Oil Change-Prius 2008 115k

I use it in everything I own. I feel it gives better protection? Most manufacturers use 0-20 these days. I live in a hot climate and have had excellent results. Some folks that live in your area believe it has too low a viscosity for your very hot climate. Maybe old school thinking, I'm not sure. It's in my garden tractor and both my Prius autos. Hal

 

1. Toyota recommends 5W-30 from the 2nd Gen (2003-2009) Prius model. The 0w-20 was recommended for the 2010-present Prius models. I have used other heavier weights with little to no effect on gas mileage. From BITOG and other sites, the best 0w-20 is Toyota branded 0w-20. Also, 0w-20 must be synthetic due to the fact of its 0 weight. The key is to change the oil regularly. I'm sure that the 0w-20 weight will work perfectly fine but I prefer a heavier weight of oil if not just std 5W-30. I live in SoCal, so we never see below freezing temps anyways. The increase in mpg is minimal by using 0w-20 and I believe it became a popular toyota oil due to its synthetic nature and allowing the manufacturer to extend oil change intervals to 10k miles, thus enabling marketing claims and decreased maintenance costs.

2. Yes, changing the oil filter is very important since it holds a decent amount of oil and is 1/2 of a complete oil change job. It'd be foolish not to change the filter since its only a few bucks for the filter itself. There are also quite a few over sized filter options. I currently have an oil filter that increases my total engine oil capacity by nearly .5 quarts.

I have an 05 prius with 112k miles and got it with 101k miles last June.

 

I've been using SuperTec from wallmart for 187K miles in our Prius. It's $12.72 for a 5 qt jug. I change it every 5K miles. I used the same oil for 334K miles in our Lexus SC400 and it never had a breakdown of any sort. At 280K miles I imaged the cylinder walls when changing the spark plugs and the original honing cross hatches were still visible and all cylinders were within 1 psi of each other at 174 to 175 psi, so basically zero wear.

Synthetic isn't worth the extra money unless you're running a turbo car on a racetrack.

 

You live in a hot climate. Your car has a high mileage. Stick with 5w30.

IF your car was low on miles then maybe give the 0w20 a go, but suddenly changing to a thinner grade of oil on any high mileage car is asking for trouble.

 

Remind me to never buy a car off you.

I worked with a taxi driver who NEVER changed his oil and had no problems. He'd top it up but never change it. Sure his car ran, it made a bit of noise, but it ran fine and right up and beyond 150k+ miles. His theory was that the time saved in not having the car off the road for oil changes more than made up for any potential repairs. There is a logic there, but not one I'd want to test. I also wouldn't want to use Cheapo Glug oil either.

Oh, I wouldn't buy his car either.

To me synthetic oil is worth every penny. The inside of my Prius engine is pristine, like new. Synthetic also allows extended intervals.

 

I've had the same prestine results on many engines using both Mobile 1 long term and dino oil long term. If I were going to go with extended change intervals, I'd certainly use synthetic. I used Mobile 1 on my Corvette because it was required. I used Mobile 1 on both my 300zx twin turbos because there was a clear benefit in that application.

I've saved $760 so far by using the cheap oil over the Mobile 1 after 188K miles on my Prius. Modern engine oil is extremely good...even the least expensive. You almost never hear of engines failing due to lubrication(provided you don't run out of oil) but transmission failures happen all the time.

On my other regular automatic cars, I do a drain and flush of my trans fluid every time I change my engine oil. I may buy cheap engine oil but I always use the manufacturer specific transmission fluid on all my cars.

 

I'm not sure if you misunderstood him Grumpy, but he didn't mean that he literally "used the same oil" (as in not changing it) for 334k miles. . He changed it every 5k miles.

The fact is that motor oil is relatively inexpensive in the US, and despite the very low cost his Wallmart Supertech oil does meet all of the requirements (listed by Toyota) for the Prius engine (API SL/SM/SN).

Over at BITOG they frequently publish independent testing of oils by an organisation called PQIA (Petroleum Quality Institute of America). And this independent body is very quick to jump on any oil that doesn't meet any of the specification printed on the bottle. They very often catch out cheap oils, particularly off brand stuff sold at "dime stores" and "gas stations", and issue warnings about their substandard formulation. However, in all of their tests that I've seen on the supertech oils, they consistently pass all specification and analyses required for their advertised viscosity rating and API classification. (As of course is the case with all of the major brands, like Castrol, Shell, Mobil, Valvoline etc.)

Sure their basic "dino" oil that Sorka uses - SuperTech 10W30 Motor Oil, 5-Quart - Walmart.com - is nothing special, but it does meet the basic API specs that Toyota require. So changed at 5k mile intervals there is simply no reason to believe it would cause any problems.

 

lol you funny f*****

I know exactly what he meant

 

I think he was being sarcastic And yes, you probably don't want to buy a car from me. I tend to hold on to them for 10 to 15 years and put at least 300K on them.

SuperTech is Warren oil and is the same oil that is found as standard shop fill oil in most dealers service departments around the country.

This was our SC400 when we sold it:

Sold with a third of a million miles.... - Club Lexus Forums

 

I picked up an 08' a year ago in November. It had about 135K (mi) on it. I'm close to 150k now. It was dealer serviced, so I am sure that it received the standard Toyota dino oil. It was due for an oil change when I bought it and I started off with some Mobil 1. I changed over to the 0w20 Mobil one and was surprised how thin and clear it was, even after the 5k interval change. Most recently, I put in the Pennzoil full synthetic. Someone on the board here mentioned how well it seemed to clean deposits.

I have to agree. After 5k in the car, the oil came out DIRTY. It was completely different than all of the other changes since I bought the car. I am curious what it will look like this change. I'll try to update in 5k.

The other thing that might be exclusive of this switch, but is worth noting is that for the first time, I had to add about a quart of oil in the 5k interval.

 

Personally I'd never change from 5w30 to 0w20 in any car with over 60k miles on it as it's asking for trouble. If you have always used 5w30 at you're at 150k, then continue to use 5w30 (synthetic or otherwise).

Above refers to a 2008 gen2. The gen3 should always have used 0w20 from day one.

 

Noooo! Don't use that one. Way too thin for your car. oW-02 is for small watches.

 

I find that the color of my oil depends on my oil filter selection, rather than motor oil choice. Interestingly, Toyota recommends DINO only 5W-30 for the 2nd Gen Prius, whereas they state synthetic is optional for some other models of their brand. I use an oversized Fram Ultra filter.

 

OP of course meant to say 0W-20, but for Gen2 I stick with Mobil-1 5w-30 and also 0W-30 Advanced Fuel economy if you want to is fine. Of course, there are other quality synthetics brands out there. For me it's Mobil-1 from Walmart.

It's been so-o-o-o-o cold this winter! Not too good for DIY oil changes. So I am *ashamed* to say last week I changed oil, but not the filter, for my 2 cars! Blasphemy I know. This expediency also saved me a trip to Walmart to buy more oil, since I needed less. I like the Mobil-1 filters too, but my Walmart has stopped carrying those at the store (last I checked you can get them on-line at Walmart).

 

Show me.

 

tsk. tsk. doubting thomas.

 

It’s weird that here in Europe they recommend using synthetic oil. But in US they recommend only using conventional oil. I don’t think there’s any difference in engine to explain this.

 

Because we expect longer service intervals as we value our time. Americans have historically had short intervals and it's become a force of habit to change oil as often as we do our monthly shop.

It is a strange anomaly as European warranties are usually longer and more comprehensive, such as 5 years/100k miles with Toyota. It also seems that our warranties are much less hassle with no quibble too.

Toyota US have taken the step to offer the 10k mile oil change interval on the gen3 Prius which causes all sorts of questions in the forums. If you use synthetic oil you'll be fine. I don't think they believe that that is classed as a low interval here in Europe where 15k or even 20k mile oil change intervals are commonplace with companies like BMW and with better warranties. Why would BMW offer a better warranty and a longer oil change interval if they thought it would result in increased warranty claims?

It's our benefit and their loss I guess.

 

That's strange as reported before by myself and others 0w-20 is fine for the gen2 Prius, and is the oil of first choice according to my 2008 handbook, and filler cap on the car. It is also the oil of choice in all new Toyota hybrids using the same 1.5 ltr engine.
The oil is also listed as suitable on the Toyota oil specification sheet below.


John (Britprius).