First oil change

The oil service interval was changed from 5,000 to 10,000 miles something like a year ago, so I'm surprised your warranty/maintenance booklet still says 5,000 miles.

Regarding when one "should" get their oil changed with synthetic, this topic has been beaten to death. Do a search and you'll find more opinions than you want...

 

Agreed.

If you're worried about the oil change interval, change it yourself, and use synthetic or dino-earl. Your choice. You wanna know how much difference it's going to make IMHO?
None.
Engine building techniques have come a long way in the last 100 years. Your new Toyota engine doesn't have a lot of metal shavings cruising around in the oil, and if it DID, they'd be trapped by the oil filter...otherwise Toyota would have more PR problems than "unintended acceleration" (THAT still cracks me up!!)
Oil (dyno or syn) has come a long way too. If Toyota says you're good to go for a 10K initial oil change, you're probably good to go.
If you're worried enough about it to loose sleep over, then stick the crowbar in your wallet and pop for an oil change, or learn to do it yourself.
I've heard a lot of evil rumors about Priuses, but I haven't heard about engines needing replacement due to long oil change intervals. I'm always amused by the fact that people buy a Prius to either save money, or save the planet by using fewer hydrocarbons, and then they HAVE TO CHANGE THEIR OIL every 3K (cause their Dad told them so!) which uses more oil and costs more money....all for a car that MOST people trade in before it hits 200,000 miles!
Interesting....
Believe it or not...Motorcycle riders are even goofier!

 

Your thinking is right on in my book. I cut open my original filter on my 07 and there were noticeable, visible by eye, metal flecks in the oil on the dirty side of the filter. I used a wheel type of cutter which makes a clean cut with no debris. Some flecks were pretty large, maybe 1/16" and looked like aluminum. So the theory new engines are delivered clean because it is 2010 is wrong. The particles the filter isn't able to catch are just as bad IMO. Everything else others say is also true, in that it won't cause you engine failure in 200k miles. I would pay the extra for an early change though. One thing I would find annoying is the dealer assumes your use of the car is the ideal condition for 10k oil changes. Of course they really don't care since it isn't their money that bought the car.

 

There is a lot of silicone left over from the casting process and some metal shavings in the oil after just a few hundred miles. Toyota and some owners say that's OK just leave it for 10K, they may be right. I changed mine at 1500 miles for piece of mind. I was also anxious to see how easy it was to change, I have one of the earlier cars and not a lot of us had changed it yet. I use a 10K OCI now and would only use an early change once or twice when the car is new.

Note: Oil Change Interval is 10K miles with 0W20 oil which is the factory fill. 5K interval is only a one time option using 5W20 if you can't find 0W20.

I also changed the transaxle fluid at 20K miles and the UOA indicated it was needed.

Both ICE and transaxle are pretty easy to change yourself. ICE can use any of the good synthetic 0W20 oils available such as Mobil 1, Amsoil, or Toyota's brand (probably made by Eneos). The transaxle should only use Toyota ATF type WS.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii.../67747-oil-change-2010-prius-do-yourself.html

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ting/72896-diy-transmission-fluid-change.html

 

Seems like you have a few issues here.

First of all, Toyota's recommendation is now 10,000 mile intervals. But here's my opinion, Free Oil changes or not, the "service" department should of honored your desire to have "your" car serviced. If they want to say that "free" Oil Changes can only be applied at the recommended service intervals? OK. But if you wanted to bump yours up? You have every right to do so. Personally I would of thrown it in as a freebie even if it didn't line up with the recommended intervals...but I certainly wouldn't of sent you home telling you they wouldn't do it because it was not as recommended by Toyota. Quite frankly it's your car, you could change the oil every 500 miles and/or decide to drive it without changing it. IMO service centers should work to meet your desires...not apply their philosophy or even Toyotas recommendations to a service inwhich it is generally considered the owners decision and one inwhich doing it "early" IMO is probably not harmful.

If the dealership is giving you "Free Oil Changes" for life, I can understand why they probably have to offer them tied to the recommendation intervals of Toyota...BUT if you want an "extra" Oil Change? You should be able to have it done, but you might have to pay out of pocket. I don't see this as bait and switch, they are NOT saying you can't have your free oil changes they are only saying they MUST be done at the intervals as recommended by Toyota.

As far as everything else? This year I purchased a Honda Fit. It comes with a "maintenance minder" system that is suppose to factor in driving style, engine useage, and then it reminds you when "it" thinks it is time for an oil change.

I was like you, with every vehicle I owned before, I was probably too obssesive and changed the oil at LEAST every 3000 miles.

However, everything I was told and read in regards to first Oil Change with the Honda Fit recommended do not change the Oil until the reminder said to do so...which took a little over 7000 miles. Supposedly the Fit is filled with a break in Oil that has additives that are beneficial to the break in of the engine. So despite my instinct which was to do the same as you, and change it early...I bit my lip and drove with it until "recommended".

I found with my research that "Oil Change" viscosity recommendations, and Oil Change intervals and procedures are one of those topics that so many people have individual rituals and beliefs that it is difficult to get a consensus or definitive idea of what is best.

I too had thought I would change to full synthetic as I do believe it is simply the better product. However, at least for this first change I have remained on regular "Dino" Oil. This was because I read some feedback that for the first 16000 miles or so, the engine is still breaking in, still seating the piston rings..and "some" people insist that full synthetic can be "too slick" and not allow the piston rings to properly seat...

I actually am very dubious about this opinion, but my logic was that going for 1 change interval on the OEM oil wouldn't hurt....I would then be meeting the recommendations of those that say don't immediately go to full synthetic and in the meantime, I don't think any damage is being done. But I too think I will change to full synthetic on my next change.

As far as this, if you change to Mobil One full synthetic and bring it with you, in the future will the dealership give you some discount for providing you own Oil? If the Oil Changes are "free" but you provide the Oil for them, that's real nice for them...but you will never get a real free oil change.

Good Luck, my approach is certainly not definitive. Like I said, I have discovered that Oil Change rituals seem to be very individual and everyone has an opinion.

In general on Prius Chat a unfortunately re-occuring problem that seems to happen often is dealers overfilling the oil, with responses being everything from siphoning out an amount of Oil, to returning to dealerships. But overfilled Oil seems to be a problem. So you might look up threads about this occurence and at least keep your eye out for this possibilty.

Good Luck.

 

If my Prius were MY Prius (instead of a company car) I'd probably change at 1K myself, and then every 5K thereafter. Granted...it may seem counter to my previous statement, but I find that if you do self maintenance (competently) then you can detect other problems before they become problems...and it's always a good idea for an owner to learn to do self maintenance if they intend to keep the vehicle for 200K miles or so.
However (comma) the rankor that swirls around change intervals and oil types is almost always 90+ percent bologna. If you follow the perscribed factory maintenance schedule, you're almost guaranteed to get a couple hundred thousand miles out of an even marginally engineered vehicle.
My company (AT&T) operates a large fleet of vehicles that are maintained at something kinda close to the factory service interval (mostly over the perscribed intervals in the case of mileage due to vehicle availability.) I've talked to the hammer swingers in the garage quite a bit, and they tell me that we have statistically ZERO engine failures due to lubrication issues. Almost all of our non-maintenance vehicle repair costs are due to a dead short between the driver seat and the steering wheel----if you know what I mean.
Usually we sell off a vehicle when it has lunar mileage, and/or is old enough to vote, and everybody KNOWS (or should know) that unless you're an anal old fart like me, you're NOT going to take care of a company car with anything close to the degree of care that you would give to something that you came out of pocket for---especially with what Priuses go for.

So..what does all this mean?
Depends on who you ask, but for me it means that the people who sell designer oils and filters, goofy $25+ spark plugs, hydrocarbon magnet discombobulators, and turbine shaped air filter inserts will always have a bright future. Unfortunately it also means that some dealers and mechanics (and they're not a majority) will scare the CRAP out of some lesser informed owners (I'll let you decide on THAT one!) into buying unnecessary maintenance.

FWIW...it's even WORSE in the motorcycle world!

 

You shouldn't get more oil changes than you need. The dealer was right. It's extremely wasteful.

 

Wasteful is what happened in the gulf earlier this year. Someone getting one extra oil change in their new car amounts to absolutely nothing. If it does increase engine life by a few percent it might even end up saving some resources over the long term.

 

That's true as far as it goes, but most modern cars are not junked because their engines fail---in fact it's increasingly rare that this happens. I don't know the exact figure, but I think that cars are something like 95-percent recycled, meaning that only a small portion of a given car winds up in a land-fill. Cars usually end up in the automotive afterlife because of economic or vanity factors....mostly in the case of the former because of repair necessities for their ancillary systems (A/C, brakes, suspension, electrical....)
You're right in that doubling down on the oil change interval isn't going to add to a vehicle's carbon footprint very much. I'm just saying that if a responsible owner chooses to adhere to the factory recommended service interval, then they're not "neglecting" their ride.
Prius owners clearly love their cars, and like many overindulgent parents, they sometimes get carried away in spoiling their "baby."
Hey....I have nooooo beef with that. As expensive as these little guys are, they deserve to be pampered.
However (comma, pause for effect...) As much as I chuckle at self satisfied eco-weenies counting out little droplets of hydrocarbons to use for personal transportation, they don't deserve to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous shop owners who are trying to shake them down for added unnecessary maintenance. I mean, they’re saving our planet---right?
The Prius is a really good car, but in the end.....it's a car. We're not doing cold fusion here. Internal combustion engines have been around for a while. So have oil changes.
I'm thinking that all this should be pretty easy.