Oil

any 0-w20 synthetic, perhaps the Toyota oil or Mobil 1
(during the 103,000 miles I had the Gen 2, it never needed topping up)

Mobil 1 98KF98 Advanced Fuel Economy 0W-20 Synthetic Motor Oil - 1 Quart : Amazon.com : Automotive

 

Wow. Had no idea this stuff was so expensive; explains why the dealership didn't change the oil at the 5,000 mile free checkup. They explicitly said it was because of the special oil, implying it was a Toyota standard. Anybody else experience this?

 

The Toyota service manual in the US calls for synthetic oil changes every 10,000 miles. The dealer will not be reimbursed for doing more than recommended service.


(you are shown with a 2005 Prius, it should get conventional oil every 5,000 miles. I assume your info is now out of date?)

 

I still have that (it gets synthetic every 10K also), as well as the v, but can't find a way to put both in my profile, and am too lazy to build a fancy signature.

 

Don't base your price info on the amazon link above... They're a great place to buy a lot of things, but motor oil generally isn't one of them. I can usually get good synthetic oil for $6 or $7/qt. Definitely more expensive than conventional oil, but definitely less than Amazon's prices. Watch ads at your local auto parts stores: Advance Auto Parts, Pep Boys, and Autozone are three around me that have good promotions on a regular basis. Often 5 qts of oil plus a filter for $30 or so. Sometimes the filter in these promos isn't available for the Prius, but even if you can't use the filter, it's a good deal on oil.

As for the dealer not changing oil @ 5000 miles, it's not about the cost - just that the oil change isn't recommended in the service manual until 10,000. If you want to do extra changes yourself, you can, but Toyota says every 10K is sufficient. And based on oil analyses I've had done on my own vehicles, I definitely believe that synthetic oil can last that long, and probably even longer.

Andy

 

0w20 is recommended, but we have found that it isn't necessary to add oil between changes (10,000 mi).

 

Thanks; I'll keep that in mind. I'll ask for a filter for my old F-150 with the 0W20 oil -- that'll make 'em wonder. One of the dealers nearby regularly sells filters in a 3-fer deal that saves a couple of bucks. Local Pep Boys has regular sales on fancy-brand filters, but never has them for the Prius.

 

I went to are local auto parts store (lordco) to price 0w20 oil for our v and was surprised they actually had some.
Yup, it was only $17.95 a liter plus recycle fees and enviromental fees and 12% HST.
I ended driving south for two hours to Walmart in C'da Idaho and bought 4 -1.25 gal (4.73 liter) jugs of Quaker State Ultimate Durability 0w20 full synthetic for under $100 bucks. So I will get 5 oil changes for the price of 1 in Canada. I will buy the filters as I need them and have already bought the TOY 640 socket for the filter. I don't know why but 0w20 oil is rare up here, 5w20 and 5w30 syn is what the stores stock.

 

No 0W20 at our local WalMart. 5W30 Mobil 1 is about $6/qt. Also no 0W20 at Costco or Sam's the last I looked. Plenty of it at the dealer, though, but I've been scared to ask the price. They get $50 just to change the cabin air filter.

 

You can get a 5-qt bottle of Mobil-1 at Walmart for like $26.50 and my 2006 takes just 3-qts, so the cost is not so bad. Save the bottle designed to return the used oil to Walmart, so you get free disposal too.

 

Well, if you want to extend your stock of 0W20, you could use 5W20 in the summer - it will work the same way until it gets cold. (The number before the "W" indicates cold viscosity, second number is warm viscosity). Of course, if a single oil change takes you through multiple seasons, this idea won't help much!
Andy

 

Costco this week had Mobil 1 (5W-20) for $27 for box of 6 one-qt bottles.
So you could keep one qt in the car if you were so inclined.

 

If one gets the low pressure oil light, the problem is way too big for 1 qt of oil fix.

One is supposed to check oil level with every fueling rather than wait for engine to self-destruct.

 

I think the idea is to use the quart that's in the car to top off if you find the oil is low when you check it at fillup time, especially with 0W-20 (aka unobtanium) at most filling stations, at least in my area.

Having said that, I don't think I've ever checked the oil at fillup time in my 60+ years of driving.

 

Do you have a Prius v wagon?

 

OP wrote:

I pointed out oil light means no oil pressure, not low oil level.

 

It seems that Walmart is no longer selling M1 (in any flavor). The product listings are gone from their site, and I would say that if it's not on the shelf then there ain't no more comin'. I cleaned out two locations in tax-free New Hampshire where it's $24.97+$0.08 state oil disposal fee for a 5-qt container. That means I now have enough for about a year. (I drive about 80k.)

 

On the one in a million chance I'd need to top up oil, I'd not be worrying about the right oil because I'd be checking in to a dealer to figure out why I needed oil at the first opportunity. I'd drop in what ever was close to the right grade and cheap and it might be 20% of the oil in the sump. On road trips, I do check the oil at a service station so I figure some oil will always be available so why carry some. Can't say I've added oil in the last 6 cars or 12 years. They make em way better in materials and uniformity of clearances these days. (I do change oil at least twice as often as required by the manufacturer's service schedule.)

 

Wow! I will check my store...they had a lot the other day