The 12 month / 10,000 mile service was due on my 2024 Prius Prime. The car has @8400 miles and I have done 2 oil changes myself. I did the initial change at about 1500 miles and the second at 5000 miles. I have decided to change the oil at 5000 miles / 6 months. I use the Toyota oil, filter and drain plug gasket. Total cost $35 USD. I needed to get the rear door lock recall on my car so I scheduled that and the maintenance items covered under Toyota Care that is free of charge for the initial 2 years. The dealer did the recall, oil change and tire rotation. Less than 2 hours and I was pleased with the service and courteous employees. After any work is accomplished on my vehicles, I always do my own quality check. Confirmed the tire lugs nuts were torqued to 76 ft/lbs per the OM. I did note the work order had the torque listed at 80 ft/lbs. Not an issue. I checked the oil which was cold, i.e., I did not use the engine on the trip home. I found the oil level about 1 inch above the upper dot on the dip stick. I pulled and checked multiple times. I siphoned out about 0.5 qt of oil to bring the oil level slightly below the upper dot with the oil cold. I note on the work order that with the drain and refill and filter change, the tech added 4.4 qts. The OM on page 602 states 4.1 qts for drain and refill with filter. I have found 4 qts works best as the oil level with engine cold is slightly below the upper dot. Why the dealer WO states 4.4 qts makes no sense as this resulted in an overfill with the engine oil COLD. Toyota advises to check the oil level when hot after waiting 5 minutes. Whatever. I have always checked my vehicle oil levels with the engine cold since the dip stick reading can be hard to determine since oil splashes up the dipstick tube and complicates an accurate reading PLUS I want to know I have oil BEFORE starting not after running the engine. It just never ends....... Cheers
Just remember...Dealership oil changes are almost always done by non licensed "personnel" in the express lane...even if other work is being performed by licensed Mechanics. It's good of you to check the work. Most folks can't or won't.
The tech mistakenly used the info for a regular Prius, not a Prime. Probably didn't realize there was a difference. The Prime needs 4.1qts, but the Prius HEV needs 4.4qts.
4.4 US quarts is gen 3 (and gen 4 I believe) spec. Maybe they’re operating with an out-of-date instruction posted in the shop. ^ Well similar, defer to @hammersmith’s post above. Is the distance between the two dipstick marks still about 1.5”? And the owners manual still specs the distance between the two represents 1.5 liter (1.6 US quarts)? If so, to my eye the overfill looks to roughly 1/2”, correlates with roughly 1/2 quart overfill. The outcome of your 1/2 quart drain corroborates this: ^ I’ve been there, with a previous vehicle: spec was 3.2 litres, and judging from the dipstick they were slamming in 4 liters. Finally woke up, did a partial drain, under the car, holding drain bolt almost out, trickling oil out into a graduate, till my arms were shaking so much I had to stop. And these weren’t freebie oil changes. It was then I decided I’d had enough of their BS. (after typing all this I noticed @hammersmith’s post; looks like he nailed it. )
You may want to run the engine a bit, just to make sure they didn't put a 'dry' filter on the car. The dealership forgot to tighten the oil drain plug on my buddy's Tacoma, during it's 2 year free maintenance. Just my 2 cents...
Hey there, you’re the only other person i’ve read on this forum that did 2 oil changed prior to the dealership’s free service like me. I’m happy you take good care of your ride , but to your post dealerships are known to overfill oil, but if you really are paranoid, extra half a quart of oil will almost do nothing to your engine. Cheers!
I worked in the aviation world for 50+ years and was taught to follow manufacturer requirements and I still think this way. The Car Care Nut posted a video weeks back about not filling oil when cold to the top mark since with temperature expansion it will be overfill. I know on some engines extra oil in the crankcase can cause oil foaming. I don’t know about the Prius engine but personally I follow manufacturer requirements and I expect the dealer to do likewise. Cheers
I’m guessing that he dumped the whole 5 quart jug in. I just changed the oil in my Prime and I used exactly the same oil that the dealer had in stock; a 4.73 litre jug of Mobil 1 0w16. I ended up with about 1/2 litre left over. Your experience is confirmation that I made the right choice to do it myself. I noticed that the USA warranty and maintenance manual actually states that you can do your own maintenance. I couldn’t find that anywhere in the Canadian manual.
Why slightly below? Less oil put, it is less protection (a higher contaminant ratio, lower TBN, higher TAN, etc.). There is a considerable leeway before the oil in the pan makes contact with the bearings, resulting in foaming. Even 4.4 qt was probably OK, not that it is recommended. Google AI says: A small amount of extra oil, usually considered around half a quart, is generally not considered problematic before it would come into contact with the bearings; however, significantly overfilling the engine with oil, exceeding a full quart or more, can cause the crankshaft to directly contact the excess oil, leading to potential damage due to oil aeration and foaming.
Slightly below COLD results in close to the top dot on the dip stick when checking the oil when HOT. I check the oil in my vehicles with the engine cold for reasons I explained. If the oil quantity was 4.4 qts COLD, what would the volume be at operating temperature? Enough to cause aeration of the oil ? I have no data to say yay or nay for 4.4 qts as a problem. For me, the manual states 4.1 qts for refill and filter not 4.1 plus/ minus X qts. This is my requirement when I change my oil in the Prius and I expect the same from a dealer. My intent of the post was to encourage post maintenance visit inspection, especially the oil level. I also check the wheel torque after a rotation and @ 100 miles later. Sorry but it’s in my DNA Cheers
I notice little if any difference, hot versus cold. Owners Manual (and Repair Manual) makes no distinction. A wee bit below top mark is not going to implode your engine either.
Best research indicates engine oil expansion is about 6% from room temperature to 210 F. With the 4.4 qts in the Prius engine, the level would increase about .25 qts. My truck takes 6.2 qts and there is a definite increase between cold and hot readings on the dipstick. It was no big deal for me to siphon out the extra oil. My concern is the job not being done right. Too much of this in todays world. I did print out the photo, OM reference and work order. Took it to the dealer. Spoke with a service advisor. His question to me was what do you want me to do ? Do you want the documents back ? I just said nothing and walked out. I believe he should have said that he would bring this to the attention of the tech who did the oil change. We all make mistakes and if it was me I would want to be aware of my error. But I’m old school….. So Toyota sent me the query on my service experience. Before I respond, I’ll wait to see if the dealer does get back to me before I rate my visit. Cheers
Toyota or the dealership? A nearby Honda dealership had an amazing service manager for a while, he would come out to the waiting room, let you know what was happening, lay out the options. He was a helpful, candid guy. I had a work coleague who knew him, said he didn't last long there, went on teaching mechanics in a local trade school.
Toyota sends the survey. Note on dealer invoice states if unable to rate service visit EXCELLENT please call our customer relations to discuss Cheers
