How to change engine oil for your Toyota Prius v, 2012 - 2018

Step-by-step instructions on how to change the engine oil for your Prius v, models 2012 to present (2018). For me, it is a labor of love for my 2 Priuses.

[@gonzalovega159]

Sir, this world is better because of people like you! Thank you for this video

[@rmwtsou]

Also better because of people like you. Thank you for your comment!

[@brianh.000]

Nicely done. Thanks! I didn't know about the 3 retaining pins holding that shield, so when I scooted under my car, I was like "Wut?! Where's the drain plug?!" Your video solved that. :)

[@rmwtsou]

Glad to be of help.

[@climbers1376]

Material/tool list 1. 2 car ramps & 2 chokes 2. 4.4 Qts of synthetic oil, 0W-20 3. oil filter & gasket 4. Funnel 5. oil pan 6. paper towels 7. rubber gloves 8. socket wrench 9. 14mm socket 10. oil filter socket 11. "plastic pin pulling" tool you're a beautiful person for making this video. thank you sir

[@cgrinna]

RMW: Every time I change the oil in my 2014 Prius V I think of you. After your video, it was so easy. Thanks again. CR from Florida and Michigan

[@dIsRuPtOrMoDe]

Very helpful video with great explanation and clear views of the process. Thank you!

[@cgrinna]

RMW: Just changed the oil on my Prius V again. Forgot where the O ring goes, so looked at your video again. Great stuff. Hope you are healthy and well. cr from Florida

[@rmwtsou]

Ha ha. Thank you. I am glad the video is helpful.

[@debkrist3738]

Very well done, just what we needed to do the oil change on my new V. Thank you so much for the excellent filming too, we didn't miss a thing!

[@rmwtsou]

Thanks for watching! The V is great car, too bad they don't make it anymore.

[@cgrinna]

RMW: Every time I change my oil I play your video. You are great! And fun watching you. cr from Florida

[@rmwtsou]

Thanks! I am glad it helps. Thank you for watching and for your nice comment.

[@gregjennings9442]

Thank you, my friend. Very informative and to the point. I’m now walking out to the garage to change the oil in my new-to-me 2012 Prius V.

[@rmwtsou]

You've got yourself a great car. My 2007 Prius has nearly 220K miles on it and had ZERO trouble. Change my own oil every 5000 miles. Don't even take it to the shop for anything. My daughter has my PriusV now and it has surpassed 100K miles -- zero problem. I love Priuses!

[@gregjennings9442]

rmwtsou : Thank you again. This one has 57,610 miles. I’ll run it up to around 200k, sell it, and see about another.

[@rmwtsou]

@@gregjennings9442 Congrats. You will love it. It is an amazing car. They don't make the larger v version anymore. I actually owned 3 Priuses. My first one was a 2004, which I drove for 125K trouble-free miles at 47.5 mpg before it was totaled when someone struck me.

[@alanekataria-rennie1253]

Thank you! That worked on my Prius V

[@KCECC-ActiveHealthyAgeing]

Thank you. Very good guide and explanation.

[@lawbee2448]

You tha man!!!! Thanks so much for your time in putting out a thorough and comprehensive video on this!

[@rmwtsou]

You are welcome!

[@VeteranE-4]

Great video, very informative and high quality. Now I can stop taking mine in and do it myself, thank you

[@rmwtsou]

You are very welcome. Thank you for watching and commenting.

[@TengwarTeacher]

Thank you. I now change my Prius V oil thanks to this video. 👍🏻

[@rmwtsou]

I love the Prius V. Thanks for watching.

[@exanime]

excellent video... very good job and well organized

[@Albertwildhorseshoer]

Thank you, I trust your instruction after watching a few others prior.

[@rmwtsou]

Thanks for watching!

[@santiagogarzon43]

Thanks very much for taking your time to make this. Video, Gob bless

[@IansWork]

Thank you for making the video- helpful.

[@rmwtsou]

You are very welcome!

[@delanthach153]

Another tip is resetting Trip A, toggling to trip A, and holding down the trip button to reset the counter.

[@cgrinna]

Rmwtsou: Excellent video and very good simple instructions. My Toyota dealer is now charging over $100 for this job. You and your video person did an excellent job of helping all of us out here. Keep up the good work, and thanks... CR from Florida and Michigan.

[@rmwtsou]

Thanks for watching. I have ALWAYS done the oil changes myself on my 2 Priuses (just did one yesterday on my 2007 2nd-gen Prius.) It took me less than 30 minutes. My daughter is driving the Prius V in this video and she brings it back to me whenever she needs oil changes. Saves us lot of money. My Prius has 200,000 miles on it.

[@cgrinna]

@@rmwtsou Thanks again for the video. 200,000 miles... wow! Just put new tires on mine which has 67,000 miles on it. Any other maintenance I should do in the near future? When do you think it will need new plugs and new brakes? Are you going to do that yourself? Thanks... CR

[@rmwtsou]

@@cgrinna This is what I did to my 2007 gen-2 Prius and it gave me 200K trouble-free miles: I just change my oil & filter every 5000 miles, make sure all the fluids are good, check the tire pressures, and that it! I also change the air filter every 50K miles or so, when I think of it. I change tires when they are showing low thread. I have never taken my Prius to the shop except at 100,000 miles, I felt it was probably time to change the brake pads (although they were braking just fine) and I also changed the radiator and transmission fluids at that time, just to be sure (although they were functioning just fine as well.) Because of regenerative braking, you almost never need brake pads. They just don't wear out! I am sure they will make noises to let you know when they do wear out. It just has never happened to me. Priuses are amazingly long-lived and reliable. They routinely surpass 300K miles. Many go beyond 500K! At 200K miles, my 2007 is showing some sign of weakening battery as the battery tends to deplete on long stretches of continued uphill climb (as driving up the 4200-ft Cajon Pass in Southern California from sea level), although I can still get up the hill at 60mph near the end using engine power alone (it just make louder noises and the throttle is not as responsive as usual.) The battery soon charges up to normal on flat or downhill roads. The weakening-battery symptom does not show up at all on flat road driving and the car can still zoom to 90+ mph with just an easy push of the peddle. I love my Prius! I am not telling you this is what you should do with your Prius as it is always advisable and proper to follow the recommended maintenance schedules specified by Toyota and do the things the manual calls for. It is just a lot of money and time to do all these -- Toyota got to let their dealers make a living too! For my 2012 Prius V that you see in this video, which my daughter is driving, I am doing the exact same thing and never take it to the dealer. I think it has 90K+ miles on the odo now (85K when I made this video 6 months ago), all trouble-free as well. Hope this helps.

[@rmwtsou]

@@cgrinna I answered your question about brake pads but I forgot to answer your question about spark plugs. I cannot recall since it was a long time ago, but I MAY had the dealer change the spark plugs of my 2007 gen-2 when it turned 100,000K -- out of love --, although it was running just fine. At 200K now, I don't think I will bother changing them since it is still running just fine as well. So the answer is: almost never do you have to change the plugs. My daughter's Prius V is nearing 100K now and I don't think I will take it to the dealer to have anything changed. But again, I am no mechanic and certainly no authority on the Prius ignition system.

[@cgrinna]

@@rmwtsou Thanks for all the information. My 2014 Prius V is running just great. Going to do my first oil change tomorrow after watching your video. Got the oil housing filter wrench from Amazon and the filters and washers as well. Bought 6 quarts of Mobil One 0W-20 from Costco for $27 yesterday. And will take used oils to local auto store as you suggested. I'll follow your advise and keep a good eye on fluids, and read the owner's manual for their suggestions. I'm like you, and like to save dollars when I can. However I may take it into Dealership around 100K miles to make sure. So impressed with this vehicle, I'm thinking about buying another one and having two. Thanks again, and take care. CR

[@njsongwriter]

Looks like you have a good oil filter cap wrench there and your video was well produced. My only suggestion is to be careful with that screwdriver so as not to damage the o-ring or the threads on that plastic oil filter cap. If you read the instructions on that oil filter box, they discourage the use of any tools to remove the o-ring. It's easily removed by simply pushing it to one side and grabbing it. Thumbs up.

[@paulfreed6394]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@robtathome]

Very helpful

[@modified93tc]

Thank you my friend

[@kmberg10]

Thank you!

[@leetsui510]

I love watching this video, he reminds me of my dad.

[@stampgalore]

Nice video for sure but you didn’t say anything about the pin latch on the filter?

[@chuckpearson109]

For the reset on my 2016 Prius V, I pushed the right arrow until I got a maintenance option, the selected "initialize".

[@selloff321]

Thank you, this video is much appreciated. I have the same Prius. The only thing I was waiting in you to tell us is what size is the filter wrench?

[@laurenfromcolorado]

64mm 14-flute

[@JayG0o]

谢谢

[@SH-th4wy]

Thank you.

[@GEAUXFRUGAL]

I usually get a sharpie and write the mileage and date somewhere. My old prius I wrote this on the top valve cover. When I sold it I had run out of room to write it.

[@12skits63]

Very good

[@densam9704]

Thx bro

[@GEAUXFRUGAL]

220K miles on my car and I love it.

[@sam3d]

Thank yiu

[@arabcampers9554]

Whay size is the oil filter socket please ?

[@joepacheco7979]

Cool!

[@kumara5492]

Nice video. I tried to change oil couple of times but couldn't do it because the previous mechanic had the filter too tight, but, I told him not to make it so tight so that I can take it without much hassle. It don't need to be so tight anyway.I changed the spark plugs myself though( recently). I always used to change the oil for Xterra, even without ramps, because SUV has so much ground clearance. My Toyota Prius 2013 has 175,000 miles and it still runs like brand new. And it now needs new brake liners apart from new tires during this entire time. Also, the coolant level went down a little bit . So, I wanted to know if it require some special kind of coolant ( made for Prius ) that is sold only at dealership or any regular coolant can be used for top off?

[@brianh.000]

Same here. I had to use a breaker bar to get the filter loose. Why don't these silly mechanics torque to spec?!?! It only takes a second. Next time it happens I'm going to check how tight it is with my torque wrench, and ball the mechanic out! That filter is only supposed to be torqued to 18 foot pounds!

[@njsongwriter]

It's only supposed to be torqued to 18 ft.lbs. Compare that to the 27 or 28 ft.lvs for the drainplug.

[@modified93tc]

Good job there. These engines are known to burn oil. When they burn oil it clogs the egr system and blows the head gasket. Toyota knows this and changed the piston design for 2015 but won't help if your head gasket blows. The solution is to install an Oil Catch Can. It's not too hard a job. Check out the details and all you will want to know about this before your HG blows at Prius Chat. I added an OCC to mine and now had 254k miles running good. You don't have to worry about this with your other Prius it's only the gen 3 prius up to 2015. My gen 2 prius has 286k miles runs good. They both burn oil

[@DUSTKILLL]

thanks for the info! just orded a OCC from amazon after doing some research about oil burning on the prius V. you prob saved me a new car 10 years down the line

[@modified93tc]

Sure. You must not drive it much. This generally needs to be done around 100k miles

[@DUSTKILLL]

Oh no i just got it a few months ago at 100k miles amd already put 2.5 k miles on it already friend

[@mr.vindicator4697]

@rmwtsou What size of filter cap wrench is that? Or do you have a link where I can get one? The one I got from Amazon didn't fit right and the local hardware store doesn't have one for Toyota.

[@njsongwriter]

Get the Motivx MX2321 wrench. It only works for 1.8 & 1.3 liter Toyota built engines. Other Toyota engines larger than 1.8 liters take the Motivx MX2320 wrench.

[@natalyakulinich6032]

Where can I order the oil filter? What specs do I look for in the oil filter?

[@rmwtsou]

Amazon. Just search for "oil filters for Prius v".

[@victor-jm7ck]

I believe 0w-20 oil reccomends 10k mile oil changes. Why do you do 5k?

[@rmwtsou]

I believe Toyota recommends 5K changes. Not 100% sure.

[@rmwtsou]

I checked. You are absolutely correct. Toyota recommends oil & filter changes every 5,000 miles for regular oils, but if you use synthetic oils such as I do, every 10,000 miles is OK. The "Maintenance Required" light still comes on every 5,000 miles, though. Since changing oil is easy and the oil is inexpensive ($26 for the 5-qt jug from Walmart), I just assume doing it every time the light comes on. I have been doing the same for my other Prius, a 2007 model (you can catch a glimpse of it parked in the garage in the video.) It has almost 200,000 miles on the odometer and still drives like new. In fact, my wife and I just drove it to San Francisco and back (back on the day before I made this video.) On the way back from S.F., we ran into some giant tumbleweeds and I made a video of it, which you can also watch on my channel. As you can probably tell, I love my Priuses and changing oils for them is actually a labor of love :-) I deliberately chose to drive my old Prius rather than my wife's brand-new Lexus RX350 for the L.A. to S.F. trip because it is just as comfortable and reliable, but uses less than half of the gas! It is also better-handling and nimble (dodging the tumbleweeds). I had another Prius (a 2004 model) which I drove for 125K trouble-free miles before totaling it when it was hit from behind then I in turn hit the car in front. I did every 5,000 mile oil changes for that vehicle as well. I still miss that car to this day. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@coloradoboo1071]

Yes, it's every 5k for normal cars but the Prius also runs the electric motor so the gas engine isn't worked nearly as much. I checked my wife's Prius at 5,000 and it was, still clean...checked ever so often and wasn't ready for changing until around 9,500.

[@mitchcrilly1291]

the cleaner you keep your oil and filter the longer that engine is going to last, I keep an eye on mine every other fuel fill up and look to change it around 4,500-6,000 miles! Currently this Prius we drive now has 110k on it and uses no oil and looks as pretty as honey w/great viscosity ! The other reason why I recommend changing it more often is because if you take it to quick lube place they are known for just dumping the oil and not replacing the filter! Always check oil before and after , make sure oil cap and dipstick are where they belong and oil is to the full mark! Another place where Quick Lube rips people off is shorting people 1/2 qt on each oil change, then every 8 Oil Changes they do for a customer, they can do one for total profit! make sure your oil reservoir is Full but never Over full! And please please stay away from Pennzoil and Havoline Mototr Oils if you want longer cleaner engine life.

[@mitchcrilly1291]

@@rmwtsou I miss my 07 Prius compared to driving the 2013! may not get the mileage or cruise as well high speeds, but the seats in the 13 SUCK!!!! Long distance driving the 13 is a recipe for Sciatica or other issues! I hope Toyota quits taking cheaper steps on quality ! I found The Nissan Maxima seats are wonderful, whether you are short , tall, thin or other those seats would be ideal in vehicles if the Manufactures got a clue about their customers! I'm not buying a 4th Prius...... unless they put a little attention into the seats and raid noise !! there is no comparison from the Prius TE 2007 to the Prius 04 Model of 2013

[@TheQuietStorm6000]

Thank you!