Wrong Oil

[Red diesel]

Oh dear what a :censor: mess

A leasing company should not be in a position to dictate to a dealer that the dealer breaches manufacturers guidelines. If a manufacturer says use oil x than thats what should go in the car. Not the cheaper oil Y that the leasing company wishes to use. What are the stipulations on the leasing contract regarding servicing???. Ive not familiarity with these contracts but id have thought that one of the clauses is that the car is serviced in accordance with manufacturers recommendations. Oh and yes id have thought that was manufacturers recommedations as in Toyota in Japan not some chap in Toyota UK or some dealer who wants to keep some lease company happy.

How hard can it be for a dealer to automatically use the oil recommended by Toyota, Parts King got the instructions on the correct oil without issue so why have other dealers decided to err not bother taking notice of the instructions from Toyota. Incidentally - to the person who had the poor tyres fitted - would this not be classed as health and safety???. I mean think about it - given that good grip is important from your tyres surely if the tyres are impacting handling - there is a potential safety issue. If its a company provided lease car (ie a company car) than surely a chat with the companies health and safety chap might be in order. After all if your using the car on company business - the company has a duty towards your health and safety. You have a duty towards your own health and safety too of course, but the company has put in place this arrangement with the leasing company to provide you with a car. If your having crappy tyres fitted then they should therefore look into this more. Youd have thought anyway - although companies aren't always blessed with common sense and logic.

But a poor show all round by Toyota

Red diesel

[Chris Dance]

I just wish Toyota UK would clear the oil situation up once and for all. All it needs is an amendment to all handbooks and a strong worded instruction to ALL dealers only OW20 must be used in the GEN 3 Prius. It seems to me Toyota UK are not interested in getting the problem sorted. I have been informed by our local dealer when I bought the Gen 3 that they use OW20 in the Gen 3 Prius. We shall see when it comes to service time????

[mark999]

Eventually got sorted with John Roe Hull. Toyota sent me the standard 5w-30 oil will not damage your engine reply. A few days later I had a phone call from the parts manager appologising for the mix up. Apparently they hadn't been sent the relevant information.

They are now stocking the 0w-20 top up packs and have a 205L drum of it for servicing.

Mark

[Dave R.]

Good grief! The oil issue is STILL Running!! I've not been following this forum since January as I've not been driving much (assignments have not been a long car-drive away).

The car is due for an oil change next week, so I must remember to check with the dealer beforehand that they are using 0w20 oil - the last time they serviced it (Oakmere Toyota in Northwich) the guy on the service desk knew immediately that it SHOULD be 0W20 oil in the Gen III.... I wonder what they will say this time?

Meanwhile fuel consumption has been abysmal since the new tyres were fitted last autumn - the computer has been showing 51mpg at best throughout the summer - though most mileage has been my wife taking the car into town with some 20-30 mile motorway runs... plus I've not been updating fuelly... just too depressing!

[B&J]

As mentioned in another post, we've just purchased our first Prius (about 280 miles so far). We've just had a letter from the dealer - usual stuff, thanks for buying from us etc - but there is a section entitled Looking After Your Vehicle.

In this, entered in biro, it says Oil Grade 0-20W, Tyre Pressures Front 33, Rear 32.

In the light of some of the postings in this forum, this seems to bode very well for future services at the dealers, wouldn't you say?

Cheers

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Yes it does - assuming you have a t4 or t-spirit. If you have the t3 then the tyre pressures are too low - 35f & 36r I think.

[B&J]

Good to hear. I've changed my profile post your reply - it's a T4 we've got.

Cheers

[pobrown]

Thought I'd bump this thread instead of making a new one so that all the info is together.

My 2010 Auris HSD is going for a service in a couple of weeks, the first since I bought it in Sept.

A quick email to my dealer and this was the response "Yes I can confirm we will be using the correct oil (0w20) in your car when it comes in for service, we use this oil in all the hybrid cars."

Great news from Copcutt Toyota in Worksop, Notts.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Good to hear.

It seems even the heel dragging dealers (not meaning your dealers - just all dealers do now seem to be aware of the oil issues) have now finally caught up to using this 0w20 oil in the gen3 Prius and Auris hsd.

[Teemu]

Will the Yaris Hybrid also use the same oil?

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Will the Yaris Hybrid also use the same oil?

More than likely as the IQ start stop uses it - though the auto version we have doesn't.

Maybe its to do with extra protection for the extreme on off strains that stop start and hybrids give an engine.

Some of the Americans on Priuschat have done oil analysis of the gen3 Prius engine using 0w20 oil and the engines show little in the way of wear compared to other cars. That's also using the 10,000 mile interval which is unusual in America where they still service cars every 3,000 or 5,000 miles. There was much alarm when Toyota said the gen3 should be serviced every 10k so long as the 0w20 was used, but it appears the engines are more than fine.

[timberwolf]

The Prius Gen 2 (2004-2009) has a 1.5 L engine, the recommended oil is a FE 5W-30 with an ACEA specification of A1/B1, or A5/B5, or better i.e. a fuel efficient variant of the oil.

It will be interesting(!?) B) to see what oil Toyota recommend for the Yaris Hybrid as it also has a 1.5 L engine rather than the 1.8 L engine (used in the Prius Gen 3 and Auris Hybrid).

[Seamaster73]

I dropped off my 2011 in for its first service today, and am disappointed to report 05W30 oil was on the job sheet.

Bear in mind, this is a company car being privately maintained by one of (if not the) biggest fleet operations in the UK.

Needless to say, as soon as I saw it on the job sheet I said that's the wrong oil, and there was a bit of carry-on, which culminated in the fleet depot calling the local Toyota franchise who confirmed 0W20 was correct. There was a sharp intake of breath when they were told it was over £60 for 5 litres trade, but I'm glad to report they accepted this was correct, ordered it in, and it's what I'm led to believe they're going to use.

Turns out that like many workshops, my fleet's depot uses Partco's computer system to order service packs. They do this by typing in the car registration, Partco identifies the car and sends out the required parts. Typing in my car's reg brought up 05W30. Again we have to ask, after three years, why isn't the correct information out there?

[ian rooke]

Hi GC this oil issue seems to want to run and run as on my wifes 09 IQ2 1 litre auto, (non stop start) according to the user manual the preferred oil is 0w20 . So there is a difference between models of the same car.

[Seamaster73]

Turns out that like many workshops, my fleet's depot uses Partco's computer system to order service packs. They do this by typing in the car registration, Partco identifies the car and sends out the required parts. Typing in my car's reg brought up 05W30. Again we have to ask, after three years, why isn't the correct information out there?

Correction: the wrong information is present in the Autodata system.

[Parts-King]

Sadly that is a feature of Autodata

It is a good resource but when its wrong it takes an age to put right

Kingo

[ColinBarber]

The Prius Gen 2 (2004-2009) has a 1.5 L engine, the recommended oil is a FE 5W-30 with an ACEA specification of A1/B1, or A5/B5, or better i.e. a fuel efficient variant of the oil.

It will be interesting(!?) B) to see what oil Toyota recommend for the Yaris Hybrid as it also has a 1.5 L engine rather than the 1.8 L engine (used in the Prius Gen 3 and Auris Hybrid).

the engine has been reworked slightly though.

Seems Toyota US are using 0W-20 on nearly all their vehicles, hybrid or not, including the Prius c which uses the same engine as the Yaris H

http://www.toyota.co...hetic-motor-oil

it's funny to see 10k miles being seen as a long interval which is only made possible with fully synth oil. 10k in the UK is seen as a very short interval.

[r04drunner1]

This oil story should be a sticky! Can't believe it is still an issue!

My 2010 Gen 3 T4 had its second service a couple of weeks ago (20k miles). It got 0W20 (and I did double check before I handed over the key). As it is a company car, servicing is handled by GE who had originally specified 5W30 until I kicked up a fuss at the first service and got it sorted.

Top marks to:

Charles Hurst Toyota, Boucher Road, Belfast

Very courteous and quick service, bent over backwards to cater to my requirements. Wonderful.

Reported average MPG is now up 3MPG, so I am pretty confident they used the correct oil and that they made sure the tyre pressures were good.

[hoylakegrumpy]

I have just booked an annual service for my Gen 3 Prius with my local Toyota dealer, again I have had to specify the correct 0W-20 engine oil! The Service Manager is ordering in the correct oil for me.............

[wass]

I have just booked an annual service for my Gen 3 Prius with my local Toyota dealer, again I have had to specify the correct 0W-20 engine oil! The Service Manager is ordering in the correct oil for me.............

Isnt it pathetic when the professionals have to be told by amateurs? Clearly this is the case since a bonafide toyota dealer is having to order the oil in at their clients request. Can someone in the trade tell me why a full service history is evidence of a car being properly looked after?

It seems to me that full service history is a cynical trade propaganda tool because not all of the trade know what they should be doing.

[Ksenija]

Same here, they used 5w30 for my yaris 2013 hybrid, whereas dealership said onlu 0w20 can be used. Had to replace it urgently as they serviced my car two times.

[QuantumFireball]

My Prius was serviced using 5W30 last year (main dealer) and I have to say I didn't notice any substantial difference. We're hearing that oil consumption is becoming a problem with higher mileage examples (piston rings?), especially in the US where they seem to be stricter on using 0W20 - maybe these thinner oils are not helping in the long run?

I know they're not the same thing at all, but I know RX-8 owners are using much thicker oils than the manufacturer's original recommendation (10W40 semi-synthetic instead of 5W30) to reduce wear.

[kithmo]

RX-8 uses a w4nkel engine, I reckon they're using thicker oil to help seal the combustion chamber as well as decrease wear.