Valvoline Restore and Protect in Toyota Prius with 291K miles

[TwoC400s]

My daughter's first car: 2008 Toyota Prius with 291K miles!

I figured I would throw some Valvoline R&P 5w20 at it and see what happens.

The oil change sticker on it when we bought said service would be due in ~1500 miles (no clue what oil was in it, the shop sticker had a Valvoline logo, but it could be anything), but I just went ahead and changed it anyway.

My plan is is to change the filter about every 3-4 weeks which is about 4-500 miles currently. I did the first filter change today.

Here's pics of the filter (with mystery oil) that came off the car (I wasn't properly prepared and mangled the filter media) after ~3500 miles:

 

[TwoC400s]

Here's the first R&P filter when changed after ~400 miles:

 

[buster]

Thanks for sharing. The fact that you're seeing that much so soon tells me there is some significant build up in that engine. In the LSJ video, Valvoline specifically stated that they designed the rate of carbon removal to be very gradual to fall within compliance. It looks like it's working well for you. I would stick with it for at least 10k miles and continue to monitor your filter.

 

[Patrick0525]

Yikes! How many owners have there been and at what mileage did u buy the car? Is it on the original hybrid battery?

 

[TwoC400s]

Thanks for sharing. The fact that you're seeing that much so soon tells me there is some significant build up in that engine. In the LSJ video, Valvoline specifically stated that they designed the rate of carbon removal to be very gradual to fall within compliance. It looks like it's working well for you. I would stick with it for at least 10k miles and continue to monitor your filter.

yes, the oil fill neck is pretty crusty when you look down in there, but I haven't noticed any oil consumption, the car is probably too new to us to get a REAL baseline, but if the filters keep looking like that every 500 miles I'll be happy.

 

[TwoC400s]

Yikes! How many owners have there been and at what mileage did u buy the car? Is it on the original hybrid battery?

One owner (before my daughter) since new. The guy even gave me the original bill of sale. Original hybrid battery still going strong.

 

[TwoC400s]

Not sure why an admin moved this thread... Yes, there are filter pictures, but there's really ZERO filter info here, the filter pics are to gauge the action of Valvoline Restore and Protect.

 

[fdcg27]

Well, that engine does have a couple of miles on it, so it might not be surprising that the Valvo is finding something to clean.
What would concern me is that those look to be fairly large particles, like well in excess of the main bearing clearances and no filter is 100% efficient on any basis, much less single pass.
Best of luck with this engine going forward.

 

[TwoC400s]

Well, that engine does have a couple of miles on it, so it might not be surprising that the Valvo is finding something to clean.
What would concern me is that those look to be fairly large particles, like well in excess of the main bearing clearances and no filter is 100% efficient on any basis, much less single pass.
Best of luck with this engine going forward.

yes, quite a few large particles, I wonder if the R&P can possibly dissolve some of them into solution? (Very slowly obviously)

The motor seems quite healthy: no strange noises, no noticeable oil consumption, no smoke from tailpipe, still gets 51mpg on the highway.

 

[circuitsmith]

I wouldn't bother changing the filter early unless the oil got real black.

 

[TwoC400s]

I wouldn't bother changing the filter early unless the oil got real black.

I'm not changing the filter early because I think it's warranted, It's purely for informational value. I bought 4 cheap filters just to see what the filter looks like the longer the R&P stays in the motor, total cost ~$15.

When the weather gets cold, I'll just change the oil and put the 'yota filter in.

 

[fantastic]

I see some chunks on that filter. Whatever the PO put in there seemed to still be depositing quite a bit of stuff into the media. Do you live in a cold environment? Still that wouldn't be the only contributor as the higher mileage plays a role as well. Interesting to see what you find in the coming changes. We're still learning about R&P's effects here so this is good to follow along. Let us know & thanks posting.

 

[TwoC400s]

I see some chunks on that filter. Whatever the PO put in there seemed to still be depositing quite a bit of stuff into the media. Do you live in a cold environment? Still that wouldn't be the only contributor as the higher mileage plays a role as well. Interesting to see what you find in the coming changes. We're still learning about R&P's effects here so this is good to follow along. Let us know & thanks posting.

Yes, I was really quite surprised at the "chunkiness" of the stuff in the filter. Car spent it's entire life in Annapolis, MD. Very mild climate.

 

[CharlieBauer]

Couple of points;

1) Before using the R&P, you might have wanted to use the cheapest oil you could find just to see what oil consumption over 500 / 1000 miles it has. In other words a baseline to judge R&P

2) If you intend to change filters often, I think the PG basic filter in a case purchase is a good idea since it has pretty high efficiency, very good construction, and is cheap.

 

[TwoC400s]

Couple of points;

1) Before using the R&P, you might have wanted to use the cheapest oil you could find just to see what oil consumption over 500 / 1000 miles it has. In other words a baseline to judge R&P

2) If you intend to change filters often, I think the PG basic filter in a case purchase is a good idea since it has pretty high efficiency, very good construction, and is cheap.

Yes, I probably should have waited to see if there was oil consumption. Ah well such is life.

The Super Tech filters were readily available so I grabbed 4 of them, and I also have a case of 12 of the Toyota OEM filters that was ~$50.

I'll be back around in a month or so with pics of the second R&P filter.

 

[TwoC400s]

Yes, I probably should have waited to see if there was oil consumption. Ah well such is life.

The Super Tech filters were readily available so I grabbed 4 of them, and I also have a case of 12 of the Toyota OEM filters that was ~$50.

I'll be back around in a month or so with pics of the second R&P filter.

I will say that the oil level at what appeared to be 3500 miles into a 5K OCI was still just below max, and I noticed no oil consumption during the first 400 miles of the R&P OCI.

 

[ATex7239]

I hope it works for you. Keep us posted. I’m really enjoying seeing all these R & P posts.

 

[DirectRejection]

Short OCIs. OFCIs.
Then HPL.
Worry about the head gasket, not the oil.

 

[TwoC400s]

Short OCIs. OFCIs.
Then HPL.
Worry about the head gasket, not the oil.

Head gasket failure on an Gen 2 Prius? Extremely rare. These cars commonly go 500K on the stock motor without issue.

Maybe the other NZ engine variants in Scions or whatever, but I could only find a couple of HG failures specifically for Gen2s. Gen 3 and 4 seem to have a little more of an issue as well.

There's no way in the world I'll be paying for HPL for this car. It's probably just going to stay on R&P for the foreseeable future, I'll change it every 6 mos.

 

[DirectRejection]

Head gasket failure on an Gen 2 Prius? Extremely rare. These cars commonly go 500K on the stock motor without issue.

Maybe the other NZ engine variants in Scions or whatever, but I could only find a couple of HG failures specifically for Gen2s. Gen 3 and 4 seem to have a little more of an issue as well.

There's no way in the world I'll be paying for HPL for this car. It's probably just going to stay on R&P for the foreseeable future, I'll change it every 6 mos.

I personally know several people with head gasket failures on Gen 2 Priuses.

HPL provides excellent return on investment, partly due to extended OCIs.

Please follow up with any possible issues with oil consumption, as that would be interesting re R&P.

Good luck with your Prius.