2009 Prius Oil Type???

I spent time this morning on BITOG*, mostly to assure myself that the M1 I can buy cheaply at Walmart is a reasonable alternative to the 50% more expensive Toyota oil. I'm convinced that the Toyota oil is superior enough in the winter to justify it's cost, so here is what I plan from now on:

Toyota for Dec - February
M1 the remainder of the year

I live in a 4 season, but relatively mild climate. By that I mean it is rare for summer temps over 100F and rare for winter mins to be below 10F.

*Well, I read Caterham's posts anyway

 

I run Royal Purple 5W-30 Synthetic & last two tanks averaged 51 + mpg without using any hypermiling techniques.

I flow along w/ traffic except that I don't go over 80 mph, and use cruise control whenever safely possible.

When I used dino motor oil, the best I've ever recorded was 47 mpg.

Mobile-1: Best effort was 49.8 mpg

German Castrol (0w-30): Best effort 49.4 mpg

Royal Purple: Best so far is 51.4 mpg. Picture below does not reflect accurate mpg as I ran out of gas @ 586, drove 2 miles on battery until located a gas station, took 11.4 gallons to fill-up.
586/11.4= 51.4 mpg.

eBay has them for $87.95 for a case of 12 w/ FREE shipping.

I spend 3hrs & 98 miles on 91 fwy Mon thru Fri, so needless to say I get to hear my engine turning On/Off a great deal. Since the switch, engine sounds more effortless than anything I've ever used, and that little faint vibration from engine starting has completely disappeared.

 

Yes you are correct. There's a Prius owner on BITOG who sent his Toyota 0W-20 synthetic to Blackstone lab for analysis after 7500 miles & reports came back stating there's plenty viscosity remain in oil for more usage. Report also indicated that particular oil has higher than average amount of "MOLY" in it, which clings to metal surfaces therefore protecting it well & it is not cheap to manufacture, which justifies the 50% premium. You get what you pay for.

 

No one has mentioned the leak problem putting synthetic in older engines used to Dino. Working at a lube center we saw plenty of cars changed over to syn oil that started leaking almost immediately. The syn oil cleans up the glaze on the seals and goes right through. They say the syn has smaller molecules that causes the problem. Also the older cars were not set up for it. The new story is they have changed the syn oil and it doesn't happen any more. My experience is from 6 months ago so you decide. The Prius engine will last forever on plain old 5-30 so why spend the difference?

 

Here's the summary. There are so many differing opinions on this that this will never be solved. Let's face it, trying to convince each other to put aside their "oil change interval" bias and even brand bias just isn't gonna happen. We're all adults here and most of us are over 40. We're set in our ways. Change is tough. The bottom line for me is, do what your comfortable with but do not exceed the manufacturer's recommendations. If you want to change it every 3k, who is that hurting (noone except maybe your wallet but if you have the money, go for it)?

 

English is a funny beast. I take exceed to mean 'do more than Toyota recommends.' LOL

Your intent was clear though

 

edthefox5 to let you know i'v been using the Amsiol for over 20+ I started back in 1988 my Chevy Sprint 3 cylinder 1 liter engine. I changed the oil ever 50,000 miles, Yes I said 50,000!. That was using their extremely large bypass micron oil filter and their oil filter and oil soaked air filter. This is common in the trucking industry same goes for 250,000 coolant change intervals, they have coolant filters with galvanic anode installed and this was over 20+ years ago nothing special.
My car was at 236,000 when it got hit and totaled and still did not burn any oil, Oh yea after the filter and hose routing my 4 quart system became 9 quarts.
Unfortunately there is no room under the hood of a Prius to mount this setup, but you can mount the bypass micron filter any were on the car even back in the trunk to or under behind the rear bumper. Back then I used to drive just around 100,000 a year so doing oil changes was a constant hassle and time was more valuable then money.

 

Wow that's crazy but I know its true because I read it all the time over at Bitog. There all going 30K+ with no issue.

All right you sold me. I'm going to try Amsoil next go. I'm sending out my M1 @ 10,000 for uoa and then will try Amsoil and do same. Will post.

Thank you.

 

At the end of the day we will all go with what we believe is best.
However I can state I have used 0W20 synthetic oil in my 2008 since day one at 10,000 mile OCI. The car is now at over 95,000 miles on it with no oil use issues "no measurable drop in oil level on the dipstick at the 10,000 mile oil change point and no topping up". This is the oil recommended on the oil filler cap and in the handbook. It is also the recommended OCI in the UK.
It is also interesting to note that the new Auris hybrid that uses the same engine as the gen2 Prius also has the same Toyota OCI even in the US. The Toyota engineer in the video was not talking specifically about the Prius (since when did the Prius tick over for long periods and Toyota do not recommend towing with the Prius or even carrying heavy loads listing a very concervative maximum wieght limit). His comments about synthetic oil however are valid. The Prius is probably less demanding on it's oil than most other vehicles as compared with the same none Atkinson cycle engine both it's compression and power output are considerably less.

John (Britprius)

 

I'm going to go 10,000 miles on this latest M1 and UOA it.

Only thing that disturbs me John on my particular Prius is the fuel dilution. Its had a fuel stinky oil dipstick since new. Only reason I never go more than 5K. Never did a UOA on the motor just the trans.

I'm going to go the 10K and see how bad the fuel is on my car. Then no matter what the UOA says I am going to try Amsoil in the motor. I will adjust the OCI if the fuel is real bad though.
Too many fans raving about Amsoil to not try it.

Will post the UOA's.