which is it 2967.2 km or as CAN-view say's only

Frank Hudon · 09-04-2006, 10:38 AM

4 liters of oil in my (now sold) Tundra V8 and 4 liters of oil in the Prius. Same trip, which was harder on the oil? Which ingested more air (contaminated or not) which ran the oil hotter thereby lowering the TBN? This car needs a oil change/maintance sender like Tideland said. One of the reasons it probably doesn't have one is the dealer would hardly ever see the car for maintance

David Beale · 09-04-2006, 12:05 PM

While "running burning fuel" is harder on oil than just "running", the Prius keeps the engine warm even when it's not needed, and the catylist action of the metal in the oil system along with the elevated temp. will cause oil degradation. How much can only be determined by testing. Short of that, I'd err on the conservative side and change the oil as recommended.

As far as the comparison with the Tundra, the worst thing for oil cleanliness is to not keep it at a nice warm constant temp. The Prius allows the ICE to start and stop a lot (to understate reality

), and my guess is this would be harder on oil cleanliness. That is, it would allow more contaminents to build up. It might not harm the oil, but the oil and contaminents would harm the engine more.

You can certainly add a fancy oil monitor system. They are available from industrial suppliers. Be sure you are sitting down when you ask for the price.

It might take a long time to recover that cost with oil savings, but Prius owners don't generally care about cost recovery. They are really reducing their footprint on the environment as their first priority, not saving money.

Frank Hudon · 09-04-2006, 01:09 PM

I'm going to follow Jayman's method and do a UOA on it just before the mileage for a change and see just how it's doing. And make a decision from that on how to proceed. As to aftermarket oil change senders I have put them in before, not in engines but transmissions on forklifts. David if I had to guess the average temperature of the ICE for this trip I'd guess 87C Just above thermostat opening temp which on this car is from observation 84C but I did see a couple of times that it was 96-97C

09-04-2006, 12:05 PM	#12
David Beale Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Edmonton Alberta Posts: 1,547 My Car: 2007 Prius Package: B Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	While "running burning fuel" is harder on oil than just "running", the Prius keeps the engine warm even when it's not needed, and the catylist action of the metal in the oil system along with the elevated temp. will cause oil degradation. How much can only be determined by testing. Short of that, I'd err on the conservative side and change the oil as recommended. As far as the comparison with the Tundra, the worst thing for oil cleanliness is to not keep it at a nice warm constant temp. The Prius allows the ICE to start and stop a lot (to understate reality ), and my guess is this would be harder on oil cleanliness. That is, it would allow more contaminents to build up. It might not harm the oil, but the oil and contaminents would harm the engine more. You can certainly add a fancy oil monitor system. They are available from industrial suppliers. Be sure you are sitting down when you ask for the price. It might take a long time to recover that cost with oil savings, but Prius owners don't generally care about cost recovery. They are really reducing their footprint on the environment as their first priority, not saving money. __________________ Edmonton Alberta "Pearl" is a 2007 Driftwood Pearl Prius.

09-04-2006, 01:09 PM	#13
Frank Hudon Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 4,144 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	I'm going to follow Jayman's method and do a UOA on it just before the mileage for a change and see just how it's doing. And make a decision from that on how to proceed. As to aftermarket oil change senders I have put them in before, not in engines but transmissions on forklifts. David if I had to guess the average temperature of the ICE for this trip I'd guess 87C Just above thermostat opening temp which on this car is from observation 84C but I did see a couple of times that it was 96-97C __________________ You can quote me on this, People who drive vehicles that idle at a traffic light, are idiots. mine 2k3 avg. 5.36 for 46,915Km Best tank 4.4L per 100K 64.2 Imperial 53.4 U.S. gallon, MiniScanner, SilverStars, block heater, winter lips, in as of Oct 15, out on April 25. In again on Sept. 21st. her's 2k4 "B" avg. 6.01 for 42,317 Km Best tank 4.02L per 100K, CAN-view with OBD11 module and flashloader, SilverStars, 06 Chrome grill bar, Michelin HydroEdge, upper and lower grill blocker,upper out as of April 7, lower out on April 28. In again on Sept 21st.

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09-04-2006, 10:38 AM	#11
Frank Hudon Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 4,144 My Car: Package: Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	4 liters of oil in my (now sold) Tundra V8 and 4 liters of oil in the Prius. Same trip, which was harder on the oil? Which ingested more air (contaminated or not) which ran the oil hotter thereby lowering the TBN? This car needs a oil change/maintance sender like Tideland said. One of the reasons it probably doesn't have one is the dealer would hardly ever see the car for maintance