Adventurous? You can change your 2010+ Prii’s oil fairly easily. You’ll need 5 quarts of synthetic 0w20 oil, an oil filter (we recommend Toyota OEM), a 14mm wrench, a small screwdriver, a special tool to remove the oil filter housing (like this), a drain pan, a jack, jackstands and a DIY spirit. Here’s the scoop:
Start by lifting the front of the vehicle and support it with jackstands. Don’t climb under a vehicle while it’s on a jack alone. Remove the three clips (dotted yellow in the photo) to gain access to the oil filter and oil drain:
Remove the three clips. Pull out the center section (sometimes prying with a small screwdriver is required), then remove the clips. They look like this:
Here’s what the access panel looks like open:
Note the drain plug and the oil filter cartridge are now easy visible. Fit your special oil filter cartridge removal tool:
Here’s what it looks like on the cartridge for the filter:
Using a wrench, loosen the cartridge housing (counterclockwise). Have your drain pan ready – oil will being to drain out. Let it all drain out before you proceed with complete removal:
Remove the filter and O-ring from the oil filter cartridge:
Install the new oil filter and O-ring. Note the location of the new O-ring as indicated by the screwdriver – anyplace but this will result in a large oil leak:
Reinstall the oil filter cartridge. Tighten sufficiently so as to prevent a leak, but not so much as to make it impossible to remove next time around.
Drain the oil. The oil drain is a 14mm:
Inspect the oil drain gasket while the oil drains – the crush gasket requires replacement if the sealing surface is mushroomed out. This gasket does not require replacement:
Once the drain has been reinstalled, fill the oil with 4.6 quarts of your choice 0w20. Congratulations, you just changed your own oil!
For those who wish to avoid the mess, CARspec offers a fully synthetic oil change on 2010+ Prii models for $44.95. This includes tire pressure and tread check as well as checking and filling all fluids.
