Oil Change question

Driving on a dirt toad makes no difference. dirt from the road should never get into the internal of the engine.

Using regular oil needs to be changed every 5k miles, but using synthetic oil pushed that up to every 10k miles.

 

Your car is subjected to severe service. I'd change the oil and filter every 3k miles or 6 months.

Dirt and sludge in the oil will gum up the passages in the oil rings and cause the low expansion pressure oil control rings to stick in their grooves and wear the cylinder walls.

The result is massive "oil burning" or consumption..

 

What is severe service?

Why do you make that claim?

What did the OP say to suggest that his vehicle is operating under any greater 'severe' conditions than any other vehicle?

 

Driving over dirt roads. The air filter does not capture all of the micro particles that enter the air intake. What it does't capture enters into the engine.

Oil and filter changes are a lot cheaper than a re-ring job or replacing the engine block with worn cylinder walls.

I'd watch this video.

 

OP, 20k for the next change is fine.

Don't listen to videos on u-tube. People make videos to be overly dramatic and to get views/clicks - to make money, not to actually dispense useful information. The video has to be in an alarming tone to get you to watch! Don't feed them with your mouse click.

The engine air filter will protect your engine from ingesting of particles large enough to cause damage.

 

Sounds like blissful ignorance. Car dealers and manufacturers love people like you even more.

 

Most of any particles that do flow in through the air filter will likewise flow out through the exhaust [where there is no filtering]. The piston rings will keep what few particles are left on top of the pistons away from the engine oil on the underside of the piston rings.

I really do not see the dust from a dirt road as a threat to engine oil, being constantly circulated through an oil filter.

 

The next change at 20k is ok.

However, you mentioned the word "free"
They go by free, as in free oil changes.

Some dealers may not do more than 2 oil changes for free. 10k and 20k
Since you took the second early, that may count as the free 20k

Who knows, there are some good dealers out there, maybe they will do the third free!

 

It was the car dealer telling the OP that they didn't need to change the oil at 9000 miles instead of 10,000. The dealer is going to be getting more profit from regular maintenance items than major repairs, because it is easy, quick work that doesn't tie up a bay for hours or days.

 

It is the old fashioned term for "Special Operating Conditions".

Because it is called out in the Warranty and Maintenance Guide:

"I live on a dirt road".

If that dirt road is short, then no problem. But if it is his primary operating condition, then it falls under 'severe service'.

Where I grew up, and still visit frequently, plenty of people operate primarily on dirt and dusty gravel roads.

 

My cars: Mazda MX6 owned from 80k to 345k miles - original clutch
Saturn 80k-142k sold in great running condition

Family vehicles: Nissans, Toyotas, Hyundai, Acura - 300k +

I DIY'd maintenance on all mine and most of the other vehicles. I beg to differ whom is the ignorant one here.

 

Guess I'm the ignorant one. I'm ignoring YOU!

 

I will try to add some common sense to the conversation. The OP doesn't list a Prius Prime as his car, but since he mentions free oil changes, I will assume that he has a one or two year old PP. If he were to mention how much he drives the car as an EV and how often he uses the gasoline engine I would have more info as to how often he really needs to change the engine oil. For example, I drive my about 90% on EV, so if my odometer registered 10,000 miles, the engine will only have run 1000 miles. I think that should have a bearing on how often my oil needs to be changed.

 

It would be nice if there was a way to verify what's actually been done on a car after it's been to a shop for maintenance, repair or inspection. What actually is done on a car is not always what is written up in the service history. Such are the times we live in.
@tonypalermo I hope you get the service you want, When the advice the service writers at the dealer make sense, that can instill confidence in your present ride.

 

I don't think 1K miles off for the next scheduled maintenance is going to affect anything. If you are driving more than 10K miles a year (or in your case 5k miles/6mo for special operating conditions), then just stick with 20K, 25K, 30K.... and so on. If you are driving less than 5Kmiles/6mo. Just do twice a year about 6 mo apart. I actually do not follow miles much, I do the routine service at my winter change over. In our climate that happens twice a year, fall in late Oct to early Dec and spring in late Mar to early May. That's close enough to every 6 mo regardless of the miles driven. And I get the first 5 services free by Toyota Care, then if I still plan to keep the car beyond the first 2.5 years, then start doing DIY for the routine scheduled maintenance, unless there are some reasons to have it serviced by a dealer or by an independent shop.

FYI, as someone commented above, the free Toyota Care covers the first 5 routine services (25000miles or 2.5years). It includes only regular services, not special operation condition services. It only allows two oil changes one at 10K and another at 20K. If you had your dealer do 3 oil changes every 5K for free, then you were lucky. But unless you have some other service plan purchased from the dealer, Toyota Care may not provide you more free oil changes.

BTW, you are posting this thread under the Prius Prime subsection. If your car is a 2018 Prius C, then make sure to follow the Prius C manual recommendation which may or may not be the same as PP.

 

Our local dealer does oil changes at every 5k service, even under Toyota Care. They've done this with our Prius Prime and recently with my Rav4 Prime. I'm okay with it b/c in the past they've used 0w20 and not 0w16 - the latest change did indicate 0w16 (Prime owner's manual says 0w16, but if 0w20 is used, that is fine for 5k and not the full 10k)

Once we're out of free service, I'll migrate to 10k or once per year for DIY oil changes. I see no reason these hybrids can't go that time/distance when EV miles can greatly reduce the ICE use.

 

I agree with this! I saw a Toyota engine in a Prius that was opened up, totally gunked all up. The driver was an Uber driver who only change the oil every 10,000 miles. Every 6 months is what we do on all our cars....earlier if it goes over 5,000 miles. Dirt roads would be 3,000 miles and I'd also change the engine/cabin air filters a lot more often, too.

 

Yeah, some dealers may be picking up the tabs for the extra oil changes to retain customers. You are lucky. As for the requirement for the use of 0W16 oil, I am baffled by the new requirement for changing after 5K miles if 0w20 oil was used. After all, no changes were made for the powertrain for the entire models of Prius Prime starting from 2017 to now. For 2017-2019, they required only 0w20, and starting from 2020 they started saying it requires 0w16. In fact, the Japanese Prius PHV sold there in 2017 had the same exact engine as the ones in NA, but it was already requiring 0w16 back then.

I am not worried about oil change intervals as in the past on my current PP, for I have no intention of keeping the car beyond the 3/36 warranty period, but most likely be sold before the 2.5/25 Toyota Care expires. So, I will just follow what the manual recommendation says and let the free Toyota Care take care of them.

 

Apparently, I suppose oil gets "thicker: with age from particles suspended in it as detritus collects.

Oil functions as a coolant for many engine parts not reached by the water based coolant.

Thicker or more viscous oil requires higher pressure to flow and flows slower, The lower speed and volume means that less heat is dissipated.

Those who switch to a thicker oil may create more harm than good.