Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

This what I read about GM's system.
Amoung the additives in motor oil are antiwear molecules that protect components when metal on metal contact happens. The antiwear molecule gets consumed when that happens. GM studied how quickly a commonly used antiwear compound gets used under various engine conditions; start up, temperatures, engine speed, engine load, etc.
With that data, they made consumption rate tables that the oil monitor system uses to calculate remaining oil life based on how the car's engine has been running.
From used oil analysis, the system seems to be pretty accurate.

 

Tractors too.

 

And thus the ability to legally go with 2 year oil change intervals (sometimes) on their defunct PHEV.

I wonder how other PHEV manufacturers handle the 'Oil Change Interval' issue?

Toyota is not handling it at all: Prius legacy and Prius Prime -:- Same Same.

 

Honda says to change oil at least yearly, regardless off what the maintenance minder says. On our previous 06 Civic Hybrid, obviously not a plug-in though.

 

You should at least wait until 1 year or 10,000 miles on the Prime. Toyota care lasts 2 years and you get up to two free oil changes in that time. They are just very aggressive about mailing flyers to remind you.

 

Toyota has you change oil at 5000 miles instead 10k. Climate is a factor in oil life.
Then do this once a year is something easy to remember than every other year.

 

My weekend driver is a 400HP tuned Focus RS. It has 3000 miles in 3.5 years. I don't drive it that much and it sits in the garage most of the time on a battery tender. The "change oil" light comes on all the time after 1 year without a change. In the past 1.5 years I've driven 700 miles. Oil alone costs US$12.50/quart so oil changes are not cheap. It is out of warranty once I tuned it so I do my own oil changes. I turn off the light myself through the OBD II port using a pro diag console.

My new Prius Prime is an interesting case. 2 years of "free" maintenance and the ICE is going to get used very little. I'm going to have to force it by using regen mode or something. It just handles local driving and plugging in at $0.11/kwh is so cheap it seems tragic to waste money on California petrol which is so expensive.

 

That changed for the Gen 3 Prius, I believe. The recommendation is 10K for full synthetic oil. I think they say change at 5K if you use "dino" oil but they recommend AGAINST that..

 

One of the reasons to change the oil is that some protective additives get used up over time. One is acid neutralizers. Acids form in the oil when water gets in, an that can happen while the car is parked. Then air is getting, and oxidizing the oil.

But some of this could be for dealers' service departments.

@Mendel Leisk has a gen3 in Canada. Up there, the change interval is 5000 miles to our 10k.
Noticed a footnote in the Camry's maintenance schedule that the oil should be changed at 5000 here when experiencing freezing temperatures.

 

You and I bought from Toyota US. Mendel bought his from a different company in a different country.

This is a Prius forum. A non-Hybrid Camry is not a valid comparison either. I do not recall that interval mentioned in my 2017 Prius manual.

 

With fourth gen Toyota Canada's in line with the US 16K kms (10K miles) or yearly. Still, there's nothing stopping owner's shortening the interval, might be overkill, but who knows.

 

I just took mine in for 5000 mile service. Nothing in the correspondence to me mentioned oil change, and the service advisor told me no oil change until 10,000 miles. 5000 mile service was only tire rotation and inspections.

 

They are both subsidiaries of Toyota.

It's there in the Prius schedule. I missed it the first dozen or so times I looked in the maintenance schedule.

I misremembered what I read. It is a shorter interval for repeated trips of less than five miles in temperatures below 32°F / 0°C, not just the lower temperature.

 

Very impressive.

Column I header with "fullup" might need an edit, unless intended.

While electric and fuel rates are higher out here, the Prime is still a great vehicle.

 

No worries.

Attention to detail is something I focus on in daily life.

Especially in spreadsheets.

 

OK. I just bought a used front grille sub-assembly parts (OEM parts# 53101-47040/50) with multiple cracks off from 2017 PRIME Advanced. I had planned to PlastiDip paint or wrap the acrylic part of my new 2020 PRIME to prevent a future crack like what happened on my previous 2017 PRIME. But I was hesitating to take off the part and modifying it on a brand new car. Now, I have this spare part to play with, I can try something onto it and even if it doesn't go well, I would not care much.

The question is what can I do to strengthen the acrylic and protect it from future damages. I am going to first try repairing the cracks using Weldon #3 and some other epoxy-based filler/adhesives, then using PlastDip or Wrap on the acrylic part. The PlastiDip or Wrap should be removable, so if I mess it up, I can re-do it. However, I just don't think either option will give much strength to the acrylic for longlasting protection. Does anyone have any other material that would work on this project? As long as it does not cost too much, I am willing to give a try.

 

Something like fiberglass behind the acrylic might make it rigid enough to reduce the chance of cracking. Seeing how the FG resin is cleaned with acetone, it might chemically weld to the acrylic. While the FG can give strength to prevent breakage, it won't help prevent surface marring. I don't know if the effort would be worth it to bother getting the supplies needed, but if you already have them...

Some type of fiber should have been used in the acrylic for this use.

A wrap may add a little protection, or could avoid damage while hiding a new crack underneath. It will be more protective than PlastiDip.