Scheduled maintenance frequency

here's the thing, there are inspections to be done, and tyre rotations.

every 15k, you have a can filter inspection/clean/change.
so, it's really up to you. some feel tire rotation every 10k is fine, others don't rotate at all.
i do my own filters, so it's a mix. i pretty much go in for oil and filter, but my car has an easy life.

take a look at your owners manual for the complete schedule.

 

The multipoint inspection ($0 at my dealer) and Tire rotation ($14 at my dealer) are avoiding early tire wear and what ever they can find by inspection. I suspect them of topping off my fluids, as well.

They are free for you until 25,000 miles but even if you pay, if it adds 10,000 miles to a $400 set of tires, it is money well spent.

 

I think it's a lawyer imposed indicator for Toyota's sludge issues in the late 90's and early 2000's. We've owned Toyota's all my life and as late as 1998, the recommended OCI was 7500 miles for normal service. That dropped to 5000 miles on in 2005 on a Prius and Corolla.

Anyway, since it was free, I dutifully took my Prius in every 5k. After the free service, I've been doing 10k mile service intervals. I reset the indicator at the first 5k miles and do nothing.

 

In Europe the service interval is every 15K (kilometers), or once a year. I don't understand where the 5K (miles) service interval come from. That is half the European interval.

 

Current US is basically tire rotation every 5K miles & oil every 10K miles. It gives the dealers more opportunity to sell additional services, I guess,

 

It's a dealer rip-off. Australia is 10,000km/6 month (and not free).

I don't understand, though, the new C-HR with a small turbo engine has 15,000km service. I'd have thought that the larger, less stressed engine in PRIUS would need service much less than a small turbo engine.

 

Maintenance on a Prius is oil changes, at what ever interval you feel comfortable with. For me 4-5K with mobil 1. And a engine and cabin filter once a year. Tires get replaced when there done. Foe me no need to rotate. So what does the dealer do? And what does it cost?

Any guess how much money the manufactures makes from those "maintenance required lights"

 

I suspect it is the dealers who profit, not Toyota. I do not imagine any of the service profit makes it back to Japan.

As I stated above, my dealer charges $14 for the tire rotation and multi-point inspection. Oil and filter add $56 every other time.
Scheduled maintenance frequency | PriusChat

We could hold a contest to see if folks who rotate their tires really have tires that last longer, as I suspect, or are just wasting their time as you claim. In 10 years we would know.

 

I think you'd be hard pressed to spot the differences in tires, six month rotation vs yearly. I swap ours from front to back once yearly, in the course of snow tire swap out.

The Canadian Prius don't have the maintenance minder, or free maintenance at the outset; somehow we muddle through.

 

With the mileage I drive, I am rotating every two months. At 53,000 miles my first purchased tires, Michelin Energy Saver A/S, still look new. The Yokohama BiuEarths that came with it only lasted 55,000 miles

 

I rotate the tires myself, one of the few DIY things that I can still do on a modern car. That way I know it's being done right and the lug nuts are torqued correctly. It also gives me the opportunity to inspect the tires, more than once I have found nails or screws during my tire rotation inspection. And I can also check the inner tread and sidewall which is otherwise not so easy to inspect. And I can check the brake pads and shoes, although in a Prius they seem to never wear out.

I rotate front to back because that it easier, and from what I understand the front tires wear more quickly so this type of rotation should help. And to make things even easier I purchased a second jack from Toyota so that I can raise both front and rear tires at the same time then easily swap them. Could have gotten a cheaper jack but having an identical jack is convenient. I only raise it enough to get the tires just off the ground, but still to be safe during the raising and lowering I have both tires in place, I don't like to do even a minimal jacking operation while a wheel is off.

 

If you are one of the many people who just fill gasoline and never open the hood, then you should let someone inspect the car every 5,000 miles or so.

If you know how to, and actually do regularly check oil, tires, brakes, coolant, hydraulic fluid, lights, washer fluid, wipers, etc., then you can go 10,000 miles between scheduled maintenances.

 

The Toyota scissor jack is no great shakes, lol. It's fulcrum mechansim, where the torsion rod connects, is really junk. Also, just using it once per instructions: I see some push-in of the body surface. It's main point of bearing is NOT on the lower crimped seam, it's directly behind there. That seam is very thin btw.

Maybe it's not-in-the-cards, but I would consider getting a floor jack and safety stands. And a set of 4 solid wheel chocks. What I do with those is:

1. Slightly loosen all lug nuts.
2. Chock rear wheels. Release parking brake.
3. Raise front end with floor jack, at front-central jacking point. (Aim to get front tires about 2" clear.)
4. Put in safety stands. (not at scissor jack location, which is really very poor/weak on the Prius. I'll post a pic below.)
5. Remove wheel chocks.
6. Raise rear end with floor jack, at rear-central jacking point.
7. Put in safety stands.

When you're done, lowering is the reverse. Firmly snug the lug nuts while the car is in the air, and do final torque when the car's on the ground.

 

It's just a timer -- at 5k. They really should update it to 10k for the oil change.
I do 10k with all the fleet cars w/ rotation ... we are getting 80+k out of the Prius tires.

 

I do have a floor jack and stands but using it in the garage for tire rotation is a bit of a hassle since I would be lifting both from front and rear, and due to needed clearance for the jack handle I normally have the car in different positions in my garage depending on whether I am lifting the front or rear. I have had the entire car on jack stands before, but for me anyway it's more trouble than it is worth for something simple like tire rotation, since I won't be getting under the car, using the scissor jacks is easier and quicker, in my situation anyway. And the raising and lowering goes slow enough that I can keep an eye on the contact points and make sure it stays seated correctly, I haven't seen any indication that it is doing any damage. Maybe structurally it's not as good as lifting from floor jack points but I figure doing it carefully in a unhurried situation (as opposed to on the side of the road in the rain) is not going to hurt the car.

 

Yeah fair enough. I guess it's what you get used to,h

I am using a 3 ton jack, maybe has more reach. I'll open the garage door and make sure the car's back a bit, for handle clearance.

I used the scissor jack on the rear, once, and looking afterwards, I see just inside of the crimped seam is where it actually bears, and it was pushed in a bit.

 

I was having my tires rotated every 5,000 miles.

Then I came to my senses.

Apart from the time this took, the dealership was dinging up my beautiful black rims just a little bit each time. And dings add up.

Then there was the agrivation of dealing with the dealer -- if you are getting free rotations and your blood pressure can handle it I highly recommend marking your tires and taking a photo to prove which tire was on which axel before you have them "rotated" with your oil change.

But mostly I came to realize that Toyota dealers just swap front to back on the same side. Does it really make sense to do that a dozen or more times over the life of the tire? Think about it.

FWIW, I am down to 6/32 on my 17" Ecopias after about 45,000 miles. That would be about 1/2 the usable tread if I hold on to them to the max-- but I will most certainly get them replace sooner.

Tread wear is even for now. I probably won't bother rotating them again unless I notice some change with that.

 

Exactly. If you cut that number in half, I doubt you'd improve tire life or condition at all. The one upside to more frequent rotations: they're supposedly doing a cursory look-over of the brakes with each tire rotation. Whether they actually do, or the value of that "visual inspection", is debatable.

 

Exactly. I had my 5K rotation done and told then what tire pressures I was using. The paperwork said the mechanic set all tires to 32 psi, which is very low for a Prius. In reality, they set them all to 39 which is a little high, but OK. (max sidewall is 44)