I am wondering what the concencus is on the need to change oil and filter before the 1st service to clear out any "muck" that may be present in the early miles on a new engine. Have modern manufacturing methods alleviated this requirement now ? In the good old days when I rebuilt engines I made sure that I changed the oil and filter around 1000 miles or so. I seem to recall that was always the guideance. Now it seems you get a new car and don't have to do anything until you have travelled 10k miles !!
i don't think it would hurt to change yours at 5k then go to the 10k oil changes. But i doubt you would see any harm to your ICE by waiting for 10k on your first oil change.
Hi GDB and welcome to Priuschat! :welcome: We've had this discussion from time to time around ehre and the general consensus seems to be what Adam says. There's probably no harm in waiting but for peace of mind and just in case the few extra bucks of the 5,000 mile oil change is worth it.
I would say that since the ICE runs in such a controlled way and doesn't run at all in many circumstances there is no harm in waiting for the regular 10,000 miles oil change. I would say otherwise if we were speaking of a high performance engine. Just avoid stomping on the pedals for the first 1,000 miles and you'll be fine.
This topic has been discussed (to death...) on this--and every other car forum I've visited. I always have an oil/filter service performed on new cars at ~2K miles to flush out the break in gunk. And there's a big difference between the oil on the dipstick before and after the first oil change.
Just check your oil after first 5k, then decide. Don't waste time and money changing before that. Just change your oil two times a year if you drive average 12k or more. If you drive 10k or less, then change one a year. I drive about 17-18k per year, so 2 oil changes a year fits me perfectly. I do it at home, so it should cost the same as one dealer's oil change.
Much controversy without any evidence one way or the other. I thought it a good idea to change early, but not too early, so I changed the factory fill oil at 2,100 miles. UOA (Used Oil Analysis) of Toyota 0W-20 and Honda 0W-20 factory fill oil has shown that the oils have an astounding amount of molybdenum compared to virtually any other oil (Redline is the sole exception). There was a reference, that I have lost, of a technical paper from Toyota about how various anti-wear/anti-friction additives behave on break-in and that the high moly was in the oil for a good reason. The oil I changed the factory fill to was Honda 0W-20 oil which, along with Toyota 0W-20 has the afore mentioned big moly. I would suggest that if one were to change the factory fill early, using either Toyota or Honda 0W-20 oil for the first 5,000 or 10,000 miles at the least would get the benefits of removing any early cruft that may come off a new motor *and* have the break-in properties that Toyota wanted for the engine to be subject to. I plan on running Toyota 0W-20 in 10,000 miles/1 year intervals going forward (the Toyota oil is cheaper here than the Honda oil, and Redline while high in moly is also high in catalytic converter poisoning ZDDP - if that makes a difference). Rumple
Thanks all for the views. Sorry if it was going over old ground. I especially like your feedback Rumple. The analysis of the old oil and the presence of molybdenum was particularly interesting. I am not sure how readily available the Toyota 0W20 is over here so won't even consider an early change unless I can get the recommended oil.
IIRC, Eneos (Nippon oil) makes either the Toyota or Honda oil and while I have not seen an UOA on it, they do specifically call out the "organic molybdenum" content of their 0W-20 oil which at least suggests that it is at or near the same levels found in the Toyota or Honda brand 0W-20 oil. Here is the EU based website. You can follow the links to a .pdf on the 0W-20 oil in which they tout it's properties. It is available in the UK at Japarts and possibly elsewhere. Rumple
Rather then change the oil at the first 5K I thought I might just have the filter element changed and take a close look at it for metal slivers. You could do an oil analysis too but I'm not sure I'm going to go that far. Interestingly after sales and the service manager agreed that 0W-20 only has to be changed at 10,000 mile intervals I found one service advisor insisting that it is still 5K. Needless to say I'm not going to use him and I'll probably make a scene if the issue comes up when I reach 5K. But I'll want to be sure Toyota hasn't changed their minds on this first. Do you trust Toyota? I'm still 5K away before I have to decide something on this. I heard of one customer who got something from Toyota about his car that he could change at 10K intervals. I'll wait for my letter too.
I just picked up (today) on lease, a II Prius. I've owned and registered 65 cars, most of them used. With the new ones, I've always changed the oil early. Regardless of science and direction in the manual, I'll change this one at 1500 miles+- and go to Mobil 1 0W-20 and the best filter I can find. This is the time of most wear and I will want what's worn out of there.
