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Oil Maintenance Required ????

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by revhigh, Apr 18, 2011.

  1. revhigh

    revhigh MPG Enthusiast

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    Hi All !

    Over the weekend, I received a message on the display that specifically said 'Oil Maintenance Required'. I have about 4700 miles on the car. I called the Service Mgr at my dealership, and inquired as to why this message came up at roughly 5K, when the oil change interval is 10K for the 2010's. He said that it was just a general maintenance reminder, which I know is still 5K to rotate tht tires and check stuff.

    I figured it's probably just an old message from before they changed the interval to 10K.

    Anybody else see this message ? I plan on changing the oil at 5K anyway myself for the first oil change, just because it's a new engine. I know it's not necessary but it makes me feel better to change out the initial oil a little early the first time.

    After this first change, I'll let Toyota do all the maintenance for free up to 30K .... i have a free oil change certificate from them, then I'll continue doing it myself from then on. Syn 0-20 should easily be good for 10K miles.

    REV
     
  2. krelborne

    krelborne New Member

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    I am right there with you at essentially the same mileage and message. I have the Toyota Care complimentary maintenance, so I have some free oil changes coming to me. I'm not sure if I want to do one at 5k or not. I think the 5k reminder interval is useful, even if it doesn't result in an oil change every time it activates.
     
  3. Joe166

    Joe166 New Member

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    Apparently they haven't figured out how to change the maintenance reminder to 10,000 miles so you will probably get several creative explanations.
     
  4. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    I saw the same thing on my car @ 5K. (2010 G3-II)

    My company changed the oil then, even though I told them that it's not required until 10K. Actually----they changed it twice, since they tried to put 20w50 into the car the first time and I had to pop a flare over some senior fleet manager's desk, and make several adverse comments about their maintenance policies. (loooong story... :) )

    If I ever get a G3 for my personal use, my intentions are to change the oil @ 5K, and thence every 5-7K...and I don't care what the folks in Aichi have to say about it.

    That's just how I roll.
     
  5. billnchristy

    billnchristy Active Member

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    At least they didn't put 2190 TEP in there. :p
     
  6. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    When I got my 2010 13 months ago it had a 5k interval. No idea why. However, Toyota has officially changed that to 10k on these vehicles, but the maintenance reminder will still come every 5k. You just basically turn it off and ignore it every second time. I received in the mail I think it was an official, Toyota-blessed booklet telling me of oil intervals and it's definitely 10k on the 2010.
     
  7. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Yeah...

    Funny thing....the 20W50 was in my car for about 150 miles.....and my mileage didn't drop, that is until the wrench swingers came and got the car to drive it to the maintenance barn.
    My bosses car had the same wrong oil in it for a month and a half..:eek:

    My protestations resulted in the same wrench benders back-hauling his car to put the correct oil in it. His mileage didn't drop much either.

    That all said....I'm still a pretty firm believer in frequent oil changes. I don't have any fancy degrees but the oil goes in almost clear...and it comes out black. That tells me that whatever is turning the oil black (ash and other combustion by-products?) isn't something I want cruising around in my engine room.

    0W20 isn't cheap...but it's cheap enough to change every 5K...and that gives me a chance to poke around under the car to see if anything else is amiss.

    JMHO. :cool:
     
  8. xpcman

    xpcman Senior Member

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    The dealers didn't want Toyota to change the 5,000 "oil service" interval. They make BIG bucks of the shorter interval. My dealer said they should rotate the tires and while you have it in the shop "why not change the oil?". You can remove the warning in about 45 seconds without any special tools. Do a search of Pirus Chat to find the steps needed.
     
  9. JeffyJosephNorCal

    JeffyJosephNorCal Formerly JeffyJosephNCa

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    I got the message a week ago, but I still have about 1200 miles left till I hit 20K, I'll most likely wait till then.
     
  10. REV-X

    REV-X New Member

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    They'll probably change the interval to 10k in the future, I know it comes on every 5k in Lexus vehicles too.