Wentworth's first oil change

As the original intention of this blog was to document my ownership in addition to my fuel economy notes, here's a rundown on Wentworth's first oil change.

It happened to be my first solo oil change(!). A friend who's building his own car and likes to do some racing showed me how to change the oil on one of his cars. That same weekend he also showed me how his car can go 0-60 in about 4 seconds, and what it's like to travel over 100 mph (which was awesome!), though of those three things the oil change seemed the only thing in common with the Prius that I could try myself.

I should mention that this thread on Priuschat was also a great resource.

Clearance is quite low on the Prius, and being difficult to get to the car's floor jack point(s), I forewent my neighbor's borrowed hydraulic jack and instead bought a pair of Rhino Ramps 8000 for about $47 total with tax, which I'll be able to use for many years. It was easy to get up on the ramps, and didn't scrape as far as I could tell.





This last pic also shows Wentworth's wonderful makeshift grill blocking. Better contains heat in the engine and allow it to warm up faster in cooler weather - for better mileage, of course!


I needed a 14mm socket for the wrench. (don't bother reading the computer screen in the background, it's just this post in the works!)



Now under the car we can see the oil drain plug (and a bunch of rust, that's for another day, though).





This thing was on tight. I believe it had only been previously changed at the dealer by the first owner, and being the skinny, opposite of brawny sort of guy I am, after struggling with it for awhile, I had this terrible feeling that after buying the filters and "crushable" washers in bulk that I'd have to go to the dealer anyway to get it changed.

My dad suggested gently hitting the end of the wratchet wrench with a hammer, or warming up the engine for two minutes, but luckily I found a slightly longer wrench before I had to try any of this. All it needed was a little more leverage, and it came off no problem.

I then saw why Hobbit suggests unloading the suspension on the driver's side for an oil change. It took forever to drip out, what seemed like much longer than when my friend showed me on his car, and would've drained much more quickly if it were tilted a little bit. Not an option with the ramps, though, so no big deal, just took longer.

Then came the filter. I had bought an oil filter wrench which conveniently attaches to a ratchet.

Oil filter and filter wrench (and Mac!).


On the ratchet.


Fits right onto the filter.


On the car, the filter's really wedged up there. Not really knowing what the hoses around it do, I just tried not to touch anything else!



At first it wasn't working too well, and there were a couple minutes of medium level panic when I thought I wouldn't get the filter off after draining the engine of all its lube (ruh-roh!), but in the end it worked out. There's no possible way that would've come off by hand - the oil filter wrench was essential.

I also learned a valuable lesson (which I'm sure all of you know - humor the newbie with some laughter): push UP on the oil filter while unscrewing it to keep the gasket sealed so that it doesn't drip all over you as you continue to unscrew it. Oil covered hands after the filter...

Drain plug back on with a new washer, new oil filter with a little oil smeared around the gasket snugly hand tightened to avoid the über-tightness of the dealer, and in went three quarts of 5w-30 up top. Since it's almost summer and since my engine has been used to it for almost four years, I'm going to stick with that weight even though we've heard recently 0w-20 is alright even on older model Prii. No need to make my car the test case.

I then ran the engine for a minute, then let the oil settle so I could check the level and add a bit more.

Cleanup as I waited for the oil to drain into the pan:



The oil ended up so light on the dipstick that I couldn't tell where it went up to, so I may skip this in the future. I put in another half quart. Today after I drove somewhere, I checked it and found it slightly below the top dot, so it appears 3.5 quarts is absolutely perfect for the 2004-2009 second Gen Prius (mine is 2007), I'll just aim for that in the future.

All done!


Such a cool little beast under there. Can't wait to try the transaxle fluid at some point...



Altogether a good deal. Took me way longer than everyone else in the world, being my first time, but learned a lot, and it didn't cost much. Filter from a pack of 10 was $4.80 total, and $1.40 for the drain plug washer. Oil was oil. Easily under $20 for the change, and was a lot of fun!

Wentworth in the shop - again

Lest you think the title implies trouble, let me disabuse you of this notion from the start :-)

Last month, Wentworth went in to get a little preventative work done, and also fix a potential problem, which was a rattle/clunk at low speeds over bumps.

The clunk was given the attempted fix of a 2008 engine mount Toyota service bulletin, but alas, after driving it home, it was clear the sound was still there. I thus wanted to bring it back to check it out, and at 40,000 miles, it was time for a tire rotation anyway.

Over the last month I've actually grown less concerned with the sound. It has been mentioned in PriusChat (one such thread here) by numerous people, which, at first glance, should be cause for concern, but with another look, tells me more that the sound is apparently a "Prius thing", and while not my favorite thing about the car, it appears that it has no adverse effects over the course of many years, despite its widespread presence.

Patrick Wong (incredibly helpful Prius guru for whom I have great respect) also told me that his three Prii over the years have done the same thing, and he hasn't been able to figure it out, and so just lives with it. If Patrick feels that it's fine and not a long-term issue, then I'm inclined to think along those lines, too.

I will update this is there is ever a problem, but for now, it seems innocuous, and the thing still gets me 70 mpg on occasion.

On another maintenance note, Prius owners, to keep rust off your infrequently used rotors, just shift into neutral while going down a hill sometime and brake nice and hard with no one behind you.

Tire rotation was $19.95, air set to 42 psi front and 40 rear, no other charges. I went to Premier Toyota of Newport again, much better experience than last time. More communicative, the tech went out and rode with me to hear the sound, and they followed up a couple days after to make sure everything was going well. Definitely feeling better about them after this.

Wentworth in the shop

So Wentworth had to go get some preventative maintenance done on Thursday. The main reason was a recent Toyota service bulletin (TSB) regarding the inverter water pump. It would be completely covered by Toyota, as it's a potential overheating issue in the second generation Prius (model years 2004-2009), but nothing serious or immediately at risk.

I had also heard the occasional *clunk* while driving over bumps, particularly at slow speeds, and wanted to get it checked out. Apparently, the service department told me, it was the motor mount issue for which a service bulletin had been issued in 2008. It's rather subtle, and you can see on this TSB that "warranty application is limited to correction of a problem based on a customer's specific complaint". In other words, no big deal, most people probably don't notice or think anything about it. This would also be covered by warranty.

Well, after just driving the car home, everything felt fine, it drove perfectly as usual, though I had trouble keeping it in stage 4 on the way home (it's only a 7.4 mile trip - for non-Priusers, stage 4 is the desirable engine stage where the car works in full hybrid mode, allowing you to turn off the engine for gas-free gliding). Nonetheless got 64-65 mpg on the way home. Funny, because I remember my very first drive home from the dealer I got 54 mpg and thought that was amazing. A little adjustment of habits gets me 20% better fuel economy...


Today's drive home. The 64-65 mpg is calculated as a segment of the longer trip seen on the screen - but the key in this image is the wonderful 5-minute bars!



Now, the dealer's service department general response and interaction was another story. I brought it in first thing Thursday morning, if it were just the water pump, there was the possibility it would be all done that day (I didn't know yet that the clunk was a simple fix), so I waited for the call. Nothing came by the end of business hours, so I called to see what was up. Yes, they said, my car was ready, I could come get it if I needed it, they just forgot to call before to let me know. Since they had a part coming in for the motor mount fix the next day, I just had them keep it overnight rather than drive back and forth and then bring it back the next day anyway. At this point, nothing too unusual is going off in my head. No big deal.

The next day, Friday, I had been told they would have it ready by 11am, so I decided not to work that morning, losing the money I would've otherwise made. The allotted time came, as did noon, 1pm, 2pm, etc., and by the time they called at 3pm, I had started my afternoon lessons, and wouldn't be able to go get it even if they sent someone to pick me up. I had previously told them I wasn't free at all that afternoon, which is why they had said it would be done in the morning in the first place. Again, whatever, fine, it wasn't a huge hassle at this point, though certainly annoying, I would get it Saturday morning before heading out to work. They promised to send someone to arrive at 9am Saturday morning and to call when the car left to get me.

Saturday morning comes, I get up early, prepare everything I need for work that morning to take with me to the dealer, and then - well, you guessed it, no one showed up at 9am, and certainly no one called me. When I called them to ask where they were, they then told me the driver was a little late, and would be there in a half hour (in which case I'd be late for work).

So Saturday afternoon comes (that's now!), I just got home, and called them. Quite apologetically they said they would send someone right away to get me. Once you're talking with them, they're all very friendly, helpful, direct, etc., but the whole incommunicado thing rubbed me the wrong way.

So to Premier Toyota of Newport, it's OK to be a little late with something, it happens and it's reasonable, just make sure you give the customer a call to keep them updated! Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to borrow someone else's car, so for those people I imagine those three days would've been a huge ordeal. I was almost thinking of going somewhere else next time, but...

On an extremely positive note, they only did the work I asked for, and preliminarily, it seems they did it well. This seems like a given, but online Prius forums are replete with stories recounting dealers strongly suggesting to replace, say, *both water pumps* when the other one is perfectly fine, charging far too high diagnostic fees for simple things which were obvious and frequent occurences on the car, or even going ahead and "generously" replacing things like cabin air filters (which anyone can learn how to do in a couple minutes online yourself), and charging copious labor fees for the non-authorized convenience.

At Toyota of Newport I didn't have to pay anything, as everything was covered under warranty, and they didn't charge any odd diagnostic fees or suggest I get other costly repairs. The quality of service I think redeems the otherwise rather negative experience, and so I would return to them, asking from the start that they be very direct at keeping in touch.