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I also posted this over at priuschat to get their impressions but I wanted to drop it here too to see what you guys think. I called my Toyota head mechanic today to get his impressions on an oil change and EBH install on my Prius...here's the post from priuschat I posted:
In anticipation of my first oil change at 5k miles (I'm at 3k right now) I wanted to pick the brain of my dealership head mechanic to see if this guy is the one I want maintaining my vehicle down the road. He was very patient answering all of my questions and even more patient when I pressed him for his thoughts on the following two topics. Let me know what you think...
#1 Oil Change - I told him I wanted to know what oil they use on a standard Prius oil change and that I would be interested in using Mobil 1 Syn 0w20. The dealership uses Valvoline 5w30 as their standard choice of oil for the Prius.
He said "because of impact loading especially at starts and stops that the 0w20 is not recommended for the Prius." He even went as far to say that if there was ever any engine problems with my car that a lookup of past maintenance noting the use of 0w20 that my warranty could be affected (this was one area I pressed him hard about because it lit a fire under my tail...these guys will do anything to void a warranty...ridiculous). He said that using any oil not recommended by Toyota could affect the warranty.
#2 Engine Block Heater - My main purpose of this question was to see what they would charge to install one as I really don't want to get into doing it myself. He stated "We've never installed one on a Prius and unless you're in 0 degree weather you really don't need one." He went on to say that "the EBH would only keep the engine at about 25 degrees in 0 degree weather" and that "the engine coolant dump system in the Prius is sufficient and an EBH is not necessary."
He didn't even know what to quote me as a price because he said he would have to drain the entire coolant system when installing the EBH (he was patient with me but this one also got me fired up). He said it could be up to a 2 hour procedure and without ever doing it before it could be pricey. I told him I could give him step by step instructions from this site to do it and he still could not quote me a price. Maybe a trip down there with instructions in hand would get him closer to quoting me a price.
My EBH is on order and should arrive in the next week or two so before my 5k service is due I'd like to have a good oil change and EBH plan in place.
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