Wrong Oil

[Glyyde]

just booked my car in for a first year service to Marsh Toyota, Plymouth. they say they only use 0w20 oil for 3rd gen prius

[Jan&tone]

Did you ever wonder about love cartier? Where cartier love earrings come from? What makes a cartier gold love bracelet so special? Or how cartier necklace wholesale are formed?

No!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Did you ever wonder about love cartier? Where cartier love earrings come from? What makes a cartier gold love bracelet so special? Or how cartier necklace wholesale are formed?

It appears this is spam ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_(electronic) ). Please moderators could you sort this 'member' out so that they don't bore us in future? :censor:

Cheers

[Terry953]

I do think that we need to compile a list of dealerships here which automatically put in the 0W20 oil in the Gen 3 Prius and use the correct Gen 3 checklist without being asked or prompted to so, so that people can have confidence in taking their Gen 3 Prius to them for servicing without the unnecessary worries and hassles.

AFAIK, from the various posts on this site so far, they are:

Kings - Hedge End

Ron Brookes - Mansfield

Bentley's - Warrington

Marsh - Plymouth

Lookers - Rayleigh

Charles Clark - Wolverhampton

Pentagon - Sheffield (Hillsborough)

Fish Brothers - Swindon

Please let me know so that I can add them to this list.

Just trawled through http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=125657 and found these for your comendable list for Auris Owners :---

Gordon Lamb in Sheffield

Arnold Clark Toyota at Linwood, Scotland

ToyotaWorld Bristol North at Patchway

[AP01]

Thanks, list updated at the other thread.

[Parts-King]

Thanks, list updated at the other thread.

Errr Lindop Queensferry and Wrexham have been using 0w 20 oil since the dawn of time

Kingo

[Jan&tone]

Just had my Prius first service at Lookers Rayleigh. When queried (again) I was told immediately 0w-20... However, the conversation continued to the effect that had my car been owned by a lease company and not private, it would have got 5w-30 ! The reason being that:-

"lease companies go for the cheapest of everything, oil, tyres etc.. They will not allow us to put 0w-20 in as they refuse to pay the extra for it, after all, they reason it's not their car so why worry"

So, let that be a warning to someone buying a secondhand ex-company gen3, there's a more than even chance it will have had the wrong oil since its first service.

[Terry953]

So, let that be a warning to someone buying a secondhand ex-company gen3, there's a more than even chance it will have had the wrong oil since its first service.

OK, But is this situation irremediable ?

If the new owner then has 0W/20 put in on the next service [which in my experience will be due in about a fortnight's time] as PCP's seem to lapse on the 3rd anniversary after only 2 services will the vehicle’s attributes recover or has irremediable damage been done to the car ?

Just a thought

[kithmo]

So, let that be a warning to someone buying a secondhand ex-company gen3, there's a more than even chance it will have had the wrong oil since its first service.

OK, But is this situation irremediable ?

If the new owner then has 0W/20 put in on the next service [which in my experience will be due in about a fortnight's time] as PCP's seem to lapse on the 3rd anniversary after only 2 services will the vehicle’s attributes recover or has irremediable damage been done to the car ?

Just a thought

I can't see what permanent damage would be done by not filling with 0W/20. As soon as you replace whatever was in with 0W/20 all the positive attributes would return.

[driver067]

Dear all,

My name's Melissa, and I'm part of the Social Media team at Toyota GB. If any of you are regular blog.toyota.co.uk users, you'll know me as one of the mods.

This discussion was brought to my attention yesterday. We understand your concerns surrounding third-generation Prius and oil, and would like to address these concerns by clarifying a few things:

- The recommended oil grade at service for third-generation Prius is 0W-20 Toyota Genuine Motor Oil, as stated in the owners' handbook. Prius is filled with this oil at the factory. (Note: this is specific to third-generation Prius and Auris HSD only, and does not apply to previous generations of Prius nor any other Toyota vehicle.)

- Although 0W-20 is the only recommended grade, using 5W-30 or 10W-40 will not damage your engine. 0W-20 provides better engine ’startability’ in cold weather, which in turn improves engine performance, fuel consumption and emissions in cold weather conditions.

- A number of Prius owners got in touch on our blog and told us they'd received information contradictory to the above. We discussed this with the departments concerned and in response, Toyota GB wrote to all Centres on 17 March 2010 to confirm the following:

i) 0W-20 is the recommended service grade for third-generation Prius and Auris HSD

ii) If another oil such as 5W-30 was used at a previous service, it should be replaced by 0W-20 at your next service (but let me restate that 5W-30 does no damage to the engine)

iii) All Centres should keep 0W-20 in stock, but we advise checking with your Centre before you go in for your service. If you request 0W-20 and it is not in stock, it can be ordered in specially.

Parts-King, whom I know many of you are familiar with, confirmed the receipt of this letter on a related thread. It was also communicated on our blog.

However, despite our best efforts it seems that some inconsistencies remain, so we will seek to speak to Centres directly to reconfirm the above. This is also being discussed at a top-level After Sales meeting today.

If you'd like to get in touch with us, feel free to contact us at http://blog.toyota.co.uk/new-prius-everything-you-need-to-know. Alternatively, if you have a specific complaint and wish to contact us privately, please visit http://blog.toyota.co.uk/how-to-contact-toyota-uk.

Many thanks, and I hope this has been helpful.

Melissa Coulton

Social Media

Toyota (GB) PLC

[driver067]

£5000 bill if your head gasket goes on your t180. cant believe i,m not making this up. scraping 57 plate with 140000 miles on it

[johalareewi]

Should have used 0w20 oil on your t180

[mark999]

Went to John Roe Toyota Hull this morning to pick up a 1L top up of 0W-20 oil for my fathers gen3 Auris HSD. They swore blind that they only use 5w-30 in all the Hybrids (with agreement from Toyota technical apparently) and were very reluctant to order it for me.

Come service time they are obviously going to fob him off with the wrong oil.

I have submitted a complaint to Toyota in the hope that they will correct them.

Mark

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I'm thinking that a journo should be contacted about this. The hybrids can't get anywhere near their mpg figures using the wrong oil. Perhaps if some bad news hit Toyota they might actually do something.

You'd have thought they'd have learnt their lesson last time!

(hint - there's a chap from the Guardian who might be interested ;) )

[Seamaster73]

I agree. It's got to the point where only wider public embarrassment for Toyota and their dealers is going to sort this out once and for all (we've seen ample examples of how they can react to this when pushed in recent times).

[Grumpy Cabbie]

...(we've seen ample examples of how they can react to this when pushed in recent times).

Yeah - very slowly.

[mark999]

My dealer insisted that the Toyota technical guy had told them that the 5w oil couldn't make that much difference in fuel consumption. We could do with a motoring organisation doing a back to back test with the different grade oils.

It will prove once and for all what we already know.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

My dealer insisted that the Toyota technical guy had told them that the 5w oil couldn't make that much difference in fuel consumption. We could do with a motoring organisation doing a back to back test with the different grade oils.

It will prove once and for all what we already know.

So all the boffins in Japan insist that the gen3 Prius uses the super expensive 0w20 oil but some bloke in the UK recons they're wrong? So why bother? Why not submit their vehicles to the NEDC with 5w30 and see how they fare?

It's the sort of b*ll s**t answer you'd expect from Toyota UK. No wonder it's becoming such a problem.

[Jan&tone]

As said earlier, my dealer stated categorically that they use 0w-20 in privately owned Prius and Auris, BUT due to restrictions imposed by lease companies they are obliged to use 5w-30 on lease cars.

The problem really is the ambiguous wording by both Toyota tech and the handbook where it gives the option of the wrong oil, even only on a temporary basis.

[r04drunner1]

I'm thinking that a journo should be contacted about this. The hybrids can't get anywhere near their mpg figures using the wrong oil. Perhaps if some bad news hit Toyota they might actually do something.

You'd have thought they'd have learnt their lesson last time!

(hint - there's a chap from the Guardian who might be interested ;) )

Totally with you on that GC. Go for it with your Guardian contact. The more publicity the better.

Yes the leasing companies will kick up a stink because they price their service cover plans on 5W40 and the 0W20 is x 3 more costly. Tough. Bite the bullet guys and move on - adjust your lease costs to service the car (and replace the tyres!) properly. We need top level assistance from Toyota on this one and none of this namby-pamby mixed message cr*p that the dealers seem to have been buying into (again, because it's cheaper for them no doubt).

We are NOT happy about this. :censor:

[trapdoor]

We have had several arguments with Lex Autolease about our Gen II Prius with both servicing and tyres. Just before the Gen II was due to be replaced had a new pair of front tyres which were via their tyre contractors KwikFit - they fitted a pair of Marangoni tyres which dramatically changed the handling of the car for the worse and clobbered economy.

With the New Gen III that we've had for only 2 weeks now, I've already spoken with our servicing dealer to check about oil (clueless, as it seems many dealers are) and to make sure they flag on their system that we only want 0W20 filled. I pointed the service manager to this thread and he claimed that Toyota GB have not issued them with any instructions - they just use the bulk 5W30 and only use 0W20 if a customer specifically requests it as they only have it in 1L bottles .

I envisage a real fight with Lex come servicing (and tyre) time, but my argument is going to be along the lines of "...I'm paying you for the car, I selected this car for fuel economy and emissions, it costs you ZERO in Anual VED, so if 0w20 oil was filled at the factory, then that's what is required. End of." Problem is, they have you over a barrel once you are locked in for the 4 years.

[Parts-King]

I pointed the service manager to this thread and he claimed that Toyota GB have not issued them with any instructions - they just use the bulk 5W30 and only use 0W20 if a customer specifically requests it as they only have it in 1L bottles

Bollards!!

Dealer correspondance, 6th April 2011

Kingo

[trapdoor]

Bollards!!

Dealer correspondance, 6th April 2011

Kingo

Any chance you could 'publish' a copy of the dealer correspondence somewhere - anonymously perhaps - so that we can point both the dealers and lease companies to the 'official document'? I'm happy to host it on my webserver for public access .....

[Parts-King]

Any chance you could 'publish' a copy of the dealer correspondence somewhere - anonymously perhaps - so that we can point both the dealers and lease companies to the 'official document'? I'm happy to host it on my webserver for public access .....

Sorry I can't, all correspondance is private and confidential, it is readily available to any dealer by, well, errr checking his correspondance!

Kingo

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I had a customer in at the weekend. Nothing unusual there but we got talking about the Prius and he said he had half a dozen at his company. He asked my mileage and then asked to pick my brains about a problem on one of their Prii where there was something wrong with it. I said I'd have a go :). Well apparantly one of them was getting reduced mpg's and they couldn't work it out. All their fuel card mpg stats showed that this one was very low on mpg's but had previously been ok. I asked him if it had been serviced recently and it turned out it had. I then suggested that he check what oil had been used.

He was ahead of me on this one though as he said he normally gets his cars serviced locally to him (down south somewhere) but this rogue car had recently been serviced in Scotland when the driver was up there on business. My passenger (the boss by the way) had contacted his local Toyota dealer about the problem and they had suggested that the wrong oil had been used by the Scottish dealers. My customer was less than impressed by this wondering why the left hand doesn't know what the right is doing at Toyota!

So it appears some Toyota dealers are doing it correctly but others STILL are not. One wonders if the Scottish dealers tried to charge for 0w20 oil too? But how many customers are getting cheesed off with their Prius because of this continuing saga? If it hadn't been for my passengers fleet manager checking his mpg stats this case would have slipped through the net.

The good Toyota dealers NEED to strenuously inform HEAD OFFICE that this issue continues and to crack down on the bad.

But we all know nothing will change!