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Oil change from other than Toyota?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Garmy, Aug 14, 2009.

  1. a64pilot

    a64pilot Active Member

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    You can't by any means that I know of short of sampling it and having it tested, but it's less expensive and easier to simply change it.
     
  2. a64pilot

    a64pilot Active Member

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    Jayman,
    I had been told that 0 weight oil had the same viscosity as water, that water was the low end "benchmark" of the scale. Apparently that's not true, didn't think it was that simple, but didn't know.
     
  3. jayman

    jayman Senior Member

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    Agreed. The cost of doing a detailed FT-IR just to determine what sort of oil you had put in - a test that goes WAY beyond a usual oil analysis report - would cost far in excess of just dumping the oil and filter, and putting in new. Like, $1,500 and up for those detailed sort of tests!

    Not sure who fed you that line. The SAE J300 has the reference test values required, eg: a 30 oil must test 9.3-12.5 centiStokes at +100 C, using the documented ASTM test kinematic procedure I mentioned, to be called a 30 oil

    The ASTM is the repository of the detailed test procedures. Reference oils are used as comparison, and water isn't one of the reference oils.

    But thats ok, it was good for a laugh
     
  4. philobeddoe

    philobeddoe ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

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    can't be done



    fwiw, there is no appreciable difference between the 0W-30 and the 0W-20

    most manufacturers went from 10W-40 to 5W-30 over the past decade,
    tighter tolerances plus stretched across an entire fleet marginal and even microscopic improvements in mileage can make a difference

    as for the movement to 0W-20, occurring now with most manufacturers, thin oil, with marginal spreads from the first to the last number, are the current "thing"

    nevertheless, the Toyo dealer told me to use whatever cheap oil is in spec and that my Prius would like it all just fine,

    regardless, it came with Synthetic from the factory, and that's what I feed it

    it gets Amsoil SSO 0W-30
    in pinch, i subbed in Mobil 0W-20, but my Amsoil shipment came in yesterday, and it's back to the 0W-30
    my ex's car got a batch of Peak 5W-30 dino oil, because the cupboard was bare, but again, the shipment came in, and it will be switched at the next interval

    again, no appreciable difference between the 0W-30 and the 0W-20
    i haven't done any oil changes on a 2010 yet, but i'll start looking for canister filters tomorrow ... i'm sure there's a bountiful supply, and wouldn't be surprised if it's the exact same canister filter on my Kawasaki ... which is available from Pep Boys (purolator) and Amsoil (wix)

    good luck, and if anyone in Los Angeles needs a hand with oil or oil changes, shoot me a PM :thumb:
     
  5. lplate

    lplate New Member

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    AMSOIL has had it for years and it out-performs Mobil 1.
     
  6. PeaceRose

    PeaceRose New Member

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    I took mine to Wal Mart once and it was fine