2 years between oil change?

i thought the oil change interval was 10,000 miles?

 

In the US, it is 10,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. You should use months.

(For me, 10,000 miles is 4 months, so I use miles)

 

i think it's perfectly fine. some here say that you need to follow the schedule for warranty reasons. but that doesn't explain the diy'er changing her own oil. besides, the engine is only warranted of 3/36, and no one has ever had trouble in that time frame.

 

Powertrain warranty should be longer than 3yr/36. Since the oil change is free at 2 years, I would just do it. Use it or lose it

 

Look at your maintenance manual. In a Prius Two the oil change interval is 10,000 miles or one year, whichever comes first. Your car is probably the same.

 

2 years is not problematic. Wait if you wish.

5,ooo intervals is not problematic. Don't wait if you wish.

Neither will hurt your vehicle or the warranty. Neither are mandatory. Mix/match if you will.

It's only a $30 oil change...nothing special.

 

I had my first oil change at 4800 miles... Im at about 8500 miles now. I did not know the oil change was 10K miles! I come from a long line of 3K mile oil changers - lol, overly anal i guess, even with synthetic mobil 1 in my SRT4....More oil changes = more garbage out from the inside of your ICE oil passages and rings and whatnot IMO.
I still have not had any "Toyota Care" work done on the car. A dealer changed my oil and did not charge me for it while my car was being repaired after a hit and run. The dealer was incompetent about the toyota care being able to be used at any toyota dealer and did not apply it. If your in the Baltimore Area, just say no to Jerrys Toyota, it took a month to get my car repaired back to normal. It was a slew of incompetence and idiocy at that place. BEWARE

 

I'm not a petroleum purist.
If you're old enough to drive then you're probably at least pretty close to being an adult.
Read your maintenance schedule and make an informed decision.

Most people like to trade their cars in before 150k and even a humbly engineered car with a spotty maintenance record will usually hold together for that long. I hear people screaming that if you change the special "break-in" oil out early then your engine won't last. I hear other people sat that if you don't change it out early, then all of the metal shavings that are cruising around in your oil from the manufacturing process will wreck your motor.
It's like the 3,000/5,000/10,000 mile periodicity wars that are breaking out in all of the car forums.
If we presume that there are folks that adhere to all of these maintenance practices, and we also presume that drivers aren't trashing motors all the time, then you almost cannot help but to reach one conclusion:
It Don't Matter.

Actually?
It does, but only a little.

If you take lots of short trips, then the oil "experts" always say that more moisture from condensation will make its way into your oil, since your motor operates less often at normal temperatures and pressures. Acids can form (they say) and other chemical evils can wreck your motor.
This is why they used to say 3-months or 3,000 miles.
The oil longevity purists will quickly point out that today's "wonder oil" has magical properties that will ameliorate these effects, but even so bad stuff gets into the oil. That's why it changes from an apple-juice color to something more like the stuff that they sell at Starbucks, unless you're one of those 'cookie-in-a-cup' wimps that put white stuff in your coffee-----bit that's a different rant.
I change my oil at either 5,000 miles or in the case of the motorcycles about annually.
None of my vehicles have, or have ever had a drinking problem.
Done.

In my never to be humbled opinion, all of this doesn't matter nearly as much as checking and maintaining your oil volume.
Priuses have itty-bitty oil sumps....something like four quarts.
If you run a quart low for 10,000 miles?
It's gonna hurt a little more.
Check your oil every other tank or so, and immediately after anybody that's not you lifts the hood on your car, and you can pretty much change the oil whenever you want to within reason.

YMMV

 

thanks for the heads up!

 

Technically, the ToyotaCare brochure says 6 months/5K mi for oil change. http://www.toyota.com/content/ebrochure/toyotacare.pdf Dealer said that was for non-synthetic only, yet no asterisk or list of cars stating as such. Do cars even use non-syn anymore? A week later, I get a ToyotaCare brochure in the mail showing the amended changes. Still the manual says short-drives/winter/dusty-dirty quality for the 6 months/5K mi o/c.

 

It's in your maintenance schedule when to change your oil. There are a lot of bad Toyota dealers out there. I had one very bad one.