engine oil quantity and color

Slightly off topic but still pertaining to oil...

After the oil changes aren't free anymore (aka after 25,000) will you guys be going more off of HV miles driven and/or time since last oil change instead of total miles driven?

 

Oil level checks are always done with a cold engine on level ground. Unless the Prius is different I'm not aware of, that is how I am checking it. BMW already invented the better dipstick. You check inside the car via onscreen menus. No dipstick at all. Even the OCI is taken care of via electronic oil monitors that tell you exactly when the oil needs to be changed based on quality of the oil and not quantity of miles driven.

Honda has recommended 10k oil changes since at least 2001 on conventional 5w20 oil. I had a 2003 and a 2006 Civic doing 10k OCI. Caveat; anecdotal evidence is meaningless. I have complete confidence that the Prius will last a long time on 10k HV miles on synthetic 0w20. My PiP will be seeing 7500 HV mile oil changes based on my current EV ratio. I'm sticking with 1 year or 10k OCI per owners manual.

 

^ Our previous '06 Honda Civic Hybrid had no recommending service interval for oil change. Instead you relied on the in-dash Maintenance Minder, which counted down percents, and at 15% told you what needed doing. It was considering several factors I think, trip length, mean coolant temp, rpms, and so on.

Our oil changes invariably came due at 8500~9000 kilometers.

 

I am approaching 25,000 on our PIP. At the 10,000 service the dealer overfilled by over a quarter inch on the dipstick. The service record said they put in 5 quarts and they did. I pumped out .6 quart and it was right on full. They don't get the 0w20 in bulk, they get quart cans and the mechanic just dumps in 5 quarts. At the 20,000 service I demanded and was given the quart can with the .6 quart in it. They still overfilled a tad and the can they gave me had .4 quart in it. It appears the engine really does take the 4.4 quarts with filter change specified in the manual.

I too will be doing my own oil changes starting with the 30,000.

 

I just tell them to put in 4 quarts and I will add if needed at home.
I find that works really well, no over filling at all.

 

Interesting about the 4.4quarts and then dealers overfilling.....I am coming up on a year old august 1st so Ill be sure to talk to them prior.

What Im wondering...Is the PiP same as standard prius(Gen 3) as far as ICE oil quantity? I assumed it was same, and if that is the case why after all these yrs are TOY service techs not filling them correctly??

Dan

 

The PIP manual still states 4.4 Quarts with filter. That seems to be verified by my two changes at the dealer and the amounts either siphoned out or returned in the quart can. Will know better when I do my own change at 30K in a few months.

My guess is that when the techs change oil using quarts instead of bulk, they just put it all in instead of returning the unneeded 0.6 quart to inventory or recycling it. At my dealer oversight and training seems to be negligible unless you make an issue of something with the service manager.

 

Yeah, that's why I change my own oil. They have made it more challenging though.

 

No!
Just tougher for us Old.........people.

 

haha, that is a good one!

 

If I lay on the floor, I can't get back up!

 

You can lie on the floor unaided? I remember the days I could do that.

 

So after reading this discussion, I decided to check what the factory level was, since I'm still under 10k miles.
Here are the photos.