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What color is the Prius synthetic oil?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Beachnut, Sep 9, 2014.

  1. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Bowels of the engine.
     
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  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    image.jpg Fresh out of the bottle:
     
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  4. Beachnut

    Beachnut Member

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    Great minds think alike! Thank you for posting the picture of synth oil in a glass!! I did not see it before posting my idea below! That makes me feel much better seeing it IS a light brown color! Case closed IMHO,


    Well, as stated above, the toy Service department stated on their internal billing, it was synthetic oil. Maybe an easy to check would be to buy a quart of Toyota synthetic oil from the Toy dealership, stick a cleaned off dip stick into that quart of synth oil, and compare it to the engine oil color. I will try that next time I am up near my dealership, and photograph it to post here.... I would like to think, the dealership would not say it was synthetic, unless it was, especially running it 10K miles before my next change! To be continued...
     
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  5. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    That's fairly dark color.
    The bottle appearance/label looks different than I am expecting for US.
    Wonder if Toyota may have more than source which could result in different colors depending on source.

    Gotta get me a better graduated cylinder like you have
     
  6. pmike

    pmike Member

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    I just did the first oil change on my 2013 Prius Two (10,052mi). At 5k miles it was light brown, new oil is very difficult to see on dip stick. I will be sending my factory fill out for a used oil analysis (Blackstone Labs). I will start a thread when I get the results back.
     
  7. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I'm regretting using that graduate, it's one of my darkroom items, cleaned the crap out of it after. I do have a glass pickle jar with simple measurements marked. should have dug that up.

    The label is different than US, and the qty is liter. I'd actually prefer to purchase the stuff "on tap", if that would be possible. That's how the dealership dispenses it to their mechanics.

    It irks me putting so many oil soiled bottles into the recycle circuit. There are clean/recover methods, but they use a lot of energy and water. Purchase of oil in a reusable container bypasses the problem.

    At least my used oil now goes to recycle via a container I reuse.

    Virtually any oil looks near clear when new, on a dipstick. The differences become apparent when you have it in a clear container. I've got no qualms using the Toyota oil. It's readily available and reasonably priced for me.
     
  8. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    Most every synth I've seen has a golden amber color. The thicker the volume in a clear container, the darker it looks.
     
  9. Feri

    Feri Active Member

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    Here in Aus the dealer uses 10-w30 as mandated by Toyota. It is always clear on the dipstick when first filled. o-w20 in my friends 86 is the same. I suggest they have either used the wrong oil or not changed it at all and hence this is why they did it for free.
     
  10. qdllc

    qdllc Senior Member

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    Keep in mind that the inside of a motor is not clean. It takes very little time for pooled oil to turn a darker hue.