Oil Change Observation

RE oil, I have always felt that
1-any oil is better than no oil
2- any clean in spec oil is better than any in spec dirty oil.

I will not do 10K oil changes.

just my opinion.

 

I haven't noticed it before, I wouldn't because I take my v into a shop to get the oil changed every 10,000 miles to keep my lifetime powertrain warranty, BUT I drain and fill the oil my self in between at 5,000 miles. So basically oil change every 5k filter change every 10k. Only use the best oil I can buy. I use penzoil platinum made from natural gas 0w20

 

No real evidence that full synthetic "wears out" or even causes any real engine wear compared to conventional but it does get dirty and can be consumed by the engine. Some dealers and other shops will put in a blend to save money for themselves.

 

The Honda CR-V VTEC engine starts to throw variable valve timing errors - VVT system is pressurized by and runs off engine oil; solenoid has tiny orifices/galleries -- as the 5W20 oil wears out (lubricity) or filter bypasses more foreign matter (100+ micron-level).

Haven't seen it on the Prius v Five, but we change at closer to 5000 miles due to short duty cycle.

Similarly, no issues on the 2000 Roadster, which is a loose tolerance engine running 50W synthetic,

 

No need to guess, get it tested: Blackstone Labs

 

agree. too much guesswork based on observation. long term testing at different intervals would be needed.
but a lot of people feel 5,000 is better, and other than a waste of resources, nothing wrong with that.

 

With over 300,000 miles and synthetic blend oil changes every 5,000 miles, I'm in with the 5k oci folks.
The first owner changed every 5,000, it's in the Toyota records.
.
Like the OP said, the engine sound changes.

 

Most of the driving we do is not easy long distance cruising in 70F temperatures type miles, it is of the type classified as heavy duty (severe service) by other manufacturers (short trips, lots of time warming up, variable extremes in temperature, etc) who also use 10k intervals. Except that severe is how most people really drive and in normal reality the oil tests drop to 5k recommended. I'm friends with a guy who runs a service shop which sends every oil change off to a lab for testing. Additives break down around 5k.

I changed at 1k, and every 5k =/- thereafter. So at 36k miles, my car has had 8 oil changes.

Oil is cheap, engines aren't. But then I came from a car where the engine replacement ran about what my Prius is worth.

Your car, your money, your priorities.

 

Seems like most responders are piling on the miles, so maybe not that relevant for them, but the schedule is miles or months, whichever comes first. The 3rd gen schedule for Canada is 8000 km's (roughly 5000 miles) or or 6 months, severe service (Toyota does spec. it) halves both those intervals. Fourth gen, they've apparently adopted the US schedule.

We're quite low usage, months governs (by a landslide, lol), so first weekend in April and October, I drain and fill the oil, change the filter. A day or two later I'll take the old oil while we're walking the dog, down the trail to Mr Lube's used oil tank, pour it out. I have a catch container I use change after change, and the Toyota 0W20 oil I purchase in bulk, cheap.

The used oil filter I also drop off, tied up in a rubber work glove. I'm thinking of just changing that filter once yearly though, considering the low miles.

I haven't a clue how much life is left in the oil. Suspect the OP's onto something, and am just happy to think in our case I'm chaning it well ahead of any deterioration.

 

recommended gen 2 is 5,000 miles.

 

Just another anecdotal report: I'm approaching 100K mi in my 2012 v2, and I've consistently done 10K mi oil change intervals. I haven't noticed any change toward the end of an interval, and no noticeable noise/feel difference immediately after an oil change. I have done a few used oil analyses (none recently), and every time the report has come back essentially saying "oil is fine and could potentially last longer than your current interval."

 

Just my experience, which you asked for. I went to 10k on my first round and did not like how dirty the oil was. And yes, the ICE was noticably louder. Since then, I have changed my oil at 4,500k intervals. I decided to do this because it is 0-20w. So thin and light. The oil is not as dirty at my oil changes and when my ICE starts up it is virtually quiet all the way to the 4,500k mark. So, my car has 19,000k miles in 16 months. For me, I just feel better knowing change it this often keeps the oil cleaner and the start up of the ICE is smoother.

 

Toyota and Prius are by far not the only manufacturers who have the extended range oil change with a severe service oil change also mentioned. I've always considered the 10K or 10K+ change intervals as marketing items even though the extended intervals may be appropriate for some. They look good in magazine reviews. (But don't buy one of the cars the reviewers test, they beat the er stuffing out of them.

I've even seen cases where, after publishing a 15k interval, the manufacturer retracted that recommendation and backed it down to 10K. Meanwhile knowledgeable folks were doing 5k or even less if track days were involved. Not to mention going to war on the forums over which oil to use.

My son who puts over 2k per month on his Prius could probably get classified as extended, I stick to the severe as I put only about 750 per month and lots of that is around town and/or in temperatures of 0F to 100F.

 

Owners who get dealership service will tend to:

1. Run the long 10,000 mile interval, and being more hands-off might neglect to check oil level between changes.
2. Do little or no brake maintenance. Be under the illusion that the brakes need nothing more than pad changes.
3. Never change the transaxle fluid.
4. Get superfluous, unwarranted cabin and engine air filter changes. Probably ditto for wiper blades, where simply cleaning the the glass and blades was all that was needed.
5. Get sucked into uneccesary fuel system cleanings.
6. The car's underpanels will tend to be neglected/abused by rushed mechanics.
7. The lug nuts, drain bolts, and oil filter housing are prone to over-torque abuse.
8. In at least on incident reported here, the dealership neglect to put in an oil filter cartridge.

And when the car is traded in, put up for sale again:

It has a perfect service record.

 

toyota may have set the 10,000 mile interval based on extensive testing and real world data, which no one else has done that we know of.
or they might have just handed it to their marketing department with the stipulation that engine failures under warranty don't exceed x percent.

 

When the 2010 Gen 3 Prius first came out the oil change interval in the Maintenance Manual called for 5000 mile intervals. It was not until customers started complaining about the high cost of synthetic oil that Toyota changed to the 10,000 mile interval.

This sounds more like a marketing decision to me rather than an engineering decision. Of course only Toyota knows the real answer.

I have always continued to change mine at 5k intervals. At 123k miles the car does not burn any oil between changes and does not have any increase in engine noise between changes.

There is a thread with a poll on here where one member is questioning whether the 10k interval is leading to oil burning in cars with higher mileage.

 

For Gen2 we have talked about lube oils getting thinner and some (I think Ed) have mentioned some expensive lubes such as Redline and AMSOIL as a remedy.

What I look for is ACEA A1/B1 rating on the bottle which I believe is a measure of extended drain oil resistance to getting thinner. However, what you see is very few if any 0W-20 meet the ACEA A1/B1, in the U.S. anyways. You have to look at the bottle and see what it says for rating. Some oils will advertise "formulated to meet A1/B1" (but they did not actually test to see if it met A1/B1 - they just think it would pass - which could be true if it is an expensive special oil). I would be tempted to use 5W-20 if it met ACEA A1/B1. So it comes down to looking at lube bottle labels. The Toyota lubes are quite high quality, so that's one label worth looking at. I go to Walmart and look at labels, but of course they do not have Toyota, AMSOIL, Redline etc.