Oil Change 2010 Prius - do it yourself

I understand at some point, people do their own oil changes... I did them for years. But now, you can get coupons for $10 changes. Bring in your own oil/filter (and you get to watch), and I'm not sure why anyone at that price would do it on their own (including disposal)..............

My guy swaps it in 15 minutes, and charges $10 cash (YMMV)...

 

I'm glad you brought that up, my mechanic added an oil change bay and I should go see if he has it up and running. But unless you have a place that lets you bring in your own synthetic it can be a huge savings to do it your self.

 

My cousin went to the local 10 min oil change shop and they let him drive away with no oil or drain plug installed. He got down the street and the engine gave out. It took quite a fight with lawyers to get the car running again.

I like my Prius and love doing the oil change myself

 

So, I don't want to start any flame wars - but gotta just ask - didn't he think it odd that all the while he was driving with that little red oil light illuminated?? (Yes, I'm assuming his car had one - most *usually* do...)

 

If the drain plug wasn't installed, wouldn't there be a 3+ qt puddle of oil on the floor

 

Not if they failed to add the oil like

Changed oil again yesterday. Again had to break one of the stupid plastic clips to get the flap off, leaving me with just one. I have used plastic zip ties in place of the last two. I'll just cut them off next time instead of playing around, far less painful than before so I'm happy with that!

Irritatingly the oil filter on this is so tight to part of the car, and requires hard screwing anyway on count of the o-ring on the filter, that I can only suitably tighten it with the wrench. In all other cars i've worked in the past I loosen with the wrench but hand tighten. Oh well

Anyway, oil was 9600 miles old and was not black. I know that even oil in good shape can quickly go black but this stuff really didn't seem old based on visual inspection!

 

Thanks for this great post!

 

Roughly how much does dealer charge for an oil change? Sorry, I do not have Prius yet, but I've been doing oil change on our cars for years.

 

Inquire about Toyota Care it should be 2 years or 20k miles routine maintenance.

 

If you've done your own oil changes, you can do it on your new Prius. Look thru this thread and you'll learn. The only tool you should need is the correct tool for removing the oil filter cover (assuming you've got a jack, jack stands and some wrenches!) That way, you'll know the job is done right.

Good Luck!

 

Around here is in the mid $50 range due to mandatory use of synthetic 0W-20

Not sure how well the transition to bulk 0W-20 oil will go. The way most dealerships ignore dust and moisture ingestion of their bulk oil tanks would make me question the quality of the oil

 

So the people that didn't do the early oil change can have a little peace of mind. Thank you web1b for the information.

 

Sounds like a lot of folks are changing OEM oil to M1 at around 1000 mark. Since dealer offers free oil change at 10k and 20k, you guys don't mind oil being changed from OEM to M1 to OEM?

 

The local dealer here charges about $20 for an oil change only. They supply a Toyota filter and you bring your own oil. I still do my own because then I know it is done right.

 

Our dealership offers both Toyota and Mobil. Personally I'm not that excited about Mobil, with the Toyota oil at half the price. I doubt there's much difference from the perspective of engine longevity.

FWIW, I've also gone the DIY route, though I know it's not practical for everyone, and some prefer the security of the dealership route.

 

Had the dealer do my oil change the first time and that was the last, Took a hour and a half!
Do it myself and save $$ and time, toyota filter and mobil1.