New Owner, New to prius chat, Problem

[jh90206]

Hello everyone,
First I am a neophyte to forums. If I screw up on the mechanics of it, let me know, politely I hope. I purchased my prius mar 8, 2005. I have been reading the info on this site with glee. Thanks to all, I have learned alot about this high tech car. The first thing is after reading the posts on oil overfill, yep, I am one of those. I am going to call the dealer today to get that taken care of I hope. I measured 1/4 inch overfill both cold and warmed up with 5 mins drip time. 2 questions-do you folks think I will have future problems because of it? Question #2- should I put Mobil 1 in now or wait? Thanks for any advice.

jh90206

[Rick Grahn]

I had the same thing happen to me. My 05 had too much oil in it when I initially purchased it from the dealer. After about 300 miles (when I finally decided to check the oil level) I drained a little bit out...about 2 cups of oil. I have had no problems that I have noticed but the expert techs on this forum will be able to provide better thoughts re this.

I put Mobil 1 in at 1,000 miles. I am going to change the oil today for the second time...just reached 10,000 miles.

Love the car!

[CitizenjaQ]

Is Mobil 1 the only option for 0W30 oil? I have problems with Exxon-Mobil as a company and would rather not buy from them if there's another option that's as good, or even almost as good.

[prius mdt]

The overfull crankcase will not cause any long term problems. It may cause problems while the excess oil is in there. Do have it drained out to a proper level. I suggest to check your oil after letting someone else change your oil. This goes for ALL cars. People really should check their oil. Even in their lawn mowers! - Did I mention check your oil?

[efusco]

The Mobil 1 thing is completely up to you. Some say don't use it b/c the manual only recommends dino. Others say do so after 1000 miles, others 10. Me, I did decide to use Mobil 1 and switched to it at about 3k miles. I felt there might be extra 'gunk' early on due to the break-in and decided that the minor environmental advantage and theoretical engine life advantage made the switch to a high tech oil in a high tech car a good idea.

That said, my dealer, trying to be nice after some screw ups, changed my oil for free to a dino oil 2 weeks after I'd had it changed with Mobil 1. I left it in...I think it would be way more wasteful to dump 4 quarts of perfectly good oil just to make a stance.

I will go back to Mobil 1 at the next change in about a month, but it certainly isn't something worth wringing your hands over.

[jh90206]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(prius mdt\";p=\"73810)</div>

The overfull crankcase will not cause any long term problems.  - Did I mention check your oil?
[/b]

Thanks for the peace of mind about no permanent damage. It is great to have someone with your expertise available. Curious-do you drive a Prius?

jh90206

ps thanks to everyone else for your input. I will wait on the synthetic and research available brands and quality after more miles.

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CitizenjaQ\";p=\"73809)</div>

Is Mobil 1 the only option for 0W30 oil? [/b]

Good question!

Nope, there are choices out there for a synthetic or semi-synthetic 0W-30.

The Castrol Syntec 0W-30 is available at Wally World in the United States and Canada, and at most Canadian Tire stores in Canada. If you carefully examine the back of the bottle, it claims to meet all the European and Japanese approvals.

It also claims "Made In Germany" and is reported to be of very high quality. Some folks are a bit surprised that it comes out of the bottle green and smells like Gummi Bears. Note: do NOT try to drink, despite the Gummi Bear aroma!

Amsoil makes a 0W-30 as well, their Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30. They claim it can be used up to 1 year or 35,000 miles "if supported by a used oil analysis program."

In Canada, you can fairly easily find Esso XD-3 0W-30 at Esso bulk station dealers and some Wally World stores. The XD-3 is meant for use in HD diesel equipment like Kenworth trucks, so it doesn't even break a sweat in a tiny gasoline motor.

The real nice thing about XD-3 is the price. Here in Canada, at Canadian Tire the Mobil 1 5W-30 (Mobil 1 0W-30 is not available in Canada for some reason) is $7.99 a litre. The Castrol Syntec 0W-30 is $7.69 a litre. The Amsoil 0W-30 is $9.99 a litre. XD-3 0W-30 is $4.50 a litre.

As far as switching to synthetics, there are two schools of thought on when to do this: early - say at 1,000 miles - or later, say at 6,000 miles. FWIW every Toyota dealer service writer and Prius tech in Winnipeg I spoke to was *very* adamant about a minimum 10,000km break-in before using synthetic oil, with at least 5,000km on the factory oil.

Otherwise they claim you won't experience good performance and fuel economy. I believe KMO, a Prius owner in England, has also commented that over there a 16,000km break-in is required.

If you chose to use synthetics, then schedule your oil change interval to the maximum time/distance recommended by your service schedule while under warranty. You'll just be wasting money and causing environmental problems by changing the oil any sooner. Here in Canada, every 6 months or 8,000km (Approx 5,000 miles).

I hope this helps.

[bookrats]

Thanks folks!

BTW, one question (and apologies if it's answered somewhere else): outside of having a Fumoto valve installed on your car, what's the easiest, most convenient way to drain some oil out of your Prius? (I.e., without taking it back to the service department?)

From now on, I'm checking the oil every time it leaves the shop (thanks Don!).

[efusco]

someone found some tubing that attached fairly securely to a turkey baster that would also slip down the tube you check the level in. Just suck out a bit at a time and recheck....no muss, no fuss, minimal mess....no laying on your back.

[jayman]

Evan:

You can also get one of those "dipstick oil change" kits at Wally World, NAPA, Autozone, etc. The little plastic tube is tiny enough to stick down the dipstick tube, and you can easily siphon out the slight amount of oil you have to.