Prius Prime oil change frequency?

You're certainly entitled to your opinion but I don't agree (if you change "never" to "almost never"). The Prime is perfect for a person like me who for the most part makes short in-city trips of 25 miles or less but goes on the occasional 300- to 1,000-mile road trip (and who wants only one car). I was usually averaging less than 40 MPG in my 2010 Prius, because the warm-up cycle took almost as long as most of my trips. A regular Prius is fine for folks who do a lot of freeway driving but that isn't me.

 

Just a thought: have a Hybrid Vehicle day, say once a week, purposefully?

 

I agree - for your driving, PRIME is ideal. Your daily commute should use EV mode for most of the trip, maybe it might use the ICE toward the end occasionally. But, you've got the advantage that you can jump in and drive to Florida without worrying about charging continually.

I'm in much the same situation, and seriously considered a PlugIn - but here, there were almost no alternatives (Merc, BMW, AUDI or a Mitsubishi Truck or multi$$$ Volvo). My most common commute is 40-50km, I have SOLAR on my roof and overnight charging rates are good here. Next time - we don't get PRIME, but IONIQ is about to land here, along with some others soon after hopefully.

 

I will do mine at 5 k. Time and temp in Michigan is extreme.

 

What sort of time do they use in Michigan? Just intrigued, never having been there.

 

Could you explain what you mean by enhance your experience?

 

I will field that question. The dealers setup these repair assistant stations. Lot's of them. To remind you that after your warranty expires they will attempt to enhance your experience by trying to invent problems and try to nickel and dime your investment in Toyota cars.

 

I'm sure I'm not the first one person to think of this, but a greater concern that I have is that when drive in electric all the time, if the ICE runs so infrequently, the oil settles for long periods and then, when you do start the ICE, there is a brief but perhaps damaging period when the engine starts during which it has little lubrication (until the oil starts circulating again).

 

Our 2017 Prime (bought in May17) now has nearly 30K miles and the dealer maintenance light comes on when the car is started.
So I scheduled a visit thinking I had one more freebie only hearing back from the dealer after it had been scheduled that being over
25K, I was off the free part of the plan.

So I'm pretty comfy with doing oil changes every 10K. My other question is what are the other things the dealer checks
at this interval that I should look at?

 

brake caliper slide pins

cabin and air filters

tyres rotation

various nuts and bolts

fluid levels

 

5 000 kilomètres à l'automne et au printemps.

5 000 kilometres, automn and spring

 

Same here, first weekend in April and October. Our mileage keeps getting less and less, but it's an easy chore.

 

Thank you. Tire rotation and fluid levels are obviously pretty straightforward.
I would think air filters as well although I don't have any idea how difficult
these are to change. Quick check on amazon yields producst with the claim
of easy to change (not hard to believe). In other vehicles I have often purchased
a K&N air filter (for motor). It looks to me like these are about 5-6x the cost (of std filter)
on a Prime. Any comment about the choice of filter here?

I've never heard of caliper pins needing periodic replacement. Is this
a consequence of regen braking? What would indicate a need for
replacement?

re Nuts and bolts - any specific ones to look at?

Thank you again!

 

air filter is very easy, a couple of clips. i tap it out and if i can see light through it put it back. otherwise i only use oem, cheap enough.
cabin filter is a bit finicky because you have to 'release' the glove box, but not overly difficult. it gets the same treatment as the air filter, and i use the charcoal impregnated.
dealers generally give a reasonable discount if you ask, because they know they are getting killed by the internet.
the caliper pins allow the caliper to slide back and forth smoothly as the pads move. they tend to rust up because of very little use due to regen. they just need inspection and lube every 30k, not replacement.

 

prime is gen 4, so nutzaboutbolts doesn't have any video's. but you can look through some for a general understanding if you want.
there may be some new videos here in the gen 4 section on oil changes and the like.

best thing to do, if you are going to diy is follow the maintenance schedule that came with your prime.
through in a tranny oil change if you intend to keep it a long time.

 

Excuse this dumb question, but what is this long "warm-up cycle" you mentioned? Is a Prius somehow different than non-hybrid cars when it comes to warming up? I just get in mine and go...... But, I don't have a Prime. If I did, I would still want to exercise the ICE quite often. Keep it in shape so to speak. I don't think it's good, or wise for any engine to sit idle for long lengths of time. Prime, or no Prime.

 

On a normal Prius, the ICE starts and don't shut off until it has warmed up, so no matter your speed or use you are using gas. And it actually uses only electric for the first 30 seconds or so (My 2010 did anyways) before it even uses gas engine for power unless you really step on gas.

This is the reason for trips <5-10 mi or so you get extremely poor mpg. But Prius Prime can be put in EV mode so ICE will NEVER startup until EV battery part is drained, this you avoid the warm up period.

 

I'm at the other extreme, having to get my 5,000 miles service about every other month. After the free service period was over I just changed the oil based on ICE mileage, which for me was about every 15,000 miles. You can cut the price of Toyota's "major" service in half just by replacing the engine and cabin air filter yourself ($35 total from Amazon). I still really despise the 3 - 4 hour wait for service that seems to be the norm all around Southern California ... even with appointment.

 

I can attest that the maintenance reminder would record total mileage only. I drove 10k with 159.5mpg and just did the 1st oil change.

 

I bought my Prius Prime about two and a half years ago and have found that I fill up the tank about 7 or 8 times a year. It usually takes about 8 gallons, so that means I use in the neighborhood of 60 gallons a year.

If we say that using a gallon of gas is about equivalent to traveling 30 miles in a normal car, then my engine gets about 1800 miles of use a year. 1800 miles seems a pretty tiny interval for oil changes, so I'm not going to do it every year. But what change interval should I use?

Synthetic oil is incredibly stable stuff and doesn't break down over time, but it also has additives (much less than regular oil) for maintaining viscosity at high temperatures, dispersing sludge and soot, and maintaining seal elasticity. How fast does this additive package break down? I don't know. I wasn't able to find anything more specific than "not very fast."

So I'm making a judgement call. Now that the warranty period is over I'll be changing my oil once every 3 years.