40,000 Mile Service today

In my opinion you don't need any of it or the 40000 mile service.

If the car pulls to one side or if you have uneven tire wear then you are a candidate for a wheel alignment or new parts.

Air filters & an oil change are inexpensive.

Watch out for the asterisk in the advertised specials: Some models higher, synthetic oil extra.

Ask what you are getting before signing the work order. Know what the shop charges for needed services. Do the easy stuff yourself.

Did you check the tp & the oil before you left the parking lot?

 

All the additional services are legitimate except...the FI cleaning service. YMMV

 

++ on JimN's post.

I haven't owned my Prius long enough to know how good it is at holding an alignment, but it's a pretty simple setup and should be rather rugged. It's actually very similar to the Chevy Cavalier I used to own, and that car would have gone 80k+ miles on the original tires without an alignment except for a piece of debris I hit on the highway just past 70k.

Usually I only get an alignment when buying new tires. Once a tire shop screwed up the alignment, and as a result the new tires only lasted 10k miles. So if it ain't obviously broke, don't let them try to fix it.

 

That's what I meant by FI cleaning service (Fuel Injector). Can anyone explain to me why owners think Prius is exempt from wheel balance, alignments and brake service? Rhetorical question.

 

As to the FI cleaning, I would just add a bottle of Techron at the next fill up and that will do the same as a FI cleaning. As to the alignment, if the tires are wearing even and there is no pull, you don't need an alignment, I have 45K miles on my car and it is straight as an arrow.

 

Once uneven wear is noted, the damage is done. The reason to have alignment "checked" (and corrected if needed) is to prevent excessive and/or uneven wear...to more than just the tires. Otherwise it's just like waiting 10,000 miles to have someone else check your oil level when it's being changed, only to find out you are 2 or more liters low...if they even tell you it's low. If you are having your wheels rotated (as you should), what sense does it make not to have them balanced while they are off. Balancing the wheel assemblies is not just for pot holes, curb kisses and such, it "also" compensates for normal tire wear. Additionally...not checking tire pressures until the TPMS light comes on makes no sense either.

This preventative maintenance applies to all cars...even the almighty Prius.

 

You're approaching this with an aviation mindset, aren't you? I fear that the typical dealer service technician isn't as competent as a certified airplane mechanic. Also, cars don't fall out of the sky when something goes wrong, so the consequences of "neglect" generally aren't as severe as with an airplane.

And I don't think the Prius is any different than other cars, so why am I going to give it more maintenance than I've given other vehicles? Most cars I've owned have not had a history of premature tire wear. They have had a variety of random issues such as fuel pumps, windshield wipers, heater motors, coolant leaks, etc, which generally are not routine maintenance items.

In short, I maintain vehicles more or less exactly as described in the owners manual, and generally the failures that do occur have no correlation to routine maintenance or lack thereof. I'm hoping the reputation of Toyota comes from a relative lack of random failures, such as defective solder joints that cause the wipers to stop during a dark and stormy night.

 

Brake inspections are noted in the maintenance schedule. Not the rest of that extras list though.

There is no way I would PAY someone to replace an air filter, and I would never replace it sight unseen.

 

Respectfully...that would be like me trying to convince you that Windows Defender is "good enough" for home computers. To each their own.

 

i was told by the dealer at my free 15,000 mile service that my tyres were feathering, and i needed an alignment. i couldn't see anything, (and i drive like an old lady and avoid potholes) so i declined and have kept an eye on them. at 38k they still look okay.

think about cross rotation if you're concerned.

 

I believe feathering is a result of bad shocks, not alignment.


iPhone ?

 

Doesn't any tire get a slight amount of feathering over time, especially if they're always run on the same side? That's what Toyota recommends btw.

 

i think so, thats why i mentioned cross rotation. it's a new/old concept to me.

 

I was always taught that radial tires should never, ever be swapped from one side of the car to the other.

 

me too, then someone here said it was okay now. beats me.

 

Honda recommends cross-rotation. And most of the tire manufacturers I think. Supposedly back a few decades it was important to keep them rolling the same direction, but not now, with advances in radial design.

But Toyota says no, so I've been keeping the tires one the same side. Have to with directional snows anyway. I always do what Toyo tells me to..., well except for the lifetime transaxle fluid.