New Owner, New to prius chat, Problem

I had the same thing happen to me. My 05 had too much oil in it when I initially purchased it from the dealer. After about 300 miles (when I finally decided to check the oil level) I drained a little bit out...about 2 cups of oil. I have had no problems that I have noticed but the expert techs on this forum will be able to provide better thoughts re this.

I put Mobil 1 in at 1,000 miles. I am going to change the oil today for the second time...just reached 10,000 miles.

Love the car!

 

Is Mobil 1 the only option for 0W30 oil? I have problems with Exxon-Mobil as a company and would rather not buy from them if there's another option that's as good, or even almost as good.

 

The overfull crankcase will not cause any long term problems. It may cause problems while the excess oil is in there. Do have it drained out to a proper level. I suggest to check your oil after letting someone else change your oil. This goes for ALL cars. People really should check their oil. Even in their lawn mowers! - Did I mention check your oil?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CitizenjaQ\";p=\"73809)</div>

Good question!

Nope, there are choices out there for a synthetic or semi-synthetic 0W-30.

The Castrol Syntec 0W-30 is available at Wally World in the United States and Canada, and at most Canadian Tire stores in Canada. If you carefully examine the back of the bottle, it claims to meet all the European and Japanese approvals.

It also claims "Made In Germany" and is reported to be of very high quality. Some folks are a bit surprised that it comes out of the bottle green and smells like Gummi Bears. Note: do NOT try to drink, despite the Gummi Bear aroma!

Amsoil makes a 0W-30 as well, their Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30. They claim it can be used up to 1 year or 35,000 miles "if supported by a used oil analysis program."

In Canada, you can fairly easily find Esso XD-3 0W-30 at Esso bulk station dealers and some Wally World stores. The XD-3 is meant for use in HD diesel equipment like Kenworth trucks, so it doesn't even break a sweat in a tiny gasoline motor.

The real nice thing about XD-3 is the price. Here in Canada, at Canadian Tire the Mobil 1 5W-30 (Mobil 1 0W-30 is not available in Canada for some reason) is $7.99 a litre. The Castrol Syntec 0W-30 is $7.69 a litre. The Amsoil 0W-30 is $9.99 a litre. XD-3 0W-30 is $4.50 a litre.

As far as switching to synthetics, there are two schools of thought on when to do this: early - say at 1,000 miles - or later, say at 6,000 miles. FWIW every Toyota dealer service writer and Prius tech in Winnipeg I spoke to was *very* adamant about a minimum 10,000km break-in before using synthetic oil, with at least 5,000km on the factory oil.

Otherwise they claim you won't experience good performance and fuel economy. I believe KMO, a Prius owner in England, has also commented that over there a 16,000km break-in is required.

If you chose to use synthetics, then schedule your oil change interval to the maximum time/distance recommended by your service schedule while under warranty. You'll just be wasting money and causing environmental problems by changing the oil any sooner. Here in Canada, every 6 months or 8,000km (Approx 5,000 miles).

I hope this helps.

 

Thanks folks!

BTW, one question (and apologies if it's answered somewhere else): outside of having a Fumoto valve installed on your car, what's the easiest, most convenient way to drain some oil out of your Prius? (I.e., without taking it back to the service department?)

From now on, I'm checking the oil every time it leaves the shop (thanks Don!).

 

Evan:

You can also get one of those "dipstick oil change" kits at Wally World, NAPA, Autozone, etc. The little plastic tube is tiny enough to stick down the dipstick tube, and you can easily siphon out the slight amount of oil you have to.

 

Thanks, Evan -- here's the thread you were refering to.

Dave had the turkey baster idea. I figure I'll either go with that, or Google/Froogle around and see if there's a made-to-order syphon for something like this.

Update: I found some interesting to-purchase oil extracting pumps (thanks to Jayman's excellent search suggestion). I've posted them over on the original Oil Overfill thread.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CitizenjaQ @ Mar 19 2005, 08:53 AM) [snapback]73809[/snapback]</div>

For years I used Mobil1 0w30, when it was ACEA A5 certified. When Mobil released the extended performance versions of Mobil 1, they dropped the european ACEA A5 acceditation (for long life fuel efficient oil) from the 0w30 Mobil 1 labeling and website. The Mobil1 Extended Performance 5w30 and 10w30 do meet these very stringent requirements. I'm not certain if the 0w30 was downgraded or if Mobil simply stopped advertising the quality of the 0w30 Mobil1 to differentiate the Mobil1 Extended Performance versions for price segmentation.

Castrol's Syntec European formula 0w30 is an excellent oil that compares with Mobil 1 0w40. (Compare the tech sheets and the specifications.) They have very similar viscosity and provide _superb_ protection, but are not fuel efficient. There is a Castrol Syntec 5w30 with ACEA A5 approval and very low 9.7 cst@100C viscosity. I plan to use this with our new Prius.