Prius Prime oil change frequency?

I haven't either, but I've never had an engine failure. I expect that if a connection rod was sticking out of the block and the remaining oil was black, there would be some raised eyebrows.

 

I’ve flown under the radar, DIY’ing oil changes from day one. I make a point of buying all supplies from dealership parts department, timely, keep all receipts, and keep a log of miles, dates and descriptions.

Never had to produce it either, in all the years, lol.

 

Even without doing an oil change, I would think the chance of PP engine failure below 60K miles would be slim. But I would not take a chance just to prove the point.

 

Ditto!

 

My manual says miles or time, whichever comes first.

 

We don’t have that maintenance reminder in Canada. What will we do...

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure all Toyota's come with free preventative maintenance for 2 years or 25k miles. But if you do your own maintenance I think it pays to do it yourself right from the start. I like to select my own oil and filter, and make sure things don't get over-torqued. I also like to do oil changes a little more frequently than they allow. In the second year the up-selling starts. They'll try to get you to buy an alignment and consumables that aren't needed - it's a profit center.

 

I generally agree, and do all our oil changes on two vehicles, plus usually my Mom's (VW Golf, expensive 502 oil = much cheaper to DIY) - ...BUT with 25k free* service and not having to rotate the tires myself - I let Toyota tackle the Prime during this period.
Also, the 5k or 10k oil changes are plenty frequent when nearly all of the short trips are on 100% EV. That fancy 0w16 oil should have no problem making it to the time or mileage limit, IMO. If my VW can go 10k miles with a direct injection turbo, a Prime can make it that far with less engine hours for sure.

*If Toyota gave us the chance to take $500 off instead of 25k worth of service, I'd happily take that offer. Its not truly "free" just baked in.

 

It looks like one significant factor apart from miles/time is the typical runtime of the engine during a run. Looks like if the engine isn't run hot enough when it does run, moisture could accumulate in the oil causing it to break down? Some have argued (or pointed out) that this kind of engine run falls under "Severe Service" which per the manual requires 5K/6M OCI.

 

Just had my PHEV oil changed for 10K miles. Bought the Kirkland Signature(Costco) 2x5 QT jugs for $23, oil filter at dealer for around $5. Gave $20 to my local mechanic to change the oil using these. Left with 6qt of oil for the next change.

 

I have done annual oil changes on all my cars since around 2000. I experimented with time, mileage, oil type and did multiple used oil analysis' that showed clearly annual changes irrespective of mileage was plenty conservative.
Recently one of the cars in the family - (another Prime that is never plugged in so it is in hybrid mode all the time) slipped through the net. Oil was changed at 10k miles and 22 months ! I am no longer building/maintaining engines so not experimenting any more but I was concerned about possible future warranty issues so decided to send the oil in for analysis. The oil report indicated no problem at all and suggests 3 year oil changes (with this engine and this driving environment) is entirely reasonable.
Go figure !
For those on this site that are real bugs on this stuff you can visit the "Bob is the oil guy" site and wade through enough oil analysis reports to make your eyes bleed.