Oil Change

I'm gonna say 1/2" above the top line is not ok. The manual is very clear that the level should be between the two marks on the dipstick. It can be up to the top mark, but not over.

 

Based on my own personal experience and what I've read on PC I would recommend that you check it (or have them show you the level) when they turn the car over to you. I even had the service manager look it the overfill and after a few visits they have learned not to overfill or I make them take it out.

I take my own Mobil1 and now pre-measure and only give them what I want them to put in 3.5 QTS. This will be just below the mark which they duly note and I can top it off myself.

You're the customer make sure they learn that.

 

its not ok

assuming you've left the dealer already
recheck the oil level while the car is cold
if the level is still too high, drain some oil and recheck the level

too much oil is not good

changing the oil in the prius is easy . . . if you're nearby, i'm happy to show you how . . . you're better off doing it right, and doing it yourself

 

Always check the oil level yourself before driving away from every oil change. It's easy to do. Anyone can make a mistake, and checking can catch many mistakes before they become annoying or expensive.

That will catch mistakes. An option for *preventing* the overfill mistake is to buy three bottles of the proper oil yourself (at Target, etc.) and give them to the oil change people to use. Then there's no chance of an overfill, and that oil is as good or better than you get from an oil change place. Keep a fourth bottle and top off the oil yourself if you feel like it.

 

If the oil level is really 1/2" above the top dimple, then the engine probably has ~5 quarts of oil.

 

FWIW, I changed my own oil/filter, added 3.9 quarts, and my level is almost 1/2 inch above the upper mark.

 

I have done several oil changes on my Prius now, having done the 25k service two days ago. I have changed it each time myself (except for the first service, where the dealership overfilled by about 1/4").

I measure out the oil because I use Mobil 1 in the 5 qt containers. I have found that 3.5 qts will put the level approx 1/4 in below the top mark; 3.7 qts will bring it to the top mark. This assumes that you allow 20 - 30 min for the old oil to drain and use a new filter.

 

Hi Mark,

A few years ago when I was a new Prius owner, I would use 4 US qt of oil when doing oil changes since the spec is 3.9 US qt. I noticed that the oil level ended up around 1/8" above the top dimple but ignored that outcome until I joined various Prius user groups and became sensitized to the question of proper engine oil level.

I subsequently decided that 3.5 qt worked well, with the level on the dipstick ending up as dogfriend described. Further, 0.5 qt only has to be measured every other time that an oil change is performed (since the container holds 1 qt), so this is easier to work with than measuring 0.7 qt or 0.3 qt or some other number.

To bring the oil level up so that it is 1/2" above the top dimple requires lots of fluid since the surface area of the crankcase is fairly large.

I agree that a scientific approach is reasonable. On that basis I suggest that you drain out sufficient oil from the oil drain plug to bring the oil level to the top dimple on the dipstick. See how much oil came out, and that will answer the question of how overfilled the engine was.

If in fact you have an extra 1 qt of oil in the engine, you may notice slightly worse mpg. There is some possibility that engine oil may enter the intake manifold via the PCV hoses, which eventually may cause engine start problems.

 

By all means, try changing the oil yourself. You control the outcome and the placement of the filter makes you think the person who designed the car might actually change his own oil. No need to crawl underneath and you don't have to be double-jointed either. Give it a go...

 

i used *just * over 3.5 quarts to get my prius just under the full mark. this includes the bit i put in the in filter before i install.

 

I would like to share my experience with my first service at my local Toyota dealership (Toyota of Orlando). I hope this will help some others. When I took my 2008 Prius in for its first service I told the service writer to please put on the service order not to overfill the oil, and that statement was put on the service order. When I went to check out at the cashier I asked the service writer if the oil had not been overfilled and her reply was it was okay, on the full line. When I got home I decided to check the dip stick and found that the oil level was 1/2" above the full level. I called the service manager immediately to discuss this with him and he asked if there was any smoke coming out of the exhaust. I told him I could not see any and his reply was that its okay. I insisted that I bring the car back in and they drain the oil to the full line which they did. The service manager said I had nothing to worry about that 1/2" represented 1/10th of a quart of oil and would not do any damage. But if I insisted they would drain the oil to the full line. When I returned home I was upset with the answers I recieved so I decided to email Toyota with several questions. Here they are with Toyota's responses in quotes.
Question #1: When I checked the oil dipstick after the oil change the oil level was 1/2" above the full line. How much oil is in the oil pan/car when the dip stick reads 1/2" above the full line?
Answer: "We apologize we do not have measurements regarding the amount of oil in the oil pan."
This is hard to believe that they would not know. I am sure that other oweners have had the same problem. Reading this forum I noticed this.
Question #2 Is that level of oil okay in the car. The manual states it should be at or lower than the full line.
Answer: "We advise you to return your vehicle to the service department to have them drain out the excess oil."
I guess there is a problem with a higher level if they advised me to take it back and correct it.
Question #3: I asked the dealer to put synthetic oil in the car and the manual states to use 5W-30. The dealer put in 5W-20. Is there any reason why they did not follow the specs in the owners manual. Is 5W-20 okay?
Answer: "We recommend using 5W-30 oil for optimum mileage and performance. We also recommend you ask for that grade of oil with your next oil change."
Once again, Toyota recommends a specific grade, not what the deal used. I do not even know if the dealer put in synthetic oil as requested. How can you tell if synthetic oil is in the car or not? If anyone knows please tell me how you can tell. I would appreciate it.
As you can see my experiemce was not that good. I have lost confidience in this dealership, but speaking with others they indicated that they are all just as bad.
If anyone is reading this in the Orlando, Fl area and you know of a good dealership for service please let me know. Happy Prius motoring!
Ron

 

Welcome Ron! :welcome:

Many dealers will stock only one kind of bulk oil as it eases their inventory requirements. Toyota has backed spec'd most of it's cars to 5W-20 and most of their new cars take it as well. They did not include the Prius in this move to 5W-20 and the Prius in the USA remains at 5W-30.

However, the Prius in Japan is specd to be able to use 5W-20 or 0W-20. Many people in the USA are using such oil, including me. I have recently switched my 2007 Prius to Amsoil 0W-20 ASM for longer drain intervals and better cold weather economy. In Florida there is less of a need for going with a 20 grade oil, it may give you a very slight MPG boost due to it's lower viscosity, but I suspect in warm Florida one would see no increase at all.

The good news is that since many people are running 5W-20 and 0W-20 oils in the Prius (including many in Japan were it is officially validated for use) running your Prius with it until the next drain interval will do no harm whatsoever. I would be inclined to go back to a good 30 weight oil if I lived in Florida, but there is a person on this board who lives in hot Texas and runs 0W-20 year round with good used oil analysis' to back it's use.

I would skip going to the dealership (or as some say "stealership") in the future. An oil change is a simple task and any shop can do it, or you can do it yourself. For your next oil change, assuming regular 5000 mile change interval I would recommend buying 4 quarts of good oil ( here or here are two) a good filter and going to a local shop you trust. Tell them you want back one quart bottle with 1/2 the oil in it - this will make your change 3.5 quarts which is perfect. And you'll know the quality of the oil that's going into your car.

Rumple

 

best bet is to do it yourself. But this isn't always ideal

like others said bring in 4 bottles, open one and drain some off into a container before you leave to have your service done. This will put you roughly at the 3.7 quart spec. Last time I had mine changed I was lazy and just handed the service rep the 4 bottles, no biggie. I checked it later when the engine had cooled, and it was just at the line. 4 Quarts wont do any harm, except slightly less MPG. Over the months the engine will burn off a little bit of oil, this is normal. So having the correct fill is a good idea

3.5 quarts or less that i see some say they fill though seems like to little, better to have just a little more..then not enough oil imo

 

"Not enough" is below the ADD line, and "too much" is above the FULL line. There's nearly one quart between those two levels. Three quarts is more than enough for an oil change. Try it and see. It puts the level halfway between ADD and FULL, and there's no partial bottles left over to fool with.

 

One correction, the manual says there is 1.6 quarts between the two levels. (So using either 3 or 3.5 quarts should be equally safe unless one has substantial oil consumption/leakage.)

Toyota claims 3.9 quarts is capacity for change plus filter, but this is too much based upon most reported experiences and will put you over the full mark. Actual capacity appears to be about 3.7 quarts on average. Using 3 quarts should put you midway between full and add. 3.5 will put you about 1/4" short of the full mark IIRC.