Changing Oil

I just bought an oil filter and 5 qts. of Mobil 1 oil for my 1st oil change. I just save all my receipts and have tire Kingdom rotate the tires-(I have a road hazard plan). It would be a cold day in hell before I let a dlr. touch my car for minor maint. If they ever try to void my warranty I'll see them in court after I call the Attorney general's office to file a complaint. Where do you see in your owner's manual that ONLY a Toyota dlr. can do these services? They want to HOSE you.

 

Don't believe the dealer. My car has never been to a dealer for routine maintenance. Just keep a copy of the receipts for oil and filter.

Take a look at http://john1701a.com/ and click on oil change in the column on the left. There is all of the info on changing the oil on a Prius.

It usually takes me about 30 minutes and that includes rotation of the tires.

 

Just took mine to my dealer today, $20.00 I provided the Mobil 1 oil....

Your dealer is trying to rip you off.

 

Please name the dealer so the rest of us in L.A. can know to avoid this con artist.

 

Walker, I don't think you want to put in all 5 quarts.

It takes 3.9 qts right? Or, 3.5 I think is what John's oil change guide shows. (he leaves it down to mid full rather than 100% to the high mark.

Anyhow, I think 5 would be a lot over.

I'm only to 2700 miles (since Feb 15), so I'm a little less than a month from my first oil change. I plan to do it myself.

In 1999 I bought a F250 diesel pickup. at that time.. whooo big bad diesel, can't do your own maintenance, can't risk voiding the warranty on that big motor... blah blah blah...

I changed the oil and did all the maintenance on that one for 110700 miles. 15 quart oil changes, huge $20 oil filter..

I expect I can do these things for the prius and come out ok too.

 

I sure love this group for getting the real scoop.

I haven't bought my Prius yet, but am talking to several dealerships. I have been discussing the price for their warrenty package and their Premium Maint. Pkg as well. I was trying to find out if the Maint Pkg covered only normal oil and I wanted Mobil 1 what the difference in price would be. I was informed the dealership didn't offer the Premium pkg, but did not find out if they honor it. To proceed, I simply asked the price difference of regular and Mobil 1 oil change. This is the response I received from the salesman -- I will check with the service department before deciding to buy at this dealership.

"With synthetic oil you do not want to put that in any vehicle until 15,000
miles into the life of the vehicle. The synthetic is ti fine and the
cylinders will scratch the walls, then regular oil actually seals those
small scratches. Synthetic would seep through those scratches. Make sense?"

Obviously, thanks to this group, my answer is no, it doesn't make sense to me.

Keep up the good work guys!

Central Illinois wanna-be.

 

Don't forget the Magnuson-Moss Act, which allows you to get your oil changed (as well as other things) at a place other than the dealer. That includes doing it yourself, but do like you're doing with keeping the records.

 

Power Toyota in Irvine, Ca. charges $27 for the oil change................

 

I buy a 6 pk. of Mobil 1 usually. I keep the new oil in for 25,000 miles, but change the filter every 3,000 miles. I use the xtra oil for topping off when needed. It's a little cheaper to buy Mobil 1 in the 6 pack.

 

I gotta reply to this. Mobil 1 is used as new oil for many cars (see http://mobil1.com/USA-English/MotorOil/Synthetics/Myths.aspx).

If what ur dealer said is true, I would put Mobil 1 in my new car. When the engine dies, I would sue Mobil and get millions, that would be fun.

Really don't understand why dealers have to give us this kinda BS.

 

Whoa. How much did you pay over MSRP?

 

Like many PC members who did their research, I paid MSRP!

I would sue them for millions because I'm emotionally attached to my car. :wub: (lucky my girl friend doesn't read this forum)

 

Wow. There is "puffery" and there is outright bulls***. A show of hands: public flogging for dishonest car salespeople.

I thought so.

Seriously, the idea of "break in" is sort of archaic. As Mobil correctly points out, a surprising number of new vehicles have synthetic fill from day one, including almost every VW tdi diesel motor.

Though you can change the oil much sooner, why bother? I waited until almost the full scheduled oil change interval for my first change, and everything was fine. With the exception of that mysterious high Na level caused by the no-name low-bidder cheap bulk dealer motor oil.

I'm currently looking at a new Honda CR-V for driving out to my hobby farm. I think I need an AWD, I got stuck last week near my hobby farm. I asked the Honda dealer about synthetic oil and he was quite honest: "don't waste your money changing early. Wait until the first scheduled oil change, then use any oil that claims to meet our specification."

As my used oil analysis has proven, the Prius motor is very easy on oil, at least Mobil 1. If you can't do it yourself, find a dealer who isn't a jerk

 

Um, what bolt would that be? I'm curious now that I might have a loose bolt somewhere that will cause my Prius to fly apart while driving down Portage.

 

Car dealers are in business to make money. Some are honest, most aren't. Why do you think many people hate car salesmen?

 

They can't say you can only get your Oil changed at the dealer, but as I jsut found out in calling around a lot of places won't work on Hybrids, so keep those warranties in tact. One thing I found is that one Kiffy Lube won't work on Hybrids, but another will and has, go figure. The first one I called was located at:
Jiffy Lube Service Center #565
525 E PACIFIC COAST HWY
LONG BEACH, CA 90806-5517
(562) 591-5379

They didn't even know that the Prius is a Hybrid, so I would not take any vehicle there, any mechanic should at least know this much to be a mechanic (and yes someone who changes the oil must be a mechanic in the state of California, unless you are doing it yourself).

 

He surely meant the oil drain plug. It does need the correct crush washer when re-installing it, so I would hesitate to have a generic oilchange place do it. But lots of dealers change oil for less than $30; $90 is a donation to somebody's boating fund.

And yeah, don't put in more than 3.5 quarts. I put in exactly three, and this leaves the level above the halfway point. 3.9 quarts is the capacity of the entire oil system when *dry*. There's always oil left inside at an oil change, so adding 3.9 quarts will overfill it.

 

What surprised me is when I started changing the oil myself, 3 litres will put it about 2/3 past the Add dot. After a bit of fiddling around, 350 ml puts it right on the Full dot.

When I first noticed the overfill, after my first oil change at the dealer, they were really puzzled and concerned. Apparently they only put in 3.3 litres for a Prius.