Do I need to Change Oil

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Feb 28, 2021
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My 2012 Prius C has been parked in my garage for over 3 years. During this period, I started the car once every 3 - 4 months to check/charge the hybrid battery. Now I plan to take it out of garage and start to drive it daily soon. Do I really need to change the oil before driving? The oil was new before I parked the car, and still looks new (by color) now. BTW, I live in the Bay Area in California if it matters.
 
I would. But I'm a little OCD about my vehicles. I won't go a year even if I haven't put on a thousand miles on the odo.

If you don't do it immediately, consider doing it within a couple of months. Or don't, probably be ok if you left it in there.
 
Do you NEED to change it? Probably not, but it's cheap insurance. If you don't, maybe change it at 5k miles instead of 10k like it calls for.
 
I would check brakes, tires etc… and make sure that are up to par and then drive the car long enough to get the oil up to temperature and stay there for a little while to burn off any gas/moisture in the oil.

As some have said before, the oil just sitting in the pan doesn’t go bad, it’s the byproducts of combustion that does that
 
My 2012 Prius C has been parked in my garage for over 3 years. During this period, I started the car once every 3 - 4 months to check/charge the hybrid battery. Now I plan to take it out of garage and start to drive it daily soon. Do I really need to change the oil before driving? The oil was new before I parked the car, and still looks new (by color) now. BTW, I live in the Bay Area in California if it matters.
That oil needs to be changed ASAP.
 
It’s miles, not time that wears out oil. It’s the contaminants from the burned fuel that cause issues.

If the oil was new before you parked it, then check the tyre pressure and the battery charge, then drive on.
 
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