What oil do you use in your Prius?

Mobil-1 in the specified weight with 5000 mile changes. Longer change periods may jeopardize your warranty.

 

I always liked Mobil 1. what weight are you using? 0w-20?

 

If you like Mobil-1 then stick with it. Their filters are good too. If you look hard enough you will find that the M-1 filters go on sale frequently at Advance Autoparts in the $8 neighborhood from their normal price of the $12 range, I really like the Purulator Pure One filters myself though. My Walmart sells the 5 quart jug of Mobil1 for about $21 I usually buy Castrol Syntec because its usually just a tad cheaper.

As far as extending the oil change interval, I agree that with a quality synthetic oil you can extend the oil change interval, but while the car is in warranty it is probably best to follow the specified intervals just to cover your a$$ in case you did need warranty work done. But as soon as I'm out of the engine warranty I will be extending mine to 10,000 miles.

 

found this article about toyota now saying 5-20 or lower is being used and recommended.
Ford, Honda, Toyota and Daimler-Chrysler specify 5W-20 or 0W-20 motor oil for most gas engine powered cars and light trucks.

Technical Information About 5W-20 Motor Oil

 

Use what the factory recomends and change at the specified intervals.
Viscosity depends on outside temperatures, there is a page about it in your owners book.
I use genuine filters. I use Valvoline filters on older vehicles.

 

I take mine to the dealer for service, including oil changes. I do get the synthetic oil that they sell at the dealership though, but I change it every 4 to 5 thousand miles.

 

In my '04, Amsoil 0W30 changing every 10,000 miles. Currently at 86,000 miles. I've never needed to add between changes. It may drop about a cup between changes.

PA P

 

Besides the japanese owners manual, does anyone else have documentation that 0w20 is safe to use in the Prius?

I know there is a TSB about the use of 0w20 oil, but I believe it specifically mentioned the Prius was not one of the engines approved for 0w20 engine oil....

 

Outside of North America that is true, but within North America the API and car makers have a blanket spec for either a 5W-30 or a 5W-20. No matter if that vehicle may see operating temps of -40 C or +40 C

I have previously posted owner manual scans from Japan and Spain. I would appreciate it if you could scan and post the relavent Toyota Australia maintenance page

Thanks

 

Ah yes, technical facts from the website of an oil company trying to sell you their product :_>

Don't second-guess the engine's design engineers. They require 5W-30 and a 5000 miles/six months interval. Do that.

 

I've noticed our 2007 Camry CE 4 cylinder shows 5W-20 on the oil cap? its had 10W-30 put in it...should i go back to whats on the cap?

 

I used to change the oil etc on my cars in the past.
But the Prius Toyota dear has free oil changes, I pay for tire rotations and get toyota dealer to stamp my maintenance book it's all good.
:mullet:

 

Richard

Unless you live in the EU, in which case the "design engineers" require a wide range of oils from 5W-30 to 20W-50, with 5W-30 being preferred. They also *require* a 12 month or 10,000 mile oil change interval running ACEA oils

I frequently travel to the EU on business. The most common viscosity oil in the EU is an xW-40, such as 0W-40 or 5W-40. As the EU market Prius is "allowed" to run a 15W-40, another very common viscosity in the EU and especially Australia, the 5W-40 and 0W-40 meet that requirement

Different markets have different oils. Around 10 years ago I was in Johannesburg, South Africa. Stopped at a Toyota dealer there to look at Land Cruiser models not available in North America. Happened to swing by their service department and the only motor oils they had were 15W-40 and 20W-50

Outside of North America and Japan, an xW-20 is simply unheard of. The same Ford or Honda that here "requires" a 5W-20/0W-20 will in South Africa or Australia spec a 10W-30, 15W-40, or 20W-50. For the same motor

A lot of the confusion about motor oils in North America has come from the API, which has absolute bottom feeder crap requirements, and also promotes the oil industry. I have frequently posted on this fact, IMHO it is a conflict of interest that a "standards" organization sets the specs and promotes the industry

Consider that even the current API SM/ILSAC GF-4 will allow an oil to "pass" if it allows: cold stuck rings, cold black sludge, crown land fill, ring land fill, and oil gellation the engine makers consider a "warning" level

Consider that ACEA spec oils, especially the A3,B3/B4 rated oils, have strict requirements to prevent the above. The ACEA is made up of engine makers, not oil companies, and there is no legal weeny print that prevents a car maker from demanding a certain grade of oil

Which is why auto makers in the EU can offer routine 12 month or 10,000 mile oil change intervals, at a minimum. Many offer 18 month or 18,000 mile oil change intervals. Most VW and GM/Opel models now offer 24 month or 30,000 mile oil change intervals

That must sound horrifying to a person raised on 3 month/3,000 mile oil change intervals. Unless you have travelled outside of North America, you probably wouldn't believe it

Much as the forum members from the EU have a hard time believing we change our oil every 6 months or 5,000 miles, if not sooner

 

You must have had the car serviced at an Iffy Loob. I doubt the Toyota dealer would have put in 10W-30, as they received the TSB about proper oil viscosity

Living where you are in California, I highly doubt the 10W-30 will make any difference. Unless it was a bulk no-name oil from the Iffy Loob, in which case it could have very high sulfur, sodium, and trace contamination

 

Jayman, do you import non-crap oils from Europe or Japan for use in your Prius, or are non-crap non-US oils freely available in Canada? I wish you luck if you ever find yourself in an argument with Toyota about whether you've respected their North America warranty requirements.

 

You should read up on what a "warranty requirement" is. Hint: there is no "warranty requirement" to use 5W30 oil.

 

In case any members participating in this string have not seen the Toyota TSBs regarding oil viscosity, I attached them here. TSB EG018-06 contains the following note regarding the use of 0W-20 and 5W-20 oil:

"DO NOT use these oils in engines other than those listed above. These low–viscosity oils cannot maintain lubrication effectiveness in engines with older designs and could result in smoke emissions from the tailpipe and/or unusual engine noise."​

In case you are wondering, the Prius engine is not listed as one that qualifies for use of 20-weight engine oil in North America. Its interesting that this oil is qualified in Japan but consider that the climate there may not be as hot as you can find in the southwestern US.​

Some members live in northern latitudes, use oil-testing services, and have concluded that thinner oils meet their lubrication requirements. This is fine.​

If you use oil heavier than 5W-30, this will cause no damage to the engine but you might have cold start problems, per TSB EG050-04 and EG011-03.​

If you live in the Nevada or Arizona desert, face extremely high summer temps, drive at high speeds, and do not use an oil-testing service, I think you are taking an unnecessary risk by using oil thinner than 5W-30.​

 

so, what happens with your car warranty when you change the oil yourself?

what do you need to prove that you changed the oil yourself so that you do not void your warranty?

 

Richard

I'm not trying to get into an arguement with you

There are plenty of "non crap" oils out there. Consider that Mobil 1 0W-20 meets ACEA A1/B1 service specs. Mobil 1 0W-30 meets ACEA A1/A5 and B1/B5 specs. This specifically covers extended oil changes, which in the EU means up to 24 months or 30,000 miles

Mobil 1 0W-40 meets the toughest ACEA specs: A3, B3/B4. This covers very severe operating conditions, and extended oil change intervals

All the above Mobil 1 viscosity grades, in addition to 5W-30 and 10W-30, I can easily purchase at various places in Winnipeg. Wally World carries the most popular Mobil 1 viscosity, Parts Source carries the rest. All are priced the same, around $8.99 a litre.

Even the "best" Mobil 1, the 0W-40, is priced the same as the regular 5W-30. Due to oil analysis reports, I am running the 0W-40 in my FJ

You may not recall, but when I first sampled the oil in my then-new Prius, after a couple of dealer oil changes, I had very very odd results. The oil had done poorly, with excessive sulfur and sodium. A mistake on my part was that I sampled the oil *after* I had switched to Mobil 1 0W-30

I mentioned the oil sample results to the dealer, who forwarded it off to Toyota Canada. Guess what? I received a pretty nasty letter from Toyota Canada, in essence blaming my use of Mobil 1 for the terrible analysis, that my warranty might be void by using a "not recommended viscosity and grade" and so forth

So I chased a lot of dead ends, including virgin samples from the same lots of Mobil 1 I used in the Prius. All that sampling cost me around $120.

I then called Mobil, expressed my concerns, and they wanted to see a copy of that Toyota Canada letter. They also wanted more oil samples, which they paid for. They even reimbursed me for the previous samples!

I received a certified letter from Mobil, stating that they would stand behind me 100% if in fact their oil had caused any damage to my Prius. They assigned an engineer to my case, who called me several times

He then suggested I try to obtain a virgin sample of the dealer oil, which the dealer very readily agreed to. They have a bulk lube system, the oil is delivered by tanker truck and put into a 500 litre tote bin

Well, problem found and solved. The mystery dealer bulk oil was real crap, and heavily contaminated at that with moisture, dirt (Si), even iron. Wonder how well the tank truck was cleaned out, perhaps they delivered tar before picking up the bulk cheap-nice person lube oil

Mobil directly contacted Toyota, and they suddenly shut up. Imagine that. They were quite fiesty up to that point, in effect telling me "TFB you're SOL so KMA" but when it turned out to be THEIR error, they shut up. Pronto

I inspected the bulk lube system, as I have experience on the industrial side. It's quite standard to have a desiccant breather system on a lube tank, the dealerhship just had a simple inverted pipe with a screen. Why wouldn't it become contaminated?

Ever since that event, I have regularly submitted my used oil analysis reports back to Toyota, with not one word in return. They probably think I'm some sort of hard-nice person. Well, TFB. They were pretty eager to give me a hard time over oil, they had better not complain I gave it back to them

If you wish, I can either point you to previous posts, or resubmit sources, on how crap the North American API oil spec is. That includes official API source documents too. Let me know

I'm still curious how a person will simply "accept" the far different standards regarding oil viscosity, oil quality, and oil service intervals, without at least asking a few "Wth?" questions

jay