Dealer or Indie: Where are you going to be getting your Gen 4 Serviced?

I think my FIRST question here was: is it acceptable to DIY, especially during the warranty period.

If you've the means and are reasonably competent, the basics of maintenance are easily doable. Very satisfying too, not to mention cheaper. May or may not work for you: just food for thought.

 

The guy I bought from is an indy who specializes in Prius and now he's added some other hybrids and also the Leaf. He probably knows more about the Prius than 99% of the Toyota dealers. But, of course, he can't do warranty work. And he doesn't change oil or do alignments. I change my own oil and do most other maintenance myself, but I went to him when I needed a repair that really needed a lift to do with reasonable (to me) ease. And he didn't even charge me for it!! Maybe because I've bought four cars from him.

 

Despite all the technology, the Prius is a simple car to maintain and very reliable.

I'd only take it to a shop when necessary, DIY standard maintenance items.

 

There are a few gotchas with Prius maintenance:

1. With the (engine) oil filter, only the paper element is replaced. You remove the housing, replace the actual filter, and the O-Ring around the barrel of the housing. There's instructions on the box regarding O-ring position, and just taking a good look at it before removing the old one helps. It's good to have proper fitting socket for the housing: 14 face, 64.5 mm face-to-face.

2. The transaxle fluid is not on the maintenance schedule, but replacement is trivial, and very effective: unlike a traditional automatic, a drain and fill replaces about 90%. Just be SURE to use Toyota ATF WS.

3. The brakes are a little tricky. The safest approach is to disconnect the 12 volt battery's neg cable before opening anything up. And when done, before reconnecting the cable: pump the brakes multiple times, take out any excess travel, say from caliper pistons being pushed back to accomodate new pads.

4. There's plastic shielding on the underside of the engine bay. Best to get used to it, remove it as needed, and keep it's fasteners in good order.

 

I have many vehicles to maintain -- so a good independent for me. I don't do my own oil changes or rotations -- the small cost is not worth the trouble. Many dealers have oil change specials making the DIY cost =

also, I don't do alignments unless something is wrong .. nothing ever is.

any good independent can do the normal stuff on a prius .. mine did the fuel pump on my older one

 

I follow the 8000 km (5000 mile) or 6 month oil change interval, mandated by Toyota Canada for third gen Prius. I believe with advent of 2016 Prius they have aligned with the Toyota USA, ie: 16,000 km or 12 months. Our car is really low mileage, months always comes up first, and I'd be the first to admit I'm overdoing it. Still, I'm ok with that.

We don't have free dealership maintenance up here for the first few maintenance intervals, so DIY is somewhat more attractive I think. One thing to keep in mind: professional mechanics are under the gun to get things done fast, and they do not care, like you do.

There's been quite a few reports here, of US owners, coming out of the gratis maintenance period, electing to do some DIY, and making a few discoveries. The main issues:

1. Torn engine undercovers, broken/missing fasteners. This maybe be less prevalent with the fourth gen, which as a redesigned undercover, easier to remove for oil changes.

2. Severe over-torque of wheel lug nuts, oil pan drain bolt and oil filter.

3. Missing oil filter. Yes! It is very possible, and easy: to reinstall the oil filter housing sans filter.

 

Probably will stay with my local Des Moines Toyota for now. They are servicing for my 25,000 mile warranty which will run out after close to my first year. Unless I have any issues I will stick with them - they've done some little things for free they didn't need to do. And I get a free car wash each time.

 

I think i was probably done over with a Toyota service plan - £1,000 for my first 3 services. Checking later, even on the Toyota site, looked like should have cost only £600..... This makes me less likely to pay any more to this dealer (or at least get a price check). Due to it being a hybrid, i do feel it should be done by a Toyota garage. There are so few Gen 4s around here, i doubt an independent garage has even seen one, let alone got good at servicing them.

 

My local Toyota dealer have been quoted £690.00 for 3 services which is the same price as paying for them individually, but you get your 1st MOT for free. This can be paid over 32 months or in one lump sum.

 

Over the years I've found many independent auto shops are 'FIX IT' shops: Something is broken, they replace it, usually with aftermarket copy parts which sometimes might fail early or not fit properly. They work on all brands of cars so they likely are not as familiar with your car and may not have specialized equipment or tools for yours. But there are hybrid specialty shops.

Dealers follow inspection schedules to keep the whole car in good condition. Toyota has factory backing and support and has the best equipment to maintain the car. Dealers cost more, but they use factory parts which you can be sure fit your car. There are some very cheaply made aftermarket parts in the industry, you know, made in China with inferior materials and design. They are made to LOOK like OEM parts.

Years ago I had a 1985 VW Jetta that had weird electronic ignition problems, didn't want to run well or start.
I took it to 2 VW specialist independent shops, one of them kept the car for several days trying to diagnose the problem. They could not diagnose nor fix it.

I took the Jetta to VW dealer who had the special equipment to diagnose and find the electronic control unit was defective. They replaced it and the car was fine until I sold it 5 years later.

 

And for reliability, I did have to have an entire axle assembly replaced on 2011 Prius at about 30k miles and I'll tell ya, I hit a moderate pothole a time or two but nothing really bad. I'll bet an independent shop would have had a hard time diagnosing that faint ticking sound
BTW, it was replaced under warranty. If 8 months later I would have had to fork out about $800.

 

that's the thing about toyota reliability. we see stories like yours here all the time, but out of millions of cars produced, they have some of the highest overall reliability. ymmv.

 

i've never gone to a dealer for service, unless it's free, or an indy has told me she can't handle it.