Oil change stragedy for low mile short trip hybrid.

There is a provision in the owners manual for "special operating conditions." It calls for 5000 miles/6 months OCI. One of the definitions for "special operating conditions" is repeated trips of less than 5 miles below 32 deg. I don't know what temperatures you're driving at but 2.6 miles is close enough in my book. I agree that you should do 5k miles/6 months OCI.

 

That's us: the oil comes out spring and fall, 6 months governs. Only putting on about 12000 km's yearly. Takes me about an hour, cost's just under $40 for Toyo oil, filter and replacement washer for the drain bolt.

6 months or 8000 km's (roughly equiv to 5000 miles) is the normal interval spec'd for ours in Canada.

 

I'm not an oil expert or mechanic but I'm going to say that you'll be fine on Toyota 0w20 every 5000 miles/6 months. If the ICE shuts off at a red light or when you pull into the driveway, you know the engine has warmed up sufficiently to clear up anything harmful to the engine. If not, you can idle in place until the ICE shuts off on its own before you power off.

 

Sounds like a perfect commute for a plug in vehicle.

 

How long 'till the C plug-in comes along?

 

What's the fixation with royal purple?
If you decided on 6 months/5000 miles, any cheap 5W20 should do (maybe except for the warranty thing). I would not waste quality oils for such short OCI.

 

You are a young person, aren't you? When I was at your age, I also wasted my money on overpriced magic fluids like Slick 50. They all had their timken tests showing smaller bearing scars. It took me some time to realize the scam.

 

Everyone goes through the stage of wanting to do the absolute best for the beloved car, whatever car that may happen to be. The best tires, the best oil, the best gas, the best wiper fluid, whatever. It's understandable. I've had a gaggle of new cars, and the newness of it has worn off some. I still take good care of them, but I don't stress out about it any more.

Royal Purple is the oil of the OCD. There are zero reasons to use R.P. in an understressed, rpm-limited, 96hp hybrid city car. You would be substituting money for knowledge, and knowledge would tell you you don't need R.P.

Any major brand, quality oil in a correct weight would serve for 5k miles in the C. Synthetic or conventional. 0w-20 or 5w-20 for N.A. You can't go wrong. My commute is 4.5 miles. I have other trips of longer but the majority go 4.5. I use the 5k mile interval and use M1 or Pennzoil Platinum. Even that may be overkill with synthetic, but that's my choice.

As for acids, there are anti-corrosive additives in oil. Various amounts and types for various oils. They get used up protecting the engine. They are not used up in 5k, or even 10k miles, in the absolutely vast majority of use. A person can send a sample in to get it analyzed. That would tell you if you are anywhere near using up all those additives.

Another reason to change oil at a lower interval would be to rid the engine of the dirt particles in the oil. The oil filter takes out the majority of the particles, but there are some smaller than can be filtered. Those, I think, would do good to be removed earlier than later.

A good place to learn about oils is to hang out at BITOG forums. Those guys know oil...well, most of them.