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First self oil change and analysis of old oil

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by rumpledoll, Jun 18, 2008.

  1. rumpledoll

    rumpledoll Member

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    2007 Red Std. (#7 package) Prius. First oil change was at the dealer at ~6000 miles. I do not actually know as my wife took care of the change.

    When the maint. req. light came on I got around to changing the unkown dealer oil at 12,600 miles - so the oil had around ~6000 miles on it. I put in Mobil 1 5W-30 with a Purolator filter. I also sent the unknown dealer oil for analysis. The analysis came back and it's OK, but not great. I suspect that the dealer did not put in 5W-30 but rather 5W-20 or the oil greatly sheared down - it's 100C cST is 8.69 - well into 20 weight range. The high copper and silicon certainly bear watching - hopefully the quality M1 5W-30 I put in will now slow this wear down.

    Given these numbers I am definitely changing out the Mobil 1 5W-30 I just put in in 5,000 miles and sending it in for analysis.


    Here are the numbers of the unknown dealer oil (universal averages in brackets [])

    ALUMINUM 6 [3]
    CHROMIUM 0 [0]
    IRON 14 [8]
    COPPER 12 [1]
    LEAD 1 [0]
    TIN 0 [0]
    MOLYBDENUM 82 [69]
    NICKEL 0 [0]
    SILVER 0 [0]
    TITANIUM 0 [0]
    POTASSIUM 2 [1]
    BORON 45 [53]
    SILICON 41 [14]
    SODIUM 3 [8]
    CALCIUM 2631 [2352]
    MAGNESIUM 14 [24]
    PHOSPHORUS 705 [643]
    ZINC 894 [763]
    BARIUM 1 [1]
    cSt Viscosity @ 100°C 8.69
    SUS Viscosity @ 210°F 54.7
    Flashpoint in °F 365
    Fuel % TR
    Antifreeze % 0
    Water % 0
    Insolubles %     0.5
    TBN 1.9
     
    #1 rumpledoll, Jun 18, 2008
  2. morpheusx

    morpheusx Professor Chaos

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    Considering your engine is new and is still breaking in I don't think you have a whole lot to worry about.
     
    #2 morpheusx, Jun 18, 2008
  3. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Not gettin' it. You spent so much money on a #7 package but won't spend a dime on taking care of it. I say not a dime because its obvious the first dealer change was free. But crappy vat oil the dealer uses isn't fit for a lawnmower. But then you spend money on oil analysis of crappy oil. Not gettin' it. Why didn't you just put Mobil 1 in the first place @ 5K then oil analysis is not even necessary? It takes alot more time, money and trouble to send off oil for analysis then outright just changing it with excellent quality oil. Sending off dealer vat oil for testing is...well......going to disappoint.
     
    #3 edthefox5, Jun 18, 2008
  4. GatorJZ

    GatorJZ Member

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    Ed, Ed, Ed. There are two reasons to have a UOA performed. First, the relative health of the oil in case you are interested in extended change intervals (I do NOT belong to that school). The second reason, and the only reason I have ever done, it is to get an idea of the health of the engine. Elevated levels of certain items can be a strong indicator of engine, lubricant and/or filtration issues. Also, ask your service department what bulk oil they are using. I'll bet you'd be surprised.
     
    #4 GatorJZ, Jun 19, 2008
  5. rumpledoll

    rumpledoll Member

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    Ding ding ding! We have a winner! I was curious as to how the engine is doing and what the dealer oil was like. Now I know. In 5,000 miles the Mobil 1 5W-30 will be changed and analyzed and I'll see how things are progressing. I found it interesting that the dealer oil was a 20 weight oil as measured after 6,000 miles. I wonder if it started out that way or if it sheared down to that weight.

    Rumple

     
    #5 rumpledoll, Jun 19, 2008
  6. FireEngineer

    FireEngineer Active Member

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    Don't be surprised by the cSt Viscosity of the Mobile 1 5W30 on your next oil change. From the bottle it's almost 20 weight.

    Wayne
     
    #6 FireEngineer, Jun 19, 2008
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    I'm very aware of the reasons for an UOA hence my post. It just made no sense to me to spend $$$ testing dealer bulk oil. Wouldn't it be smarter to put that test money into a quality oil to begin with instead of wondering exactly how bad is the oil the dealer put in? And considering extended intervals on poor quality dyno oil makes even less sense.
    Oh and the most important part is if you don't know what the virgin oil UOA was how can you distinguish anything from a test? How do you know if the minerals found weren't in the oil to begin with instead of coming from the motor. Universal numbers don't mean much when your dealing with the tiny percentage of minerals tested. A UOA test is not very accurate without a virgin sample especially when it comes to vat oil. Mobil 1 is different in that there is alot of virgin samples floating around here.
     
    #7 edthefox5, Jun 20, 2008
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