2005 Toyo Prius w/ M1 OCI recommendations

[Islandvic]

My friend has 2005 Toyo Prius driven in Austin, TX. He has had 3 oil changes so far.

Last one was with M1 5-30 w/ Toyo OEM filter 2800 miles ago. He calls me up asking how long he should run M1. He wanted to know if he should stick to 3k OCI's.

I told him if he dumped his M1 at 3k in his Hybrid, I would pick up his used oil and put it in my car.

I told him 6 month OCI's or 6k-7.5k mile OCI's.

Since the engine does not run all the time, and it's a tightly spec'd 4banger, I thought it would be ok, especially if Mobil's synblend goes for 7500 miles.

Your thoughts.

I told him he was using the best oil/filter combo he could buy and that 6k OCI would still be changing early.

Thanks.....

 

[daemonite]

the manual for the prius states 5000 mile oil changes, 3000 miles is a bit short for even conventional dino oils especially for a new car. My friend's prius is running havoline 5w30 to 5000, so I see no reason for M1 to be changed at 3000 or 6500 miles.

M1 should last atleast 7500 to 10,000+ miles in most conditions unless your car sees a lot of abuse which I doubt this prius ever does.

 

[Cutehumor]

with tighter oci from toyota, 5k oci, he's best to stay with the manufacturer recommendation until he's out of warranty

 

[JHZR2]

yeah, considering warranty on that thing, Id suggest staying with the correct (or shorter) OCIs. I see no reason to go shorter than 5000 mi with M1 oil, so Id suggest said 5000 mi OCIs with LC doping to help it out even more.

JMH

 

[surfstar]

M1 at 5k miles is already overkill for any new car, save the money and hassle and skip the LC.

 

[Russell]

I think it is "required" that only the dealer change the oil/filter in a Prius while under warrenty.

 

[gudmund]

"REQUIRED" If it is reguired than it is by law to be done for free and if you are asked to pay for it than it is a violation of the Moss-Magnison law passed in 1975.

 

[Russell]

qudmund I bet you are correct. I had a friend who stated she was "required" to have all service, including oil change completed by a Prius trained mechanic. However, there was no mention that she had to pay for that service. BTW, this was for the first generation Prius.

 

[Islandvic]

I looked under the hood when he bought the car, and the filter is in plain view from above and below the car. Real easy to get to. I'm not sure where he gets it done, but I would not be surprised if he is having the stealership stick him for $60 M1 oil change just to make him feel good.

He does not beat or drive the Prius hard in anyway.

If manual states 5k OCI's with dino, his M1 should last at least 6-7.5k like I told him. I really doubt he will ever have lubed part related failures with his engine.

 

[LarryL]

I wonderif the frequent starting and stopping of the engine is hard on the oil? I have a Civic and have tried turning off the engine on long steep down hill runs and before I get too slow, starting the engine in high gear at about 40mph. I live in a hilly area and a lot of my driving is on two lane roads with little or no traffic. If turning off the engine is okay for tree huggers, I want to see if it helps. And it does.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by LarryL:
I have a Civic and have tried turning off the engine on long steep down hill runs and before I get too slow, starting the engine in high gear at about 40mph.

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I believe that's illegal in most states. But don't let that stop you.

Found this on priuschat.com Note the response from Toyota.

 

[Cutehumor]

quote:

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Originally posted by Islandvic:
He does not beat or drive the Prius hard in anyway.

If manual states 5k OCI's with dino, his M1 should last at least 6-7.5k like I told him. I really doubt he will ever have lubed part related failures with his engine.

---

I would not take a chance on a gasoline-hybrid engine in anyway. Stick with OEM oci until warranty is over. toyota could say you overextended oil which damaged the electric motor. who knows, I don't know how it works but I bet its expensive to fix.

 

[daemonite]

quote:

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Originally posted by Islandvic:
I looked under the hood when he bought the car, and the filter is in plain view from above and below the car. Real easy to get to. I'm not sure where he gets it done, but I would not be surprised if he is having the stealership stick him for $60 M1 oil change just to make him feel good.

He does not beat or drive the Prius hard in anyway.

If manual states 5k OCI's with dino, his M1 should last at least 6-7.5k like I told him. I really doubt he will ever have lubed part related failures with his engine.

---

my m1 lasted me 10k miles and my car is a bit more rough on oil then the prius. Tell your friend to do oil analysis if he uses M1...otherwise he should use regular dino and change at 5000

 

[ekpolk]

Sorry about reviving a thread from the dead, but it's right on a question that's newly pertinent to me. While looking for a car for my wife (which she no longer believes was the intent...

) we stumbled on a mint 2004 Prius, with only 15k miles on it. It was clean and loaded exactly the way I like (everything, including nav, but with cloth seats, not leather). Only drawback was that it's black, but the black paint is in great condition. Anyway, I now own the car and my wife is still looking. On my first 200 mile drive, I averaged 46.3 mpg. For the previous 24 hours, I'd been averaging 51 mpg around town (this car does better in town because of regenerative braking). And it's a surprisingly driveable car.

Anyway, on this thread's topic, I'm very curious about the effect of all the starting and stopping this engine does. The computer shuts it off almost the moment you lift off the gas and start coasting. At a stop light, the car is dead silent. The gas comes on at between 5 and 10 mph when you start. All very smooth and really not strange feeling at all. But whereas on a five mile trip to the grocery store my previous car would experience one start, the Prius may experience 10, 20, or maybe even more starts. I'm sure Toyota has this figured out, but I do wonder if this weighs in favor of some caution with OCIs???

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:
....But whereas on a five mile trip to the grocery store my previous car would experience one start, the Prius may experience 10, 20, or maybe even more starts. I'm sure Toyota has this figured out, but I do wonder if this weighs in favor of some caution with OCIs???

---

Isn't it annoying how perceptive women are?

I don't see the multiple starts doing a number on oil life or the engine. They aren't cold starts and Toyota knew that was the duty cycle the car was going to have.

A couple of UOAs should have you sleeping soundly again.

Do you have the magical green Elfen mix in it yet?

What does it use for a starter?

 

[ekpolk]

Not sure (yet) about the starter.

No GC in it so far. The car is a Toyota certified used product, and came with pretty clean-looking oil, but I decided to dump (actually, I vacuum extracted) it anyway. I left the new-looking Toyota OEM filter in place, and refilled the engine with 4 quarts of M1EP 5w-30. This is an experiment. The M1 is (now) an 11 cSt oil. Next fill, I'm going to run the over-12 cSt GC. I'll be looking primarily to see of the thicker GC produces a drop in mileage (much easier to track in this car), but also to see if any other flags pop from the UOA results. If the GC drags the mpgs down significantly, I'll be taking my first foray into e-bay selling.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I'm sorta wishing the M1 was still a 10 cSt oil to better magnify any viscosity-driven effects on mpg.

 

[ekpolk]

Winston:

I don't think the "thermos" has quite that effect. Its mission is to ensure that the gas engine is running at normal temps as quickly as possible. It is actually located down in the driver's side "chin" area of the engine room (that is, way up front). The 1NZ part of the hybrid drive is over on the passenger side, so it will take some time (perhaps quite short) to get hot coolant into the gas engine's block and head. If, for example, you start the car after 12 hours off, there will be plenty of hot coolant stored in the "thermos," but the internal engine parts, and oil, would (I expect) be cold (and thus, suffer in the first few post-start moments as would any gas engine). On the other hand, this car has lotsa tricks up it sleeve, so Toyota may have built in some way to trickle some of the stored heat over to the gas engine during off-time. I'll be doing my homework on this one and if I find a good answer, I'll post it.

 

[TomJones76]

quote:

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Originally posted by ekpolk:
SNIP
Anyway, on this thread's topic, I'm very curious about the effect of all the starting and stopping this engine does. The computer shuts it off almost the moment you lift off the gas and start coasting. At a stop light, the car is dead silent. The gas comes on at between 5 and 10 mph when you start. All very smooth and really not strange feeling at all. But whereas on a five mile trip to the grocery store my previous car would experience one start, the Prius may experience 10, 20, or maybe even more starts. I'm sure Toyota has this figured out, but I do wonder if this weighs in favor of some caution with OCIs???

---

That application reminds me of the guy on here who wrote about the duty cycle for the large diesel in a commercial shipping vessel.
He said they'd start it up and put it under what amounted to full load within a very short period of time... idling was a waste of (lots) of fuel and bad for the engine to boot.
Any time that your hybrid is on electric, that means a conventional internal engine would basically be turning at 900 RPM at low throttle, which isn't really a wise use of the powerplant.

 

[ekpolk]

Tom:

It's very interesting to watch the dynamic display on the dash that shows how the components are interacting (done very carefully while driving, of course...). What is interesting to note, and you can feel it as well, is that there are plenty of situations in which both the electric and the gas engine are providing power. For example, when starting from a complete stop, if accelerating gently, it starts on electric only, then goes to both at 5-10 mph. Steady state below about 30 seems to be electric only, while above 30, both run. And if you do stomp on it, as for a freeway merge, you get max from the gas engine AND the electric's 295 lb-ft of torque. It's no rocketship, but it's not the wheezing slug that some folks seem to think it is. BTW, the trans is a CVT, which takes a bit of getting used to, but is pleasant enough. I'm still learning this car, so I don't really understand how the two engines feed power to the CVT at the same time.

EDIT: Also keep in mind that the Toyota "Synergy Drive" is not like the Honda system. In the Honda, the electric motor is, in essence, tied to the gas engine, almost as if the motor was the gas engine's flywheel. In the Toyota system, they are not.

 

[Winston]

One interesting addition on a Prius is the insulated coolant tank. I keeps the coolant warm for up to 24 hours. Helps to ensure there are no "cold" starts.