In your opinion what are the best longevity things to do

Not that I know of. I'm not sure of your point though. I don't see spec'ing a weight that's only available in synth to be a statement that you must use synthetic. Conflation?

FWIW Toyota Australia Owner's Manual show a full gamut of weights for 3rd gen.

 

0W-20 IS synthetic. You can use 5W-20 conventional, but it's not really recommended.

Use ILSAC GF-5 0W-20 engine oil and a good filter (I prefer Toyota brand filters) and you should be fine.

 

You might want to search the Gen 3 threads. This was discussed in this forum a long time ago. At the time (maybe still true) a 0W oil was not available in a non-synthetic. I'm not about to put anything but synthetic in my car so I'm not going to waste my time researching this further.

 

Yeah, I'm just noting that Toyota is not on record saying you must use synthetic. No worries.

 

"Change the oil and oil filter every 5,000 mi"
That would be OK if it is 5,000 engine miles, but we don't have a way to determine that. My Prime's engine runs a small fraction of the total miles; I'm sticking with 10k car miles.

"My owners manual says ILSAC GF-5 engine oil"
GF-5 has been superceded by GF-6A. API Service Category SN has been superceded by SP. 0W-20 remains the spec'ed viscosity.

 

In certain circumstances I would go with yearly/10k-miles oil changes. But the great majority of people don't drive in those circumstances. But yes, a Prime you hardly ever use the ICE on probably doesn't need the oil changed every 6 months.

 

This char makes no sense to me because I had 15W50 and a Prius and it 32° f oil pressure was so high it blew the oil sending unit right out of the back of the motor. How does Toyota expect you to use a 20w50 that temperatures down to 20°f?

 

Why were you using 15W50; trying to curb oil consumption, racing, experimenting? Was the engine high miles?

Out of my depth, but looking it up, common cause of high oil pressure is clogged oil filter.

 

If you drive it daily year-round in an area that uses a lot of salt during winter, the body will last 15-20 seasons from new.

Closer to 20 with more washing/waxing/rustproofing. Closer to 15 without.

 

If you drive it daily year-round in an area that uses a lot of salt during winter, the body will last 15-20 seasons from new.

Closer to 20 with more washing/waxing/rustproofing. Closer to 15 without.

 

Was trying to squeeze some life out an oil burning Prius engine w stuck rings. Didn't mind if it self destructed from thick oil. Just trying to not dump oil in it. Knew that when it was done I'd change the whole motor out. Point is the oil pressure was so high at 32 Fahrenheit with 15w50 that it makes that chart look like an outright lie where it says that 20W50 can be used down the 20 Fahrenheit

 

The dealer isn't any better than a Jiffy Lube. Toyota's heavy duty oil change interval is 5000 miles in the US

The primary oil viscosity(that printed on the oil cap) is a 0W-x. The nature of oil and the additives means that a 0W-x conventional oil isn't possible.

Seems the 10k mile oil interval in the US is just with engines where synthetic oil(0W20 in the article) is required. Toyota says to stay with the 5000 mile interval with a synthetic in an engine that normally uses conventional.
https://support.toyota.com/s/article/What-are-the-oil-chan-7604?language=en_US
Austrailia's interval is 10km, little over 6000 miles.

 

My manual says about that, except it recommends to do 5,000/6month oil changes if I drive in cold weather, city driving, drive in the mountains, on short trips, tow, etc. 10,000 oil changes are for those that both use synthetic and cruise long distances on the highway in warm weather.

 

This is an interesting observation. I don’t seem to see a rusted Prius very often. Is there any reason to think the Prius is built differently to better prevent rust? Or does it reflect that people who own a Prius treat their car better?

 

This just reflects my experience with average Japanese-made cars used in the Northeast USA for most or all of their lives.

I don't think they'll rust much different than a Corolla or an Outback or an Altima.

There aren't many Priuseses of that vintage still on the road, both because sales were low in the beginning and many were retired for other reasons between the 15 and 20 year mark.

 

The rust problem does not have to be in the visible part of the car. The car may look fine and run OK with having major components rusting away. That being said, my daughter's family car is Gen2 Prius (circa 2008) driven all its history in North East. I don't know what ODO reading is on her, but over 100k miles for sure. AFAIK, it is still on the original traction battery and certainly on the original engine. The car runs fine... but the rear fender wheel well has rusted through. It doesn't look too bad, but if you poke your finger, it crumbles.

Do you think it happens only to Japanese cars? I never owned European cars, so I don't know. But for US domestic cars, the powertrain or other critical components of the car don't last long enough to see rust becoming a problem before the car needs to be replaced. The longest we have owned are Ford Taurus or Dodge Grand Caravan. But neither of them made 100kmiles I think... Rust was not a problem because they were less than 10 years old.

We recently got rid of the 2014 Nissan Pathfinder Hybrid. The car was a 5-year-old used car when we bought it. It spent all its time in NE. Regardless to say, the underside of the car was very rusty already at the time of purchase. Even though I did apply underbody Fluid Film, the exhaust pipe corrosion could not be prevented. It needed a new pipe for a cost of ~$3K, but I opted to patch it up for $200. I just know this is going to be a recurring problem on this car from now on. That patched pipe will last a few years at most. I have had most of our cars older than 10 years suffer recurring exhaust corrosion problems in the past.



I just don't think trying to keep the car going beyond 10 years in our climate is a sound investment anymore. For me, it is better to switch cars every 3 years and never worry about repair bills, and it has been financially rewarding doing that for the last 5 new cars I have purchased.

EDIT TO ADD:
I don't know where the OP lives. If he lives in the no-salt region of the country, then my advice doe not apply at all. Yeah, avoid charging under the sun when hot. If possible, keep the charge to less than full, and do the regular oil change and other scheduled maintenance as suggested by the manual. I would think your car will last much longer than 10 years/15K miles.

 

If someone could come up with a viable road salt alternative, that didn’t promote rust, they’d deserve a Nobel Peace prize.

I’ve found jacking up one end or the other (breaks it up into two sessions), getting under with brushes/rags and some rust proofing solution*, being thorough, you can keep rust in check.

It’s no trivial chore though. You want to take off the wheels, any aero panels with evidence of rust behind. Hit any small bolts/screws with oil too.

Almost better to do this after rust has started, when you can see the trouble spots. Conventional wisdom is that once rust starts it’s too late, but I’ve found sealing in rust zones seems to arrest it quite effectively.

And when anyone here reports a rust problem, go check the same zone on yours lol.

* On the recommendation of a member here, I tried boiled linseed oil. It’s been very effective and long lasting. Cheap too.

 

Sound advice, but I have found most of the rust that develops on visible and reachable parts of the vehicle does not cause much problem for its longevity. The exhaust system can not be rust proofed by your method. Neither the inner space between the sheet metal of the wheel well. I don't know if the rusting of the rear differential casing of our AWD Sienna could have been prevented by rust-proofing???

Yeah, your favorite photo.

 

Yeah exhaust in particular is not going to benefit from rust proofing, might even ignite. It’s an expensive “consumable” for sure.

we had same gen civic hybrid as you; found rear wheel well outer edge with spot welded double sheet metal edge especially prone, and not much you could do to mitigate. Crappy design. At least just cosmetic.

 

Additional comment. I did not read the quoted paragraph by OP when I made the EDIT TO ADD comment.

Yeah, most underbody rustproofing facilities will not treat the PRIUS PRIME. I know this because I have taken my first PP (2017) to a local Fluid Film applicator shop and they told me that there is nothing they can spray the "stuff" on. Almost the entire underbody of the car is covered by the plastic shield. They would have to remove all of them which they would not for the regular price they charge. Even if you pay extra or do DIY to take off all the underbody shields, there will be some high-voltage electrical components they are not comfortable spraying on. So, for liability reasons, most shops will not take on the job.

I have seen several posting here and a few YouTube videos of DIYers doing underbody rustproofing on a PP. I really thought about doing it on my own but came to the conclusion that it is not worth the cost/time/effort on my part.

You might want to read this thread:
Do you need underbody rust protection on new Prime?

And if you decided to DIY yours, then there is this thread:
Diy rust proofing a 2017 Prius prime

 

Oh not at all limited to Japanese-made cars. It's just that the last USA-made car I personally owned was built 29 years ago and the last European-made car I owned was built 43 years ago.

I just don't think I'm up-to-date on how those cars age compared to what I've seen in Japanese- and Korean-made cars.

 

Got rid of the 2001 Sable because of rust. First issue from rust was a leak in the front left gutter. Then it started coming through the rocker panels. The year before you got rid of it, the compressor pulley bearing ate itself. Car had less than 80k miles, but.....

....it was over 16 years old. It was probably over 10 when the rust starting causing problems. Aside from an occasional undercarriage wash, didn't do anything to prevent rust. This was all in Pennsylvania.

 

What cars are more rust proof?
Tesla Cybertruck?
Gen 1 Honda Insight?
Deloreans?

Sometimes I dream of taking a car completely apart, even the welds, and then replicating every panel out of stainless steel, and then using the best rust proof coating I can get.