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Rav4 Prime maintenance schedule?

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55K views 66 replies 32 participants last post by  FKHeath  
D
#1 ·
How's the maintenance on the Rav4P? Any owners get a chance to peruse the owner's manual?

I would like to know more about the maintenance schedule. I guess there are still oil changes every 10k miles? Any sort of fluid change/flush, including any differential fluids or coolant flush?

Regarding the engine, is there a timing belt or chain?

How about the plug in battery? Maintenance free?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Well, no belts to replace - not even a timing belt - so that's good.
No power steering pump, so no fluid changes or repairs.
Engine coolant is rated for 100K miles
Spark plug change is at 120K miles.
Inverter coolant is rated for 150K miles (listed in the footnotes, scheduled maintenance list actually stops at 120K miles)
Hybrid battery has 150k mile warranty covering repairs and defects, but "gradual capacity reduction" is not covered.

The following only show up in the "inspect the following..." section of the scheduled maintenance:
  • Automatic transmission (check for leaks) - transmission is sealed with lifetime (?) fluid
  • Brake fluid (check)
  • Engine/inverter coolant (check for leaks)
  • And all the other usual stuff: boots, exhaust, linkages, lines etc..
So for actual scheduled maintenance costs that leaves the following (not including high mileage items listed above or "replace as needed" items like 12V battery and wipers):
  • Tire replacement and rotation (probably largest maintenance cost)
  • Brake pads and disks (should last longer than normal due to regenerative braking)
  • Engine oil and filter
  • Engine air filter
  • Cabin air filter
  • ...and vacuuming the vent cover on the charger
If you're in Hawaii, there are some added costs for fuel additives.

Maintenance log is attached, starting on page 37. >>> Welcome to Toyota Hybrid world...
 

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#5 ·
Thanks for posting and sharing the maintenance guide. Seems like the RV4P is very low maintenance and is easy on the wallet, unlike my Lexus SUV that appears to be a money pit with maintenance. Oil change every 10k miles if using OW-16 (which I never knew it existed) and periodic tire rotations.
 
#3 ·
Toyota's website indicates that the RAV4 Prime gets free factory-recommended maintenance for the first two years or 20k miles (so I'm assuming oil changes, etc., in addition to the warranty stuff). "ToyotaCare covers normal factory scheduled maintenance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. ... 24-hour Roadside Assistance is also included for two years, unlimited mileage. ... Valid only in the continental U.S."

from 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime MPG & PriceW
 
#4 · (Edited)
cometguy said:
Toyota's website indicates that the RAV4 Prime gets free factory-recommended maintenance for the first two years or 20k miles (so I'm assuming oil changes, etc., in addition to the warranty stuff). "ToyotaCare covers normal factory scheduled maintenance for two years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first. ... 24-hour Roadside Assistance is also included for two years, unlimited mileage. ... Valid only in the continental U.S."

from 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime MPG & PriceW
Click to expand...
Yes, ToyotaCare is standard on all Toyotas. Which is probably why most Dealers will tell you to follow the 10k intervals for oil changes instead of the 5k intervals (recommended for harsh conditions). I think they're hoping they only have to do 2 oil changes under ToyotaCare.

At 5k miles I took my 2020 gas Rav4 in for an oil change, tire rotation, and a recall. Service advisor talked me out of the oil change (I forgot it was free) and then only pretended to rotate the tires. I noticed when I got home that the tar spot on the right, rear rim...was still on the right, rear rim.:mad:
 
#6 ·
When I wanted an oil change at 5k (nine years ago), I was told that you will only get 2 free oil changes with ToyotaCare. I waited until the 10k maintenance for the first oil change and it was just over 2 years for the 20k oil change and they made me pay for it because it was out of the coverage period.
I went poking around Toyota.com and found the Toyota care brochure here; https://www.toyota.com/content/ebrochure/toyotacare.pdf
“Covers normal factory-scheduled maintenance for 2 years or 25,000 miles, whichever comes first.”
What do you know. There are only 2 normal factory-scheduled (oil change) maintenances in 2 years or 25k miles. If you are operating in harsh conditions and are looking at 5k oil change maintenances, then they say that is not normal factory scheduled maintenance.

So now if I get my first oil change at 5k miles, there is the questions about how may of those 5k miles actually had the ICE been running for. I’m just going to follow the “normal factory-scheduled maintenance for 2 years (my low annual miles = once per year), then continue oil changes once per year.
 
S
#8 ·
With regards to the oil change how do you know when you have driven 10k miles using the engine? Of course you can use a trip meter each time you are in EV mode and then subtract that from the total milage displayed on the odometer but that is a real hassle. Does the maintenance light come on based on just engine driven miles to help you know when you need to change oil?
 
#9 ·
Nope, you can't easily keep track, unfortunately (although I bet Toyota can see exactly how long the ICE has run with their tools) - the vehicle pops up maintenance reminders based on total miles driven. I just took mine in for the first service (5k miles), and they did not change the oil. I'm ok with that because my guesstimation says I've only run the ICE maybe a quarter of those miles, if that. However, even if the ICE never ran, it's still a good idea to change the oil once per year (and I'll definitely hit 10k (if not 20k) miles within one year of ownership, as I just did 5k in 3 months. It's not only mileage-based, it's time-based too. Enjoy!
 
S
#10 ·
Honda does an oil life check. Here is a description "The on-board computer system continuously monitors engine operating conditions such as engine temperature, ambient temperature, vehicle use, speed, and time. The system will count down the vehicle's oil life based on these conditions to determine when an oil change is necessary." I'd like to think that this type of check can also be implemented by Toyota and in fact if they don't do it on the PHEV, it is a big shortcoming.
 
S
#14 ·
While I like the Rav4 Prime very much, I'm also considering the ID4. While Toyota has made giant strides in the maintenance area with much longer intervals between fluid changes, I'm still tired of all the routine maintenance with ICE. Again, I'm just so taken aback that with Toyota's technical prowess they have yet to implement an 'oil life' check system.
 
#16 ·
To summarize normal usage maintenance:

tire rotation 5,000 miles (this seems a little excessive with a 10K mile rotation more reasonable)
oil/filter - 10,000, miles
cabin air-filter 30,000 miles
engine air-filter 30,000 miles
vacuum under-seat charger vent 40,000 miles
replace coolant 100,000 miles and every 50,000 miles thereafter
replace sparkplugs 120,000 miles
brake fluid flush/check 2-years regardless of mileage
and "inspect" all of the usual items at each maintenance

This is the general industry schedule for these types of items.
 
#34 ·
RedhotRAV said:
To summarize normal usage maintenance:

tire rotation 5,000 miles (this seems a little excessive with a 10K mile rotation more reasonable)
oil/filter - 10,000, miles
cabin air-filter 30,000 miles
engine air-filter 30,000 miles
vacuum under-seat charger vent 40,000 miles
replace coolant 100,000 miles and every 50,000 miles thereafter
replace sparkplugs 120,000 miles
brake fluid flush/check 2-years regardless of mileage
and "inspect" all of the usual items at each maintenance

This is the general industry schedule for these types of items.
Click to expand...
can anyone point me to the source of this information? I thought it might be in a manual but I have yet to find it.
 
T
#17 ·
I'm around 4,500mi, just scheduled my 1st service and they said they don't change the oil. Initially I was unimpressed, got to thinking, I've only put 52 gallons in my R4P since new which means my ICE has probably only operated 1500-2000 miles of the 4500 so by the time I get to 10K miles ICE still likely in 3-5K runtime range. Fine by me.
 
#22 ·
If you show you understand that you only get 2 (normal schedule) oil changes during your Toyota Care, then I have gotten an oil charge at 5k. I learned quick when I thought about asking for 5k oil change on my first Toyota Gen II but didn’t. I was low on annual miles so I forgot to get my 2nd oil change before the 2 years end (no wiggle room). So now I always get my first free oil change at 5k.
 
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#23 ·
The oil change should be at 10K miles or 1 year. If you don't drive much you should get oil change at 1 year and another right before 2year, that is what I did on my sienna (fist at ~7k and second at ~15k). Now maybe you only drive 5k in a year then yes do oil change then
 
#24 ·
Old school suggests 1st oil change at 5k miles because it removes tiny left over metal particles from the manufacturing process. Who knows if that's true.
10k miles between changes (or 1 year) seems a long time to wait.
For me, spending the extra $60 for an additional oil change is worth it.
I keep my cars for 300k miles. The extra $3,600 I spend over the life of the car seems less expensive than buying a new car every 100k miles.
But that's just me.
 
C
#25 ·
I currently have an early gen 4 rav4 that my wife will be getting. It’s coming up on 140,000 miles and I’ve only ever followed Toyota’s maintenance schedule of every 10,000 miles that’s what I plan on continuing to do with it. It’s still in excellent condition.
 
J
#29 · (Edited)
I have always done my first oil change at 1.5 K miles. Ensures that any machining debris and fine mettalic dust gets removed. I also know its not Toyota recommended as per the service manual but a cheap ~50 dollar insurance for a vehicle that is costs 35K. To be that is a no brainer. After that I will follow the 10K / 12 month regimen.

Done that on all my vehicles and haven't had any issues.

Maybe another thing to do is do the oil change yourself. That way you get to know your vehicle a little more intimately.
 
S
#31 ·
With my 2016 CR-V I was told not to do the first change early (I think normal was 7,500mi) because of a special factory additive. I tend to mistrust dealership service and call BS on this but I was impressed by the service there and heard this from others too. I remember about this time seeing testing for penetrating additives that showed they extended protection for extreme conditions (so I did as advised) but haven't heard much about that since and I have seen nothing from Toyota to that effect.
 
#33 ·
And free tire rotation (USA), fluid top off, and give dealer opportunity to find something for fix for $$.
 
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W
#38 ·
Do you use the ICE for those short trips? If not, ignore that item. The maintenance schedule appears to ignore the fact that this is a plug-in hybrid. By the way, ToyotaCare include only 2 oil changes. If you fall under the "special operating conditions" for the more frequent oil changes, Toyota does not pay for them.
 
J
#40 ·
There is a flaw in all this: some things depend purely on time (fluids/belts that deteriorate with age), some depend on total mileage (tire rotations, wheel bearings, etc.), some depend on engine usage, and some depend on a combination of time and engine usage (oil changes, for example). The problem is that there is not obvious way to track engine usage.

If you drive mostly on EV mode, the only thing relevant for oil changes is time, If you drive mostly in HV mode then distance is the most important. They should make this "smart" with trackers for all three factors and a "maintenance" indicator that tells you what type of maintenance is due.
 
#41 ·
Jeffp25 said:
There is a flaw in all this: some things depend purely on time (fluids/belts that deteriorate with age), some depend on total mileage (tire rotations, wheel bearings, etc.), some depend on engine usage, and some depend on a combination of time and engine usage (oil changes, for example). The problem is that there is not obvious way to track engine usage.

If you drive mostly on EV mode, the only thing relevant for oil changes is time, If you drive mostly in HV mode then distance is the most important. They should make this "smart" with trackers for all three factors and a "maintenance" indicator that tells you what type of maintenance is due.
Click to expand...
agreed there.
 
#48 ·
Im bout to reach 30k and was poking round the maintenence schedule to see what im going to start doing myself. Now when I was deciding between this or the hybrid CR-v I was watching a lot of youtube reviews and a consistant thing was "round 80k, get your hvac serviced. Its important because HVAC maintains battery pack as well as cabin comfort." Ok fine. I cant find JACK anywhere about maintaining the HVAC. Tho I did notice that there are 2 coolant reservoirs, one for engine and one for inverter i think the manual said. Whats the deal? Is there a scheduled HVAC service or is it that coolant service? Or neither? I remember seeing a few times a report of "if you hit the front passenger fender (accident) dont drive till dealer can take a look." Sort of an achillies heel there is some module for the hvac system up there that if compromised can vent the r34a then battery isnt cooled etc etc etc. Regretfully my local dealer has fallen out of my trust im not really interested in asking them questions anymore. :/
 
#49 · (Edited)
The HVAC service at 80,000 says to "Fill air conditioner refrigerant." This is technically something you can do yourself. 2 out of 5 difficulty. You might want to evacuate the old refrigerant (legally requires recapture) then fill it with new refrigerant. I've done that process on a Honda CR-V (non-hybrid) after replacing the compressor. In the process I gave myself a very mild frostbite when compressed refrigerant leaked onto my glove, soaked the palm, and instantly froze. It wasn't fun. You might be able to find a service manual floating out there on the internet on how to do that for a RAV4 Prime. Perhaps a 2-day license to Toyota's service technician portal is worth it in this case.
 
P
#50 ·
I changed the oil at 40,000 miles - the 'maintenance required' message was not on. However that message did come on at about 41,000 miles. Which makes me think that perhaps the car does have some sort of system that determines oil change requirements based on oil quality/usage rather than simply odometer miles.
 
D
#54 ·
Has anyone compared the maintenance schedule of hybrid vs. prime side by side? Other than unique elements to the prime (like maybe heat pump HVAC system) does the prime just match the hybrid? I agree with others it would be more plugin specific routine was prescribed.

Right now I'm at 550 miles on odometer and use used 1/8th of a tank so far, so if I maintain that (unless I go on road trip) that would be around 4000 miles for first tank of gas, and would almost be due for oil change. That would be about 3 months.
 
W
#55 ·
I believe they are pretty much the same. Many Toyotas have the 5K tire rotation, 10K oil change schedule. Unless you are in the severe use category, the first oil change recommended by Toyota is a 10K. That is not to say that there are not other opinions on oil change intervals. There are several discussions that debate oil changes and when they should be done. No need to rehash those discussions here. The free maintenance that comes with the car provides for two oil changes. If the car falls into the severe use category, the extra oil changes are paid by the owner.

There are several reasons for maintaining the oil change interval on the Prime even though the ICE does not get used as much as in other hybrids:
  • 10K miles is near to a year for many people, and the minimum once a year oil change recommendation is there regardless of mileage.
  • Possible fuel contamination of oil due to short runs of the ICE. If the ICE is not run to fully warm, any fuel that leaks by the rings may not evaporate.
 
M
#56 ·
I recently purchased an ID4 and passed my RAV4 Prime to my wife. The 2023 ID4 has a usable range of 200miles. So it is great for in-town commute, chores, etc, and a occasional hike. But for our vacations we still take the RAV4P, which is also good for in-town, but can support an interstate trip without having to worry about charging. 2024 ID4 is better in terms of range and power, but it is not a game changer.
 
B
#60 ·
Brake fluid is in a sealed system so dirt and moisture contamination happens slowly. Most car makers don’t recommend a flush until at least 60k, unless there’s been a failure. No need for it now.

Fuel system flush is also unnecessary at this low mileage. You might ask - if it’s needed, then why isn’t it part of the free 30k miles Toyota maintenance?
 
F
#61 ·
1. VW, the second largest car maker in the world (or used to be) recommends changing the brake fluid very two years.
2. If you used Top Tier gas, as Toyota recommends (says so right in the owners manual), you should never need to do a fuel system cleaning.
3. The free scheduled maintenance is for two years or 25,000 miles. Not 30,000. ToyotaCare
 
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