Hybrid engines have easy life?

[srfdude]

On some of the boards I watch, the prevailing opinion seems to be that you can indeed extend your oil change intervals to what the factory recommends, since the oil has such an easy life. On this change for example, I have 7200 miles and the car is telling me that I still have 18% remaining life.
Castrol here has pointed out some of the possible ramifications of that practice.

 

[JoelB]

It depends on your driving style and environment. If you're in California and have a decent length commute I'd say the engine lives an easier life. If you short trip in MN like me I suspect the hybrid engine lives a tougher life. Lots of cycles where it never warms up. Lots of cold starts.

 

[JohnnyG]

Also depends on the design of the system, Some hybrids use the engine much more often than others.

 

[The Critic]

Also depends on the design of the system, Some hybrids use the engine much more often than others.

I think the older ones did. My 2011 Prius uses the gas engine a lot more than one would expect.

My MIL's new 24 RX350h will constantly cycle the gas motor, even at higher speeds, and during the first few miles of driving.

 

[dbias]

I think the older ones did. My 2011 Prius uses the gas engine a lot more than one would expect.

My MIL's new 24 RX350h will constantly cycle the gas motor, even at higher speeds, and during the first few miles of driving.

Great point. There are many layers of variability. Driving style, short vs long trips, topography, weather, system design etc. I would tend to do shorter oci till engine is broken in and do a test to see how those factors affect the oil

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Hybrid engines have an easier life, unless you send it to the junkyard prematurely because you cannot afford to replace the very expensive battery when it goes kaput.

The easier life engine may also face owners that go AWOL and forfeit the vehicle to their loan bank. So the easier life engine loses it's home and sits in a bank's lot somewhere. Then it faces being sold a 2nd time and moving to a new home where the new vehicle owner may mistreat it terribly.

So it's not always 'All Gravy' for these hybrid engines over time. Some have been sitting on steel shelves at junkyards for years, trying to find a new home. Unroll your window the next time you drive by a junkyard. You may hear a hybrid engine in there crying.

 

[demarpaint]

I'd imagine lots of cold starts take their toll, just like they do for the non-hybrid counterparts. Easier life? Just like everything else, it depends, longer runs at operating temperature is better than lots of cycles getting the engine to operating temperature. There's no free lunch.

 

[IndyIan]

I've driven behind a few Prius Primes (PHEV) in the winter when the gas engine kicked in, and they were smelling like a full rich cold start to get the catalytic converter going, with a big cloud of condensation for a 1/4 mile. I wonder if they are sitting at -10C and then go to half throttle at 2000 rpm in 1 second? I guess they could manage the engine to start easy as the battery was drawing down, but if you demanded a WO passing maneuver, I wonder if it just starts cold and revs to 5k WO! That would be good situation for 0W16 I guess!

 

[Hall]

Castrol might just be biased when it comes to this topic....

 

[Torrid]

It depends on your driving style and environment. If you're in California and have a decent length commute I'd say the engine lives an easier life. If you short trip in MN like me I suspect the hybrid engine lives a tougher life. Lots of cycles where it never warms up. Lots of cold starts.

This has always been my concern with a hybrid. I've had fuel dilution issues in the past with my wife's vehicles because they're always short tripped.

 

[The Critic]

Hybrid engines have an easier life, unless you send it to the junkyard prematurely because you cannot afford to replace the very expensive battery when it goes kaput.

Fair point.

The easier life engine may also face owners that go AWOL and forfeit the vehicle to their loan bank. So the easier life engine loses it's home and sits in a bank's lot somewhere. Then it faces being sold a 2nd time and moving to a new home where the new vehicle owner may mistreat it terribly.

So it's not always 'All Gravy' for these hybrid engines over time. Some have been sitting on steel shelves at junkyards for years, trying to find a new home. Unroll your window the next time you drive by a junkyard. You may hear a hybrid engine in there crying.

What??

 

[97prizm]

On some of the boards I watch, the prevailing opinion seems to be that you can indeed extend your oil change intervals to what the factory recommends, since the oil has such an easy life. On this change for example, I have 7200 miles and the car is telling me that I still have 18% remaining life.
Castrol here has pointed out some of the possible ramifications of that practice.

View attachment 237331

Chevy has a timer in the volt to kick on and run the engine after a period of time. Some owners say their commute is so short that the engine never kicks in.

 

[JHZR2]

I'd imagine lots of cold starts take their toll, just like they do for the non-hybrid counterparts. Easier life? Just like everything else, it depends, longer runs at operating temperature is better than lots of cycles getting the engine to operating temperature. There's no free lunch.

Agree.

I think a lot of folks speculate on this stuff without having driven.

I’d suspect that a lot of starts and stops when cold isn’t great.

I’d suspect that shutting the engine off after a long drawn out climb up a hill at elevated RPMs, isn’t great. Heatsoak and then shut off because the load went away isn’t great (it’s actually why I went to a more robust oil).

The one thing that may be easier is that the computer really controls the throttle/application of load, so it may be marginally smoother than the typical idiot driver that takes off from a stoplight and races to a red light. But at the same time, often the engine will see rapid high load.

You’re right, it depends.

For comparison to OP, my Accord hybrid had always gone 14-15k OCIs per the computer.

 

[Patman]

As with any engine, you really don’t know for sure how easy it might be on the oil because the biggest factors are your driving style (do you drive your vehicles aggressively or gently?), your driving route (highway? City? Long trips? Short trips?) and your climate. Doing a UOA will be one of the easiest ways to see how easy you are on the oil.

 

[DriveHard]

Depends on the car...we bought my bride's PHEV Volvo about 6 weeks ago...she drives it daily, but mostly in town. We are yet to put gas in the tank. I think she is averaging like 250+ mpg. When we bought it, they said we have free service including oil changes for 5 years. Oil changes are (I can't remember for sure) either 7500 or 10,000 miles or once a year. They said "see you in a year"...at first I laughed because I didn't think I would wait that long for an oil change, but at this rate I will probably stay by the book.

 

[oil pan 4]

They left out the fact that direct injection makes fuel dilution worse in cold climates and for short trips cars.
My wife's car is supposed to have a 7,500 mile oci. Usually never make it past 6,500. Main reason that cats oil gets changed is fuel dilution, usually between 3,500 and 5,500 miles. If I do lots of highway driving and avoid fuel dilution then I run into viscosity breakdown somewhere around 6,000 miles.

 

[FreedomOne]

Oil full of fuel doesn't sound like it would be better. The engines barely run dump fuel each time trying warm up. Old hybrids ran the engine 95% of the time.

 

[ATex7239]

ICE cycling on/off constantly in a hybrid = easy on oil.

ICE cycling on/off constantly in a non-hybrid = hard on oil.

Not sure I agree with the above. Fuel dilution and condensation can still happen.

 

[Torrid]

Chevy has a timer in the volt to kick on and run the engine after a period of time. Some owners say their commute is so short that the engine never kicks in.

This is likely the case for local use. Not a bad solution really.

 

[JohnnyG]

Chevy has a timer in the volt to kick on and run the engine after a period of time. Some owners say their commute is so short that the engine never kicks in.

I was going to mention the Volt, but I don't think people want to hear about it anymore. I still see them driving around down here, and I doubt they have a new battery in them.
Oil change interval was 2 years, or when the OLM told you.
GM did a great job on this car, but it doesn't fit Castrol's narrative.