What Type Oil Is In The Engine Of New Plug-In?

Sounds like you need to spend some time in your owners manual.

 

He just wants you to open the manual to look again because you're way off.

 

He doesn't have a Prime, so wouldn't know for certain if it is different than his non-Prime. But it sounds that, like me, he has looked at the actual Owners Manual page that calls out the oil spec for his particular car model and year. That is much more reliable and definitive than what some random dealership employee says.

 

As far as I know, Toyota hasn’t disclosed the specific characteristics of the oil with which their engines are filled during production, but for 2018 Prius Prime cars sold in the U.S., it’s reasonable to assume that it’s an SAE 0W-20 oil. This is the viscosity identified in the emissions certification application (PDF) to the U.S. EPA, and the cars must be in the certified configuration when first sold.

The definitive statement of Toyota’s maintenance recommendations for these cars is in the Warranty & Maintenance Guide (PDF), which says on page 40 that the first engine oil change should be at 10,000 miles or 12 months, unless any of the listed Special Operating Conditions applies, in which case the first oil change should be at 5,000 miles or 6 months.

The note “If 0W-20 oil WAS NOT used at the last oil change, replace engine oil and oil filter” appears the Guide, but only for the service at 15,000 miles or 18 months and thereafter, confirming that the original oil is not a consideration for determining the mileage or time for the first oil change.

The oil grade and viscosity requirements are in the Owner’s Manual (PDF) on pages 716–717. They’re the same as those for the fourth-generation liftback Prius, which I’ve discussed before. This shouldn’t be a surprise, since the engines are the same.

 

Toyota uses full synthetic oil it sources from Mobil 1

 

It says 0W-20 right on your oil cap. And all 0W-20 is synthetic. The dealer knows that, and puts in the right stuff. The Toyota brand bulk oil they use is fine. Here in CA, some dealers might use Mobil 1, or Pennzoil Platinum 0W-20.

5,000 or 10,000, it's up to you. The dealer didn't charge me when I took mine in for the first time. I had a little over 5,000 miles on the odometer, maybe 5500. Don't overthink it (like most of us do). Just drive it.

 

I am not normally the one to come off as a wise guy but the owners manual is always a good place to start on any fluid for any vehicle.
I don't own a Prime but the answer is still in the owners manual and as Starship 16 mentioned it is on the oil cap. All the owners manuals for any Prius can be downloaded from the Toyota website and I like it better than the paper novel they give you with the car.
Every now and then something is said on this forum that raises the hair on the back of your neck because of the way it is posted, I apologize if I upset you.

 

Very very likely to be the same Toyota OW20 you can get at the dealership. That's all I've ever put in ours. Haven't a clue, but I've read it's a good oil.

For the last 2~3 years I've been buying it in bulk: cheaper, and I'm not putting oil contaminated bottles in the recycle stream.

I just slam in 4.2 fresh liters every spring and fall.

 

The NEW Sam Spade???

 

Dutch Uncle?

 

Apologies to john. I was off topic.
If unsure, sir, just go by what it says in the owner's manual-- maintenance schedule. Your Prius came with 0W-20 synthetic oil in the engine. Some guys deviate and change it every 5,000, and some go the full 10,000 miles or one year, whichever comes first. Enjoy that Prime.

 

Just editorial: the maintenance schedule is the Warranty and Maintenance Booklet. The smaller booklet.

I should maybe cobble up a table format translation, like I did with 3rd and second gen: a chart with miles/months across the top, and maintenance items down the side.

 

I opened 3rd and 4th gen US maintenance booklet, superimposed, and toggled back-and-forth: they are identical. So here is the third gen one I did, jpg, pdf and excel versions attached:

My 2 cents, lot of the stuff in the above you can "mail in". Do NOT cut corners on the brake maintenance though, the one at 30K miles and so on. And, the filter "changes" I would read as "inspect and change as needed". And the "inspect transaxle fluid": change "inspect" to "change" and it's starting to be a decent schedule.

Again, very cool that you can now upload multiple documents to the site in one operation, kudos!

 

Great chart. Thank you sir.
I think you guys have sold me on getting the transaxle fluid changed much sooner. It certainly can't hurt. And when to change the "life-long" coolant? And inverter fluid? 100K seems too long.

 

If you notice the chart it just says inspect the transmission fluid and doesn't mention changing it.

 

Yeah, I commented in my last posting, about changing the (official) "inspect" to "change".

 

Sounds odd but the Prius Prime takes 0w16 weight oil. The manual states that if you must use 0w20 that it must be changed back to 0w16 at the next change. Kind of sounds like the Toy company wants a monopoly on oil changes and sales.

 

For Prius Prime cars built for sale in the U.S., that applies from model year 2020. For earlier models, the specified engine oil is ILSAC GF-5, SAE 0W-20.

I doubt that had anything to do with the choice of engine oil viscosity. SAE 0W-16 is relatively new in the U.S., but it’s been widely available for many years in Japan, where it’s the specified oil for all fourth-generation Prius cars, starting from the full model change in 2015.

Indeed, I wonder if Toyota waited to change the specification for U.S. models until there were at least a few third-party, SAE 0W-16 engine oils listed in API’s EOLCS directory as meeting the API SN/RC (Resource Conserving) standard specified by Toyota. Today, this includes products from Pennzoil, Phillips 66, and Total.