engine oil choices

No need to change the oil every 3000 miles. The Prius ICE never overheats, produces 76 hp, and peaks at 5000 rpms. The recommended interval of 5000 miles should be just fine.

The synthetic vs. dino oil topic has been discussed ad nauseam in this forum. It boils down to "use whatever you want". I use 5W-30 dino oil, which is what the car came with.

 

ellisfam2,

I encourage your inclination to put that 0-30 (Amsoil?) in your new car. Don't waste the oil that came in it, just replace it when the time comes. It is logical that the reduced viscosity will help to increase your FE. And with a quality synthetic you can run it all year round. Once you get beyond your warranty, if you also use a quality filter you can go for 20-25,000 miles or one year between changes, thereby substantially decreasing your personal use of petroleum product.

If you develop any concerns about it, get the oil tested every 5000 miles.

Shortly after I got my new '05 home I found that it was ovefilled by 16 ozs, which I immediately corrected. (Have you checked the oil level in your own crankcase?) I've run 0-30 W for almost 8,000 miles now.

I say, "Go for it!"

storm petrol

 

welcome! you'll find a wealth of info here on the site. just wanted to point out, you can search for any topic you might have a question about using the handy search feature on the top right of the page.

ya, 3000 mi is too early for your first oil change. specified interval is 5k. we switched over to syn at 1k miles (hubby is picky) and haven't seen any appreciable increase or decrease in mpg because of it.

0w30 would probably be fine in winter, we have a couple canadian prius drivers that also use 0w30. i'd stick with 5w30 in the summer.

 

I was told by an aircraft mechanic that one quart of synthetic mixed in with the regular dino oil has all the benefits of all synthetic. He wasn't changing my oil at the time, so I believe him. I've been doing that for the past several years, but I guess you wouldn't really know the difference unless you tested 2 engines and then examined them for wear.

 

Half by mistake I bought a case of 0-30 mobil 1 instead of 5-30,
but then figured it was winter so lower vis won't hurt anything.
So I simply made a blend for my last change -- mostly 0-30 with
like a quart of 5-30, and as I get into warmer weather and the next
change I'll increase the proportion of 5-30.
.
Physically, I could tell that one was *very* slightly less viscous
than the other just from the way they poured at the same temperature.
But the difference seems really minor.
.
_H*

 

It's been routinely near zero here this winter and I've been very happy with the 5-30 Mobil 1 I've put in my Prius. Engine noise is still minimal even on the very few occasions I've forgotten to plug in the block heater. I switched over from dino to synthetic at 5200 miles and never looked back. I'll be due for an oil change some time in the next two months, at 10,200 miles.

 

If you want, you can search the Care forum for the post I made about my used oil analysis on my '04 Prius. Don’t change the oil every 3,000, every 5,000 is quite fine. The motor is very easy on oil, if you run Mobil 1. The Prius in the EU has a 12 month or 10,000 mile oil change interval

I ran 0W-30 last summer, with negligible wear results. This winter I’m running Mobil 1 0W-20, and have seen a tank average +5 MPG improvement. I’m curious to see what effect the lighter oil will have on wear metals, I anticipate the same or slightly lower, due to lower friction.

The dealer mystery bulk 5W-30 was entirely different. I had a strange high Na level that was difficult to track down, until I did a virgin sample of the dealer oil. Very poor quality nasty stuff.

 

I use Mobil 1 5W-30 year round because of the convenience. I fully expect 0W-30 is better in winter.

When I had a diesel, 0W-30 had to go in for winter. Car would often not start with 5W-30 when cold weather around 0 deg F hit. 0W-30 I was able to start the diesel sometimes at 10 below.
Below that I had to get out the block heater.

 

jayman,

Thanks for the info. Please keep us updated on your results. Is anybody else out there using 0W-20? I never even heard of it til lately.

Joeh4

 

There are probably millions of Ford's and Honda's out there that could run Mobil 1 0W-20 year round. It claims right on the bottle to exceed the Ford/Honda 5W-20 requirements.

I think Mobil 1 0W-20 has been around for a few years. It was discontinued in the U.S. but is still available in Canada. I got mine at a Canadian Tire on Fermor here in Winnipeg.

I think the whole issue of using an xW-20 is way overblown. A lot of folks thought motors would explode when car makers started to specify 5W-30 for year round use. When Honda and Ford, and Mazda too, specified a 5W-20 for year round use, folks also thought motors would explode. Not too much of that happening.

Common sense applies here. It makes sense that - at the very least - expected ambient temperature should have a role in what viscosity you use. Driving in the outback of Australia, a 5W-40 or 15W-40 is probably prudent, and Toyota Australia recommends a 15W-40 in most of their gasoline engines.

At -30 C and colder in winter, like where I live, a conventional 5W-30 is *too* thick to safely use. A conventional 10W-30 is solid and the motor won't even crank. During the cold snap last winter, with several weeks of consistent -40 temps, quite a few motors had blown front seals.

I've always used the lightest synthetic oil I could find for winter use. I first tried the Mobil 1 0W-20 in my old Ford F-150 last winter, at the hobby farm, with great results. The 302 didn't blow up either.



Oh, looks like they brought it back. Hmmm.

http://www.mobil1.com/USA-English/MotorOil...il_1_0W-20.aspx

 

jayman,

So if your results come out good with the 0W-20 there would be no reason to use the 0W-30 during the summer, rather one could use the 0W-20 all year around. From looking at the specs perhaps it wouldn't show quite the MPG improvement during our Illinois winters as to your Alberta winters but I would suspect it would still be an improvement. (It just doesn't get to -53F very often...though I've seen it close a couple times in my lifetime.)
When will your test results from the 0W-20 run be done?
Once again appreciate this info very much! By the way, did any engines really blow up?
Thanks much!!!


Joe

 

Joe:

I find it interesting that when Mobil re-released their 0W-20, they claim it should be used in Toyota hybrids as well. A xW-20 will keep "borderline" boundary film lubrication, and a stable oil like Mobil 1 shouldn't shear at high temps. I think the worry over the "water thin" oils are based on old wives tales.

A new motor, especially one assembled in a modern automated process with tight clearances, would benefit most from an xW-20 in city driving, where normal temps are seldem reached. I was quite surprised at the difference Mobil 1 0W-20 made in my winter city fuel economy. Though it's possible 50% of the gain is the oil and 50% is the winter front.

Note: my highway fuel economy appears unaffected, which I expected. I anticipated the most gain during warm-up and low speed, cold temp operation.

I should have around 8,500km on the 0W-20 towards the end of this month, I'll sample and change to either Mobil 1 5W-30 or Mobil 1 0W-30 for now. I'm also curious what effect - if any - the 0W-20 will have on wear metals.

Oh, I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba. I don't live in the province of Alberta. We can actually get quite a bit colder here than Alberta, though this winter was mild until Feb.

jay