First oil change at 10k or 5k?

There are no guarantees. But everything being equal, the engine will less likely "burn" oil when it reaches high mileage.

 

Regardless of the odds of engine failure, I find an extra DIY oil change at 5000 mile or 6 months a trivial expense, and something I actually enjoy doing.

Addendum:

I'm forgetting which side of the 49th parallel I'm on: 6 months or 5000 miles (8000 km) is the spec'd service interval in Canada.

 

Religion, politics, and now oil. To each, their own...

 

This is all confusing. Im not sure if i should wait or change mine at 5k miles. Has anyone sent oil off that came from their first 10k oil change to see if it is that bad or if it is ok to go that long on the first change?

 

I wouldn't trust it. The don't like the idea of that metal assembly "flash" staying in there for that long. There are many sharp "corners" and pieces that come off metal parts as they wear in and enter the flow of the oil "stream."

While the filter takes out many of them, the small particles still float around and abrade the rest of the engine parts.

Toyota guarantees the engine for three years or 36 months, whichever comes first. Very few and almost no engines "burn" oil within that period. If so, they still says it is normal.

If it is normal to leak a quart ever 1,000 miles, you're down to 1.4 quarts at 3,000 miles. If you don't change oil until 10K miles, you must check the every other fill up at the gas station; more often with a PIP.

If you lease, I wouldn't worry about it. If you want to keep the car 10 years or more, I do my own oil change early.

 

I normally change oil myself, but with this being a new car and I dont know yet if I will keep it for 100k miles or 300k miles I plan to have all my services done at the dealer so that there is a quality record of the services. By paying toyota to do my oil change at 5k will they not want to provide me with my 10k service until 15k? I think I will get the oil changed 5k then 10k, and then every 7500 to 10k miles after that.

 

The $30 or so that I spent to do my first oil change is a "no brainer," whether or not I will keep the car for a long time.

It's worth the peace of mind. For the first 10k, I consistently monitor oil levels judiciously.

If the engine fails due to low oil levels within the warranty period, it would likely void the warranty and be deemed as owner negligence.

 

Yeah I have checked the oil 3 times and I just got over 3k miles but I will be at 5k miles within 2 weeks so I am trying to get this figured out before then.

 

The fact that you are discussing it at length means that you are tempted to change the oil.

For peace of mind, Just do it. I can only help. It can certainly do no harm, if you do it right.

 

On my 2012 Camry Hybrid the dealer changed the oil at 5k for no charge at my request. I had them do it again at 15k.
I will follow the same schedule on my 14 Prius hatchback.
Peace of mind and cheap insurance.
YMMV

 

Professional mechanics and engineers would likely agree with you that yours is the best and most reasonable course of action.

 

So many dealers will change it early at our request?

 

I would think so. You get two free. They don't care when.

 

A. correct. The dealers don't care, you just have to tell them you are paying out of pocket or get the freebie change.
B. I run 0w/20 mobil 1 full synthetic for Toyota and Hondas. the 5 quart jug can be had for $22 at WallyWorld. Autozone had stopped matching prices with WallyMart, but Pep Boys still will.
C. My oil change intervals were at 5k-7.5k mile intervals. I split the difference between waisting oil and extended range. My intervals were the following: 5,000 miles, 12,500 miles (Free dealer oil), 18,000 miles and next one is at 24,500 ( free dealer oil) then at 30,000 miles and at 10,000 miles using Mobil 1 full Syn. From my recollection the dealer charges $18 for service, when i bring in the oil and filter. Costco does the free tire rotation. I drive them crazy. lol

I drive the Prius like a frugal miser, so needless to say i consistently get 55mpg at highway speeds and the like. Furthermore, i am not pushing the engine so the oil doesn't need to perform the way it does in my work truck hauling a trailer, or a bed of rock/gravel, load of sheetrock, etc. Thus less breakdown and full premium synthetic oil easily goes 10,000 miles between changes. You can do an oil analysis if that helps quell any suspicions.

 

In March of 2012 we bought a new Prius Two (base model). Gas prices were heading north of $4.25 and the word of the day was that gas would continue to rise. With Toyota Care, we got the two free oil changes from the dealership which we gladly took advantage of. That said I didn't return to the dealership for some time. When I did, the service writer asked me why I hadn't come in for oil changes. I told him that I do my own at the same interval as the Toyota Care oil changes were performed. My thought was that the dealership, Toyota in general, now has no record of oil changes being performed. Also should you trade that car in, those regular maintenance items like the oil changes etc. will not show up on a CarFax report. The bottomline is that even though you religiously changed the oil and filter, you can't prove it. Will that be an issue for the trade in or private sale? I don't really know as we still have the car. That goes for any maintenance you perform by yourself. This may be no big deal at all but at the time I had the conversation with the service writer at the dealership, I'd had never thought about it. Just sayin.

 

very few buyers, or dealers on a trade in care about maintenance. some will do a car fax to check for accidents.
you might be able to add your own maintenance at toyota.com/owners

 

Some dealers, not all.
I do an early oil change on all my new cars and definitely at or before 5K miles - then manufacturers recommendations after that. The reason is most break-in material will be in the oil and waiting to 10K seems obscene. I replace the oil filter with OEM, so if you don't look too closely, it won't look like it's been touched.

Just my two cents..

 

2014