Supercharge your Prius with Marvel Mystery Oil

I'll post my findings as they happen. My plan is to drive about 1K miles with MMO in the crank case along with M1HM 5W30. See how much the level changed in that 1K miles and see the color of oil. If really black and lots of consumption, then change with fresh M1HM 5W30 without MMO and drive another 1K miles. See what happens. If the consumption has improved in the first 1K miles, I'll leave the MMO/M1HM mixture in for another 1K miles, then do an oil change. I plan to keep the oil filter unchanged throughout the whole experiment. I will unscrew it and dump the contents every time, but will not replace it until 5K OCI. I am using a Toyota oil filter, BTW.

This is roughly my plan, but it may change as I am totally playing this thing by ear. Stay tuned...

 

Good luck amigo.

I really don’t understand why people give other people such a hard time about trying things like MMO to reduce oil consumption. It’s YOUR car, YOUR time and YOUR money, they don’t have any skin in the game. I say to those people get a life, shut up.

 

I find that people love to give advice and share THEIR feelings about things. It's not so frequent when the FEELINGS actually correspond to facts. I asked for people's experiences, if any, about using MMO to reduce oil consumption. Instead of answers I get what amounts to feelings of people about my experiment. If no one tried it, that's perfectly fine, you don't have to respond if you didn't. I am looking for factual data here. If there was someone who tried it and ruined their engine, I'd love to know! Likewise, if someone has tried it and it solved the problem, I'd like to know that too. I am in my mid-50's, have owned many cars, maintained and repaired them all myself most of the time. My cars never see inside of a dealer unless under warranty. I've been doing that since I was 16, which is about 40 years now. I am not a noob who can't read a label on the bottle of MMO. However, I am new to Toyotas and new to hybrids. I have owned VW, Saab, Volvo, Renault, Audi, Mazda, Acura, Fiat (the old kind from the late 70's, when they were imported into US, not the modern one), BMW and now Toyota.

I must admit that I am so far extremely impressed with Toyota Prius Gen 2 that I have. I have put 35K miles on it since I bought it and other than this oil consumption issue, so far so good. That was an '07 with 175K when I took ownership of it. Wow! That is impressive and I really want to make it go as long as possible. I love the car! It suits my needs perfectly right now. So this MMO experiment is really aimed to prolong the trouble-free service that this car is providing. I may be on a fool's errand here, but my thought is that 1K miles with MMO in the crank case can't possible hurt that bad. If I am wrong and there is some factual data to prove it, please, PLEASE tell me. That is the purpose of my post. If I come out of this no worse than when I started I will be very much okay with that.

As I said, I am not loosing sleep over using 1qt/2,500 miles. My 1998 Volvo S70 used more than double that all its 20 year/200K mile life. I didn't like it, but there was no other ill effects from this. My cat did not fail, the car still passed emissions fine, it had plenty of power and was super reliable. using oil is not all that terrible as long as it's not a symptom of some underlying problem. This is where I am new to Toyota and most Toyota owners are really upset about the oil consumption. Perhaps because it's due to badly designed piston rings, but really, does it do any harm? I know on Gen 3 it can clog the recirc valve and cause blown head gasket. That is legitimate! But on my Gen 2 using 1qt/2,500 miles does not seem terrible. Still, if I can bring it down simply by adding some MMO to the oil, why not? I am surprised no one here has tried it yet. Or have I missed the useful response amidst all the noise?

Sorry for the rant, but I see these rants a lot here, usually by new members that ask a simple (albeit sometimes stupid) question and instead of a simple answer like "I don't know" or "Here is why this question makes no sense and here is what you may be missing" we get pages and pages of threads where two or three people who are not the OP argue about trivialities that have nothing to do with the question at hand (often way off topic!). Also some folks just must have the last word. This is when I quit participating.

Other than that, this is truly one of the very best sources of information on Prii! I have learned a ton here and I am grateful for it. Again, I apologize for the rant, it was brewing for a while here. Got to take the bad with the good, I don't mind and I will keep coming back here and contribute as much as I can as well as learn. Just wish the signal to noise ratio was a bit better.

 

There have been several threads about MMO and reduced oil consumption around lately. If you haven’t seen them I suggest using the search feature. You will find the same group of naysayers in every one with the same opinions. I say opinions are like A-Holes, everyone has one and some are crappy. YOUR car, YOUR time, YOUR money. Forget the naysayers. When people say they have decreased oil consumption these clowns say their lying.

 

Sounds like looking at other threads with the same actors is a monumental waste of time.

 

Not necessarily. The OP’s have had success in the threads. At least you will know what they did. One guy poured 4oz in each cylinder and let it sit overnight. In the morning there was no MMO left, it seeped past the rings. I believe he’s using less oil.

 

Hmm, buy the big mmo jug at wall land drain oil, pull plugs and fill er up.

I remember the thread
I guess I forgot the result.

MMO is a good cleaner and it shows.

If I get a car again that consumes oil I might need to try that.

 

Check out lord Byron’s use of MMO here.

Six tanks with Techron solved high oil consumption at 140K miles | Page 5 | PriusChat

 

I completely forgot to state that before dumping the oil I just replaced, I put 4 oz of SeaFoam into the crank case and drove about 30 miles with it before dumping and putting in M1HM + 24 oz of MMO. So far over 100 miles since the oil change. Too soon to say anything except the car runs fine (its usual state) and is getting upper 40's on the video game (for me the MFD estimate is usually fairly close). I also topped off the gas tank and poured about 4 oz of MMO into the gas right after the oil change. Hopefully the car will survive this horrible abuse and be stronger for it

Stay tuned...

 

Can see where switching oil could make a difference, like when going from a higher NOACK oil to a lower one, or when using a High Mileage oil if you have worn seals, etc. Since you're having luck with the HM oil, I wonder if could be related to having worn seals. I've yet to see anyone replace valve stem seals and mention if it helped with oil consumption or not. Given that the parts are fairly inexpensive (example: 2007 TOYOTA PRIUS 1.5L L4 ELECTRIC/GAS Valve Stem Seal | RockAuto ), it might be worth looking into if the labor equation works out.

Recently went looking for a different oil with a stronger detergent add pack, found a 5w40 HDEO which I'm using in another Prius (will be trying it in mine soon), when combined with the owners slower MPH we've noticed reduced consumption, still not sure if it was the new owner, new oil, or the driving habits. Might need to experiment with using a high mileage oil (or seal conditioner) and see if that also reduces consumption.

Will be interesting to see what becomes of your MMO experiment. Though not a chemist or an additive expert, I doubt that you have much to worry about if you follow the usage directions and notice the lower flash point (53C / 128F) : http://www.marvelmysteryoil.com/media/1256/marvel-mystery-oil.pdf

I've tried adding some stronger solvents like BG and B12 into the crankcase before an oil change and only noticed a slightly darker drain. Lately I've been pondering the addition of Kreen over the full oil change interval, and as a piston soak (or use the b12 chemtool).

 

Well, I am not going to put all that much effort into this as I do not think it is a good use of my time. If the car consumes 1qt/2,500 miles I am okay with that. I am not going to get obsessed with the numbers. I will try something simple like the MMO and pull right back if it it's not effective and just add a quart of oil now and then. I don't think any kind of expensive work is worth it on these engines unless it's for enjoyment purposes. As long as the car works and provides fuel economy and reliability as it does now I will be very happy with adding some oil between changes. I am not in it for the bragging rights, just seeing if something very simple can be effective. Turns out folks have had success with this, so I am hopeful, but it's strictly a low key effort. I am not prepared to devote a lot of time to it since the consumption is what I think is reasonable for a car with 210K miles on it.

 

I am 100% with you on this. The amount I want to reduce my Prius oil consumption is not to have to add any oil between oil changes. I have to add about a quart now. This is only the second Toyota I have ever had to do this to. The other was my 93 Camry with 300,000 plus miles. And that was a worn out oil pump seal.

 

Those numbers don't sound all that excessive (when compared to other oil eaters), I am around that level of consumption currently -though mine varies with speed. Sure hope that MMO does the trick for you and the rest of us, if you don't find the MMO effective please consider trying other options or solvents. Like @Skibob, my interest is getting the level of consumption as close to zero as possible, as I personally want to mitigate an expensive catalytic converter replacement, which doesn't make sense with either time or money (OEM part is 1300+ the install). It appears that MA has adopted the same CARB laws as CA and NY now (as of June 2018 : Catalytic Converter Standards, Air Quality, Maine DEP ), which may or not be a big deal for you. I've been adding B-12 to my gas every other tank or so, and will again on the next oil change, then as a piston soak one of these days. The next on my list is a container of Kreen, and do all of the above again. Can't wait to try my first piston soak, and if the first soak does little then I'll cycle through the various solvents until the consumption dissipates or until the solvent options run out. I skipped MMO thinking it wouldn't offer much, but am quite interested in hearing how it works for you.

 

I'll update the thread as I learn more. MMO seems so simple and cheap, I had to try it first. I've used SeaFoam a lot on other cars, but not sure what it did or didn't do. It's too expensive to use continuously, so now and again treat a tank just for good measure. I never noticed any reduction in oil use. I never used in the crank case before this last oil change. I may use it in the crank case before the next oil change again as I did just before this oil change. The problem with all this is that it's very random and I will never know what actually did (or didn't) do the trick. So far I have used 4 oz of SeaFoam in the crank case before the oil change, then 24 oz of MMO in the crank case with the new oil. Now observing the results....

 

I appreciate the posts on this issue as I find the topic very interesting. MMO, Seafoam, Techron, etc... I'm a skeptic deep down, but I think it plays a part in helping an old car near the end of it's useful life. OTOH, my brother drives $100k+ cars and always uses oil cleaners and swears it improves performance. So, it's been an ongoing debate in my family.

 

Will you please give us an update. My Prius is doing the exact same thing and I'd like to know how the Marvel Mystery Oil in the crankcase worked out for you. Thanks.

 

Sorry, the above message was for you VFerdman. I meant to quote, but it didn't work.

 

I have not seen any improvement from putting MMO in the crankcase. I have since changed the oil again and did not put any MMO in that time. So I kind of stopped that experiment. I am not sure if it takes a more time and miles to do anything, but I figured 5K miles is a good test and I saw no further improvements in my oil consumption. I am down to about a quart per 2.5K miles, which I find acceptable. I may put some MMO a little before draining this current oil and see how that goes.

 

I was glancing through an owners manual from a 2005 I recently purchased and took these photos of the section covering oil consumption, just because we often have oil consumption discussions in the forum. Just posting it so we all can see Toyota's thoughts on the subject. Some portions I see as questionable....maybe someone with a 2009 can see if the wording changed at all.

 

I really do not think oil consumption is as huge a deal as many on this forum do. I have owned cars for many, many years and have owned many makes (mostly European and some Japanese, never American). They all use oil. They MUST! There is no way for an ICE to work without using oil. It's part of the way it works. Blow-by happens on all ICEs. Period. It's the amount that is at issue, I think. Before catalytic converters no one cared about it, but now the cats and other systems like Gen 3's EGR can get clogged up and damaged with oil burning products if oil burning is severe enough. This is really the issue. I don't think most of us would mind adding a bit of oil every 1K miles if burning so much would not have other negative effects on our cars (not to mention environment). This mumbo-jumbo Toyota puts in their owner's manuals (and, BTW, it's not just Toyota. I had Volvos that had the same oil burning issues and very similar disclaimers in the manual and official dealer stance) is to cover their rear ends. They are allowed, as amazing as it sounds to consume the amounts they are quoting. 1.1 quart every 600 miles is a LOT! But they are allowed to sell cars with that type of oil consumption, even when new. This 1 qt per 600 miles is a familiar number to me as Volvo quoted me exact same number in 1998 when I complained about my then brand new car using a quart per 1K miles. They said it's "within spec" and did nothing about it. I had that car for 20 years and almost 200K and its oil consumption remained the same for the duration of its life. Catalytic converter was fine, I never got any codes at all. Just got used to adding a quart ever 1K miles. Many of my other cars used close to the same amount of oil. My 1987 Acura Integra used almost no oil, however. But that was an exception rather than the rule in my experience (probably close to a dozen vehicles).

So I am not so concerned with the actual oil consumption, especially the 1 qt. per 2.5K I have right now. I am concerned with catalytic converter clogging up, though. Again, at my current levels I don't think it's a big concern.

I also now own a new to me 2006 Toyota Matrix with 110K miles on it and it seems to not use enough oil to add anything between 5K intervals. I am very impressed and I think this is the second car like this that I have owned ('87 Integra being the first).

Again, I am not super-concerned with this level of consumption and the Toyota's stance on the subject is clearly such that they (Toyota) do not see a problem with most Prius' owners' cars. So this is very much about what the personal comfort level is with this type of thing. Me, I am used to adding 1qt every 1K, though I am not crazy about it and switching to HM oil has more than halved this (which I am very grateful for). I will probably throw some MMO into the gas tank now and then. I also use SeaFoam in the tank now and again. If it stays at 1qt per 2.5K miles I will remain calm. If I manage to improve upon this, I will definitely update here.