Strange stuff on the oil dipstick

From your pictures it appears to me as if the oil is low.

 

I do not offer this opinion as definitive, and will not be insulted if any poster tells me I'm totally wrong. Because I could be.

But, from your pictures? That doesn't look like anything. I mean your oil might only have 200 miles on it, but the vehicle is 5 years old and has 108k. All engines over time produce an amount of contaminate that usually forms as sludge or varnish.

Since obviously, I'm judging from pictures and not "hands" on, I'd continue to monitor it.

I know some automotive dealerships, service centers offer an "engine flush" type of service that supposedly is designed to remove and reduce engine sludge. I've personally always been wary of such services as the cure seemed worse than the poison.

Again, I could be wrong. I'm far from a mechanic but engines are not anticeptic enviroments. Even though the oil you may of recently put in is "clean" with 105k on the engine it is quite possible the engine is not, and may have contaminates especially at the bottom.

 

That's a car that has been run on dynosaur oil its whole life. Dyno oil. Yuk. Most likely the crap vat oil you get at the dealer with dealer "Maintenance" contracts. Oil I wouldn't run in my lawnmower.

Go to the dealer and buy a factory oil filter for the Prius $4.

Go to the auto store and buy 4 quarts of Mobil 1 10-30 Full Synthetic $ 28.

Go back to your oil place and dump the crap thats in there and install your new stuff. Tell them to put only 3 1/2 quarts in please and take back the 1/2 quart. Stand there and watch them.

Repeat again at 5,000 miles. You will see a marked improvement in both how the engine runs and the look of the oil on the dipstick.
At that point your good to go for 10,000 mile oil change intervals. My oil dipstick at 5,000 miles looks like new oil compared to yours
and you just had an oil change.

I run the same as listed. Your dipstick has sluge on it and its just seen a new oil change. Not good.

Good Luck.

 

why would you have the oil changed again after 5 days? what kinda place was this?

 

not sure what you mean by 'normal'. if you could not tell if they did the first oil change, how do you know they did the second?

 

Yes its prob normal for dealer vat. This is the really bad by-product of "free" dealer oil changes. Of course there going to use the crappiest cheapest oil they have. And boy they got some crappy oil.

Most people couldn't care enough to look closely at the dipstick. You seem to care which is smart. I believe what your seeing is sludge which tends to be heavier and will show on the very bottom of the dipstick with the new oil laying on top of it.

I think sludge is especially bad for our engine as it employs an oil micro filter for the VVT intake camshaft timing system. The VVT system is driven by oil pressure. I have had that filter out and its a micro screen type and would seem easily clogged by a bad sludge issue. Poor oil pressure there and the intake camshaft timing would not work properly resulting in reduced performance. Although a severe clog would result in a CEL if VVT performance was severely affected.....but if you have a sludge issue I think its worth checking as a maintenance issue. You clearly seems interested in prolonging his car's health.

I did an indepth post about it with pictures of that filter and its location a few months ago. Search back my old posts.

The really cool thing about full synthetic oil is very dirty oil and sludge stays liquified in the oil. It helps in preventing it from breaking down from heat and burn onto the metal surface
so whn you dump the oil the dirt & sludge go out with it. So after moving to full syn it usually only takes one or 2 oil changes to de-sludge an engine.

You can tell how bad it is sludged if you get a flashlight and open the oil fill cap on the top of the engine. Look down the hole. There's a baffle right there. Should be perfectly pristine clean metal. Any burned in brown looking stuff anywhere in there and its a dyno oil engine.

 

If the OP only saw the brown stuff after the oil change and not before, then I have a hard time to blame it on the age of the car. I would think it must be the oil change. How about draining the oil to a clean container and inspect?

 

Hello new member and welcome to PriusChat.

First off, I say don't worry. I've worked in the shop at a Toyota dealer for six years and I've done all my own oil changes for 37 years. Your new oil is just cleaning the inside of your engine, as it should.

Edthefox5 could be right about changing to Mobil 1. That's one option. You can always buy the synthetic oil and then take it to the dealer. With all of your short trips, even if I was running full synthetic, I would still change the oil every six months. 10k miles would be about 2.5 years, and that's asking for trouble.

I recommend a different option because you drive so few miles and I suspect your engine frequently does not get fully warmed up. I suggest you change the oil and filter every 6 months regardless of the number of miles driven. I think the oil at the dealership or oil change place is fine, but I would always use a Toyota brand oil filter because of their high quality. If it's affordable, you could always buy high quality conventional oil (I like Valvoline and Castrol) and have your regular oil change place use it instead of the bulk oil. That would give you oil from a sealed container that has not been oxidizing or possibly getting contaminated in an unsealed tank. The point of more frequent oil changes is to drain out all the contaminants that don't get "burned" off because you engine does not always get fully warmed up.

You might find your Prius owner's manual considers short trips a severe use and also suggests 6 month oil changes for this use.

I do agree with edthefox5, and many others on PriusChat, about putting only 3.5 quart of oil in when doing an oil change. This is discussed in many places on PriusChat. It's 1.5 quarts between high and low on the dipstick. I add that last half quart to my Prius when the level drops two thirds of the way down to low. As you know, be sure the car is level and sat over night or is fully warm and set five minutes before checking the dipstick.

I also have a 2005 Prius. I love mine and I hope you'll have the same experience. Mine's at 85,000 miles. I bought mine at 63,000 mile in Dec of 2008, so I drive about 10K miles a year compared to about 4k miles a year that you drive. I use full synthetic like edthefox5, but I change every 6K to 7K because my car does short trips for about 2 weeks and then has a good freeway run to see family.

It sounds like your engine may have a little sludge. That's not preferred, but don't let it scare you and don't even consider an engine flush. My Mercedes technician friend always tells me "Let sleeping sludge lie". He says just change the oil more and it will slowly get cleaned out rather than breaking up in big chunks and clogging critical passages. And remember, many Pruis taxis have gone over 200k and even 300k miles. And you know that most taxi drivers and owners work on too small a margin to run full synthetic oil.

So, my take away is "Don't worry, be happy" and keep up the maintenance. Sounds like your doing good on checking the oil and water and brake fluid levels. Don't let a little sludge come between you and your Prius.

Happy Motoring, Dan

 

Dan again.

Let me tell you about my $600.00 Isuzu pickup I bought 5 years ago. It had been badly neglected and abused. I bought it at 100K miles. When I pulled the valve cover to adjust the valves I was shocked by the quantity of sludge. The entire inside of the engine looked like it had been undercoated. The sludge was at least one eighth of an inch thick.

I did the first oil change right after I bought it. I did the second at 1k miles and I've been doing them at 3k miles ever since. I've driven it 30k miles and it's always run well. Until I got the Prius, it was the best running vehicle I'd ever owned (always had old vehicles until the Prius). It's still going strong and only uses a quart of oil every 1.5 k miles. And yes, it still has lots of sludge. Only the sludge is "cleaner" now. Instead of being rough and gritty, it now smooth and shiny black.

Your three month oil changes should do well for you.

I ride a bike too. Don't worry about you 12v battery, ride your bike. The bike is great cardio for you and it's fun too. Just take the Prius on the highway for at least ten miles every two weeks. And if you have smart key, turn it off to save the 12v.

Don't worry, pedal your cares away, Dan

 

^ +1 on this.

Since you only bought it 7 months ago there could be some crude in the engine due to poor maintenance by the previous owner. Now you're doing more frequent oil changes it will clean up over time so don't worry, just keep on doing what you're doing.

As for the discoloration, it's probably an artifact of your short trip that the oil wasn't as fully mixed as it would normally be. Take that thing for a nice long weekend drive, fully warmed up with a bit of speed as well. Now check the oil again after that and you'll find it's a bit darker, but nice and uniform without any of those darker patches.

 

Yeah, as I originally posted, I think what I see is "nothing". I agree that it is probably just normal "sludge" build up from over 100K.

I'd never "fully" recommend someone totally ignore something based on looking at pictures on the internet. BUT..if it was me? I'd switch to a full synthetic, and just monitor it over the next few oil changes.

Following the advice, of frequent oil changes, and an occasional longer drive, you should see an improvement.

 

Looks ok, since you didn't do the servicing for 105k, it may have had extended drains. If you have the original records, and find out what exact oil the station used this time, you at least have some idea where you are.

In Nebraska I would use 0w-30 like Mobil 1, or Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30, not 10w-30. These will have a cleaning effect and over time I think you will see a better bottom of the stick.