and more the automotive engineers I speak to kind of say it doesn't matter so much (within reason obviously). I've also read some manufacturers ship cars with "break-in" oil which should not be changed early... doubt if Toyota does this since I would think the manual would point this out if it was important.

Also, the Prius break-in procedure text is identical to that found in the normal ICE Toyota cars' manuals. Like it was cut and paste, even though the ICE in a hybrid operates quite differently (the computer mainly decides the engine rpms, not so much the gas pedal, electric water pump helps engine come to operating temperature faster, turns on and off frequently through normal driving). This leads me to believe it's not that big of a concern.

Drive as mellow as you can for a month or two, then off you go. I believe the break-in period isn't just for the ICE, but rather all of the moving bits so I wouldn't get too hung up in calculating HV vs ICE mileage unless you absolutely away drive EV.

Take this as any other free advice .

 

I have also "heard" about this so-called break-in oil.

And, logicially, it makes sense. It really does.

But, have never read a manual that says they put special break-in oil in the car, so do not change early.

Sticking to my 1K 3K ....and then K formula. Probably good enough. Hey, at my age, if the car lasts 8 years, probably good enough!

 

For what it's worth. My 2014 civic manual does say it have "break in oil" and recommends against an early oil change. Oil analysis done by other owners suggests that it is true.

For Subaru, Specifically the WRX and STI, the manual in them does recommend oil change after break in.

 

Weird, I can't find anything stating that 2014 Civics have special oil http://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/pubs/OM/AH/AR0144DOM/enu/R0144DOM.PDF
Just to avoid towing during 600 mile break in period.

Also Honda used to state that the factory fill had break in oil AND TO NOT CHANGE IT EARLY. That also seems like it may be gone now.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/hondas-first-oil-change-recommendation.271254/ Honda has changed their statements over the years, apparently.

For the OP and all others - follow the owners manual. Don't change the oil sooner than needed. In a hybrid, let along a PHEV - the engine will not even run 100% of the time, so please stop wasting oil, time and money by changing it sooner than necessary.

 

I'd go with the half-interval first time, aka extreme-service, aka 6 months or 5k miles (whichever comes first).

Then, and this is just my 2 cents, I'd stick with that interval, lol.

 

Toyota recommended oil-change interval (OCI) with synthetic oil is 10,000 miles/12 months, whichever comes first unless severe driving conditions mentioned in the manual exist.

Synthetic oil typically lasts longer than conventional oil because the higher-quality base oil oxidizes more slowly, which results in a slower increase of acidity and a slower neutralization of the oil's detergents, which provide the neutralizing bases against the acids generated due to oxidation, sulfation, and nitration.

If you have doubts, you can have a used-oil analysis (UOA) with total base number (TBN) done. Such services are provided by Blackstone Laboratories etc.

 

Minor quibble: “Toyota” should read “Toyota USA”? Toyota Canada is in step with them also (as of gen 4). But around the world various corporate Toyotas do say different intervals, and make mentions of different oil weights.

Also, AFAIK, they make no mention of oil needing to be synthetic. If you can find find mention in the manuals post a pic?

 

That's because SAE 0W-16 and SAE 0W-20 oils are always synthetic. To be accurate, in the past, there were a few SAE 0W-20 oils in the market that were a synthetic blend, but they were rare exceptions.

 

Honda Genuine motor oil 0w20 was Semi Synthetic and Honda also labels a full synthetic. Of course, they priced themselves out because the average consumer will not buy Honda labeled oil when 0w20 is pretty common at all retail levels now.

 

I remember in my old Toyota Echo (also my first toyota) , the owner's manual states 5w-30 can be use at all temp range or 10w30 can be used at a certain temp range. I live in California so sometimes I did use 10w30. I do not believe there was a mention of synthetic. AFAIK, manufactures do not recommend extended OCI if you do switch to synthetic. One of the benefits of synthetic is a longer oil change, but not the only benefit. A car owner can elect to use 5w30 synthetic over conventional and reap all the other benefits of synthetic, but should still change the oil at the recommended interval.

 

I just checked the international owner's manual for the Gen 4 Prius, and the "preferred viscosity" is 0W-20, with viscosities up to 15W-40 being allowed if 0W-20 not available but asking the owner to use 0W-20 for the next oil change when it is available. OCI is 15,000 km, which is 10,000 miles rounded off in increments of 5,000 km. So, the viscosity and OCI recommendations are exactly the same as in the US. Every US Toyota owner's manual also says that higher viscosities can be used when needed and may be beneficial for high-speed driving or extreme loads.

Quality of synthetic oils vary. This is one reason why many OEMs won't recommend extending the OCI with a synthetic. Nevertheless, as I explained above, a (good) synthetic will allow a longer OCI. In Mexico, API Group I "dino" oil is very common, and you don't want to use such Group I "dino" oil for more than 3,000 miles. The minimum API base-stock group used in the US is Group II, which is labeled conventional, and most synthetics are Group III, which are more severely hydroprocessed versions of Group II base stocks, resulting in a higher viscosity index and better oxidative stability. Some Mobil 1 oils contain a lot of Group IV (PAO) and a dash of Group V (polyol ester (Euro (FS and ESP) flavors) or alkylated naphthalene (ILSAC flavors)), which are top-quality oil base stocks.

 

break in... it's a myth.

the reason for changing oil shortly after running the engine for a while it's as you stated : to get swarf out of the engine.

if you don't have a magnetic oil drain plug, buy one and install it at the first oil change. you'll get some whiskers on it the first couple of oil changes, but then nothing but minimal fine fine powered metal after that.

the frequency of changes depends on your conditions , most people fall into "severe"

 

Probably just change it as directed by the manual.

My cat got his whiskers caught in the oil plug while watching.

 

Congrats on the new Prime! I tried to get one when I searched for a new Prius a few months ago but couldn't even put down a pre-payment because they didn't know when one was coming in so I went ahead and got a 2021 Prius AWD. It's white, "pearl" so my wife named her Mini Pearl. (Only you older folks will know who she is.)

Mini just went over 1,200 miles so I am changing out the oil and filter on my day off. Unlike our 2017 Prius with the cannister oil filter, the new ones have the old-school spin-in filters so that's always less messy. It's odd...I have two generation 4's yet I need two different oil filters and even different oil...OW-20 and OW-16. (But at least everything else seems to be the same!)