Dealer vs. 3rd Party Oil Change

You need to be careful with "synthetic" oils. There are varying levels. You need to be sure it is full synthetic 0W20 such as Mobil1.

The only maintenance requirements for your second service at Toyota would be oil and filter change and tire rotation. The rest is visual inspection of other fluid levels and checking underneath for fluid leaks, etc. I would recommend changing the cabin air filter behind the glove box also, if you have not already done so.

I am always leery of most oil change places since most of the time there are just young kids doing the service and they always seem to change each time I go. If you are a DIY person, the oil change and cabin filter change are really easy. I prefer to change my own.

Your Toyota dealership should not be much more than the $55 advertised for the 3rd Party oil change. Maybe in the $75 range.

 

I trust my local Firestone, and their national website has an ongoing coupon for a $39.95 full-synthetic oil change and tire rotation.

Gasonomics, Your Fuel Cost Study Guide from Firestone Complete Auto Care

However, they mention Kendall GT-1 Full Synthetic. From my experience, they only stock the 5W-30 grade of Kendall Full Synthetic, if at all. So, I don't know what their policy is for obtaining 0W-20, and I don't know if they will do it for the same $39.99 price. It's definitely worth a try though.

 

I am glad you have a Firestone you can trust. I have one right around the corner from my house and tried them several times over the years. They keep trying to sell me services that I do not need and giving me misleading information when trying to justify services needed.

As for the oil just be sure they use only 0W20. I would want to watch them and verify that they use 0W20 since the 5W30 is their bulk oil.

 

That's not a great deal at all. The coupon says $49 for synthetic oil. I paid $45 for my last oil/filter service at the local Toyota dealer. Check the websites of dealers in your area--they're constantly having web/coupon specials.

Even if the dealer is a bit more expensive, I wouldn't risk using a non-dealer.

 

Hard to say without trying them. The groupon place may not be familiar with the Prius. You should ask them if they have the correct oil filter, it is not the same one used in the previous generations of Prius(us). As previously mentioned they might use the wrong oil, a lot of places will substitute 5W20 or 5W30 for the 0W20 that is recommended and they might not even tell you.

My choices are:
1. DIY using 0W20 Mobil 1 or 0W20 Toyota oil and a Toyota filter.
2. A good independent mechanic that you know is familiar with the Prius using the same products.
3. A Toyota dealer, be sure to tell them which oil you want and tell them you only want the Toyota recommended services, no extras.

I would steer clear of the "Jiffy Lube/Quicky Lube" type places, they have been known to ruin good cars!

If you are not a DIY person and don't know of a good independent mechanic go with the dealer.

 

Leading questions aren't as good as open questions at getting at the truth.

Instead of asking them if the have the correct oil filter for your car, ask them which oil filter they would use on it.

 

oil change is so simple that it's very hard to mess up (but you never know).

My advice is if you cannot do it yourself, buy your own oil and filter, then bring to a local mechanic to do it for you where you can watch him/her doing it (to make sure everything is fine).

 

Tumbleweed is dead-on.

I'm a DIY'er. That's just how I roll.
I posted JUST today that I wouldn't voluntarily let a dealer near my vehicles for something as basic as changing fluids/filters however (comma!) I certainly would NOT let a Jiffy-lube "technician" change the oil in my G3!

If you're not into DIY maintenance, that's cool. Just take it to the dealer, and CHECK the oil level after they're done!
It's always mystified me that somebody would pay more than $25,000 for a car, that only has to have the oil changed every 10,000 miles, and then bitch about a $75 oil change, or $8 a quart oil! Or... (worse) hazard that same $25,000 vehicle by experimenting with things like technicians and/or sources for their fluids to try to save ten out of the 75 dollars! That just doesn't make walking around sense!
I'm suuuuuure that all of the Jiffy Emporiums out there have very competent technicians and they wouldn't dare to "accidentally" put $3/quart oil into your car instead of the OEM spec stuff, or over torque your filter...or over fill the motor....or.....
At least with the dealer, you a have a pretty good chance that the technician knows where the oil filter is, and has actually changed the oil in a G3 Prius before you walked in.
No. I'm not referring to the OP....so don't get yer bloomers in a bunch!

Throw the Groupon idea away (It's sold out anyway.)
Have the oil changed by somebody that makes more than minimum wage, using oil from a source that you trust!
Put the giveacrap switch into the don't position for another 10K miles!

Good Luck!

 

I agree, but the OP probably doesn't know which filter it uses.

A couple of oil filter numbers are:
1. Toyota (recommended) 04152-YZZA6
2. WIX 57064 (second choice)
3. Fram, they make one but I don't use them in my car.

 

If so, that lack of knowledge is completely under the OP's control so it's the first thing he should take care of. Thanks to your list, that should be easy.

If the filter is "Iffy" Lubes own number, then have the lube guy show the crossover to the Toyota filter in the catalog/computer. I personally would avoid using a generic house brand filter. As little as I think of Fram, I would take them over an unknown.

 

I learned a little humility about that. I changed the oil on my wife's 1 year old 1983 Camry. She called me the next day saying that the engine started making noise and the red light came on while she was driving on the freeway. Sounded like lack of oil, so I was mentally going through the previous days oil change, clearly remembering checking to see that the old filter gasket hadn't stuck to the block.

I got home from work before she did and got the old filter out of the garbage can. There was no gasket on the old filter, meaning it had stuck to the block and I missed it. When I screwed the new filter on, the two gaskets were stacked up with nothing keeping the old gasket from blowing out except pressure from the new gasket.

I got to rebuild an engine so new that Toyota didn't even have some of parts like the crankshaft in the US yet. I had to wait a couple of weeks for the parts from Japan.

 

WOW, what a hard way to learn a valuable lesson! Thanks for posting it because I will always remember this. I will think about this every time I change my oil and filter from now on.

 

There's also the TRD filter, too - PTR43-52090 according to TRD High Performance Oil Filter PTR43-52090

I just put my WIX filter in this oil change two weeks ago. I have one of the regular Toyota ones left. Then I will decide which route I want to take. My last oil analysis was good with 8800 miles on it, except oxidation was apparently high.

 

It also happened once to me very long time ago with my sister's Acura Integra (I was apparently still a noob then with car).

I changed the oil and replaced with Fram oil filter. Started the car and oil was gushing out from the oil filter area (lucky I knew to always double check for leak before lowering it).

Yup, the old gasket from the old oil filter was still there on the block. Learned my lesson then and there.

Don't use Fram oil filter (since then use K&N oil filter to make my life easier with the 1" nut), always double check old oil filter, and make sure everything is tight and leak-free.

She gave that car to me few years ago, and it's still running strong at 165k miles with everything original.

 

Same thing almost happened to me. Fortunately, I always start the car (truck, in this case) when it's still on the ramps to check for leaks.
Now.....I also check the old filter to see if it still has a gasket attached to it.

My mother's Camary got an oil change sans new oil from an Iffy Lube. She'd gone a few blocks and the oil pressure light wouldn't extinguish. She went back and did the "Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot" thing. No refund. No apology. They just put their bulk oil into her crankcase and told her not to worry about it.
AFTER this happened, I went to an Iffy Lube (different state) thinking that I didn't have time to do a "pre deployment" oil change, with all of the other stuff going on in my life.
When I got back, I broke a strap wrench, and a filter cap getting their VERY over-tightened oil filter off of my truck!
I literally had to use a pipe wrench with an extension, and I'm STILL wondering how you can get a filter on so tight without damaging the threads!

Never....EVER again.

 

One of the Toyota dealerships in our area does the synthetic oil change and tire rotation for $50 so you should be able to find one in your area at around that price.

 

I start the car and check for leaks too. No leaks on the Camry. My wife drove it close to 40 miles that morning and had driven about 15 miles on the way back home before the seal puked out. I must be really good at double stacking seals

 

Ouch!
Sorry man....I'm suuuuuure that your wife has forgotten alllllll about it.

Now....I'm really gonna check the old filter!

 

For some out of character reason, I graciously accepted full responsibility and rebuilt the engine, which had run another 200k+ trouble free miles when the car was sold out of the family. Or maybe she just felt sorry for me.

It also helped that when she said the engine made lot of noise then the red light came on, I didn't tell her it was actually in the other order.