Mechanic Tears Down 300,000-Mile Toyota Prius Engine, Carbon Buildup Galore

[DirectRejection]

I used discontinued Pennzoil Gold in 2018.
Good stuff. Honda. Kendall, others did the blend in 0W20, but not circa 2004+.

2004 Prius was spec'd for 5W30.

Frequent stop-starts, probable short trips, and Canadian winters would make this severe service.

3k mile OCI w10k mile OFCI (TG is a 15k mile oil filter) on Canadian SuperTech 5W30 would have likely kept the piston rings clean and reduced sludge, carbon.

Pure speculation of course.

 

[Zee09]

Who makes a synblend 0W-20?

Ford for one.

 

[wemay]

And I doubt a properly used SynBlnd would leave sludge. <5k mile OCI.

 

[Trav]

Being hybrid, does the engine actually have 300k miles of running? How many miles did it acquire in electric mode vs engine running?

Still does not look bad , some varnish yes. But i imagine with it being hybrid, a lot more starts vs continuous running, perhaps more cooler starts, hence more varnish?

Good point!

 

[supton]

Sounds like the car was junked for reasons unrelated to engine health. So if high quality oil and filters had been used… would it have saved the owner any money?

 

[Cujet]

I’ll bet it was junked because the engine was shot. That thing likely consumed a lot of oil and had very low compression

 

[PeterGreen]

Any mention of the life of the drive battery?

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Like any of those three would last that long without needing a replacement engine.

Our RAV4 was junk at 50K miles, Our Yaris at 60K. Toys are not magic at all. Agree with the Neon though, that was a barely spot-welded together garbage can. Cavaliers and Cobalt are some of better, pleasant rental cars I had driven in FLA years ago,

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Who makes a synblend 0W-20?

Except for M1 EP and AP, all of them are - in the parallel universe of reality.

 

[Trav]

Any mention of the life of the drive battery?

That is one problem with EV vehicles, the battery cost and lifespan. A duff battery and a tired engine turns it into not more than a worthless shell.
ICE engine can be replaced fairly inexpensively in comparison.

 

[2EHA]

Like any of those three would last that long without needing a replacement engine.

toyota had two problematic 4 cylinder engines in their lineup back then.

you picked the worst era to get on a high horse on

 

[379KITTY]

Regarding the earlier comment on the Cobalts. I daily drive an 05 bought new just turned 342K miles today. Other than shocks, struts, bent wheels, blown tires (we live in a rural area where some roads resemble surface of the moon) and a few batteries - I can count the repairs thru the years on less than 10 fingers.

Alternator, heater core, water pump, two thermostats, O2 sensor, window motor and radio. Finally decided to do the complete timing set at 339K. Start-up rattle was becoming very consistent (it needed it).

I buy oil in bulk when on sale. Everything from 5w30 to 20w50. It's had them all, sometimes a mix if that's what I had at the time needing emptied. Follow the OLM, usually down to 0% which is usually 7K to 8K miles.

 

[Andrew1972]

Now someone show us a breakdown of a 2004 Chevy Cobalt w/300,000 miles (or a Focus or was the Neon still around then?). would be a nice compare/contrast.

Useless unless vehicle driven under same conditions unfortunately.

 

[nthach]

Who makes a synblend 0W-20?

Valvoline and Castrol jumped into the synblend 0W-20 fray as well.

 

[nthach]

I’ll bet it was junked because the engine was shot. That thing likely consumed a lot of oil and had very low compression

In SF, it’s very common to see a cabbie drive a clapped out Prius or Fusion/Escape Hybrid. One shop worked on nothing but Prii until Lyft(and ultimately Uber with their UberX competitor that didn’t have the luxury/town car pretenses of UberBlack) came along. The better fleets - SF Yellow Cab, now merged with CityWide Cab cycled out of cars more often but still.

 

[OilMagnate]

Ford for one.

View attachment 73992

I was genuinely unaware of this. My mind is completely blown. I thought all 0W-20 oils were marketed as full synthetic oils. I learned something today!

Except for M1 EP and AP, all of them are - in the parallel universe of reality.

I was aware of this, but I was referring to how they were labeled/marketed to the masses.

Valvoline and Castrol jumped into the synblend 0W-20 fray as well.

My mind is blown yet again. I didn't believe this, but sure enough, it exists in Maxlife (blend) form and GTX form.

I'm assuming the *synthetic* percentage is much higher than their 5W siblings to accomplish this...?

 

[Zee09]

Kendall GT-1 High Performance 0w-20 Motor Oil in a 12/1 Quart Case

Kendall GT-1 High Performance Engine Oils meet the most recent API SP and ILSAC GF-6A standards. These engine oils are formulated with synthetic blended base oil and Kendall's LiquiTek* high performance additives. LiquiTek additive package provides increased engine protection by providing increased engine cleanliness and reduced wear. Reduced friction also helps improve fuel economy performance beyond ILSAC GF-6 requirements. Kendall High Performance Motor Oils are uniquely formulated to help combat low speed pre-ignition (LSPI) in turbocharged gasoline direct injection engines and are fully backwards compatible with previous API SN+ and ILSAC GF-5 standards.

 

[Zee09]

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/0w-20-oils-that-are-not-full-synthetic.150451/

 

[nthach]

Kendall GT-1 High Performance 0w-20 Motor Oil in a 12/1 Quart Case

Kendall GT-1 High Performance Engine Oils meet the most recent API SP and ILSAC GF-6A standards. These engine oils are formulated with synthetic blended base oil and Kendall's LiquiTek* high performance additives. LiquiTek additive package provides increased engine protection by providing increased engine cleanliness and reduced wear. Reduced friction also helps improve fuel economy performance beyond ILSAC GF-6 requirements. Kendall High Performance Motor Oils are uniquely formulated to help combat low speed pre-ignition (LSPI) in turbocharged gasoline direct injection engines and are fully backwards compatible with previous API SN+ and ILSAC GF-5 standards.

I’m thinking just because P66 offers a 0W-20 blend in Kendall was motivator enough for Oil Changers(a local quick lube chain in my area) to switch. It’s kinda hard to upsell most for oil.

Which is funny - Goodyear’s affiliate shops and Bridgestone Retail(Firestone/Wheel Works) poured Kendall for a while.

 

[nthach]

Now, Chevron has a “synthetic technology” Havoline in 0W-20. I wonder if it’s the consumer relabel of their Isosyn tech in Delo:

https://www.chevronlubricants.com/en_us/home/products/havoline-synthetic-technology-motor-oil.html