Hi all, I don't drive a whole lot, so by 6 months, my car will have a little over 3,000 miles on it. The first scheduled maintenance is 5,000 miles/6 months. It sounds like they check the fluids and rotate the tires, along with a general inspection. Should I really go in for this appointment with only 3,000 miles on the car? Doesn't really make sense to me to rotate the tires that quickly. Should I wait til I hit 5,000? Or just go anyway, since it's free? Or do I need to go on their timeframe to continue to qualify for the free maintenance? Any thoughts are appreciated!
If it were me I would probably wait until 5k miles to take it in. I don't see any great value in rotating 3k mile tires. If you have any questions about what the dealer thinks about the subject, give a quick call to the shop side.
Don't waste your time. Change the oil every 10,000 miles. Run Mobil 1 Synthetic oil. As far as rotating the tires don't do that eiher until you see the front tires start to show more wear than the rears. On my Gen 2 that didn't happen till 15,000 miles. Get in the habit of looking at the tires critically every time you approach the car. Look for nails and unusual wear patterns. Look at them like your life depends on them because it does.
Is there an issue with the Toyota 0W-20 Synthetic...or is it fine until the Free 2 year service is over...then switch to Mobil 1? -M
Follow the manufacturer's maintenance requirements and take the four free service appointments. No brainer.
I doubt your dealer is putting in Synthetic for the 2 year free. The key word being FREE. They are probably using there crapola vat oil. Stuff I wouldn't put in a lawnmower. If it was my car I would use Mobil 1 0-20.
I'm sure the dealership gets reimbursement from Toyota for the free maintenance, so they had better use the oil they're meant to use. Thanks for your thoughts. I might just call up the service department and see what they suggest.
No..I think they are putting 0W-20 synthetic in the Prius C...I have read that in a few places on PC. I am pretty sure 0W-20 comes in synthetic only. -M
My local Toyota dealership has 0W-20 in 55 Gallon blue poly drums for their service department and probably dispenses exactly 3.9 quarts on an oil and filter change. I've seen the drums and they were unmarked, could be AMSOIL for all I know. But they keep plenty of cases of TOYOTA BRANDED 1 quart bottles for do-it-yourselfers willing to pay marked up prices.
They use Toyota 0W-20 motor oil, a synthetic made for them by Exxon Mobil. It is every bit as good (some say better) than M1 0W-20. Once my free changes are used up I plan to use Mobil 1 just because I can get it cheaper than the Toyota oil. Use either one with full confidence.
I have had a message on my Prius Prime screen telling me it is time for maintenance. Toyota dealership says they will charge me $157 for inspecting the fluid levels (no mention of tire rotation). I have 6700 kms on my vehicle, and they say oil change isn't due until 16000 km. (10000 miles about). I think this is just the dealership trying to get more money out of me. They say they will inspect my brakes. At only 4000 miles, I think I can risk it. What do you think?
$157 to open the hood to check the fluids. yes this sure does look like they want some money out of you.
