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Oil Filter Question

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by RRxing, May 25, 2012.

  1. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    I just passed 40K miles on my car (averaging ~14K/year.) I plan on performing two oil changes a year (using Toyota 0w-20) - one in May, the other in early November. Here's my question - If I use a TRD oil filter in May, would it be okay to skip the filter change in November and just replace the oil? In other words, does anyone see a problem in letting the TRD oil filter go to 14K miles (instead of the recommended 10K interval)?

    Thanks in advance...
     
    #1 RRxing, May 25, 2012
  2. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    No issues. What is unusual is those that care enough to plan the changes, select the oil, and post the questions are usually those that go through on changing the filter. However, 14k vs 10k on the filter is not risking the engine.
     
    #2 FL_Prius_Driver, May 25, 2012
  3. pjksr02

    pjksr02 Active Member

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    Are you going to just drain your oil via the drain plug, or will you also drain the oil in the filter housing? The little bit of oil in the housing would bother the OCD me.

    The TRD filters are pretty robust (I use them), and would be up to your extended interval, in my opinion, since the Prius isn't "hard" on engine oil. I'm not sure you wouldn't be better off just using plain Toyota filter elements and changing them out each interval, though.
     
    #3 pjksr02, May 25, 2012
  4. seilerts

    seilerts Battery Curmudgeon

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    I don't see a major problem, 14K miles in a Gen III is comparable in engine wear to 10K miles in a Corolla. On the other hand, it is worth the piece of mind for me to change the filter every time I change the oil.
     
    #4 seilerts, May 25, 2012
  5. tv4fish

    tv4fish Member

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    Gotta agree with seilerts (again :)) Why risk the possibility of dislodging some crap that might have been caught in the filter -- plus "contaminating" the new oil with the old oil?
     
    #5 tv4fish, May 25, 2012
  6. DonVentura

    DonVentura SoCal Prius Driver

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    I agree that it wont hurt it one little bit, but the used oil in the filter housing would bug me. Since I would need to pull it off I would look at the filter (have another one hand) and decide for myself depending on what it looks like.
     
    #6 DonVentura, May 25, 2012
  7. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    My mechanical engineering brother-in-law's opinion on this subject is that if, in a hypothetical situation, he had to choose between changing the oil or the filter, he would change the filter since this is what traps the particles in the oil. Of course his first choice would be to always change the filter with the oil change.
     
    #7 jdcollins5, May 25, 2012
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Honda maintenance schedules indicate to only change the oil filter at alternate oil changes. Try getting the dealerships to stick to that is another story... Anyway,

    One have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too method: at an oil change without a filter change, remove the filter anyway, drain and re-install it. That way you get the cup or so of used oil that otherwise remain in the filter.
     
    #8 Mendel Leisk, May 25, 2012
  9. RRxing

    RRxing Senior Member

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    Thanks to all who responded so far - good points, all...

    I didn't think about the residual oil in the filter, but now that it's been mentioned, it's gonna bug me as well, so I'll do the oil and filter swaps each time.

    Thanks again.
     
    #9 RRxing, May 26, 2012
  10. LTZR1

    LTZR1 Member

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    SMART MOVE ! When you consider the very small cost, even for the quality TRD synthetic filter, it's really not very smart, in fact STUPID
    to not change the filter at the same time s changing the oil.

    Most of the cheapskates who don't piss away more money on their
    booze !
     
    #10 LTZR1, May 26, 2012
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