Swapping to 5K OCI Increases MPG?

It's becasue you only drive down hill!

 

Yes, nice if you can drive that SLOW. It shows 34 MPH Avg.

Grit, Ol'Buddy,,You know,,,, putting fresh oil in the engine does not effect MPG...

I wish it did.
I just bought a used '10 Level 5 with the ATP option, 122k mi., and changed the oil with Mobil 1 0-20W and a Wix O/F, two new air filters, and a hope and a prayer!

Here's mine from a Road Trip, the very next day, to the Black Hills from KC, Round Trip.
Interstates all the way. Mostly 70 and 80 MPH posted.
Drove consistently at 75 and 85 MPH with the Adaptive Cruise Control handling the throttle duties.


I would think the average should be higher.... But we did putz around town and up into the hills a bunch.

It didn't seem to use a noticeable amount of oil during this high speed trip. Maybe I have a good one!
Maybe I should get on Team Clean the EGR Circuit before long. Maybe an OCC also. Maybe the newer intake manifold???
I blame part of this horrible gas mileage on the goofy 215/45R 17" tires that the Level 5 comes with.
I'd like to swap them for stock 15" wheels and LRR tires,,, someday.
It's weird the Level 5 doesn't have a different EPA rating. No way these tires roll the same as the skinnier 15" LRR tires.
Toyota pulled a tricky one on the EPA with the Level 5.

 

the average might be higher if the car was newer

 

“Yes, nice if you can drive that SLOW. It shows 34 MPH Avg.

Grit, Ol'Buddy,,You know,,,, putting fresh oil in the engine does not effect MPG...”

You mean drive somewhere near the speed limit? That 34 MPH Avg is actually not that low for combined driving.
And I changed my oil at 1180 miles (I know, I know), put the required oil in it and all I can say is went from mid 50’s previous tank to low 60’s on the oil change and current tank full. And weather wasn’t that different, and neither has been our trips. Not claiming to know the reason why, just stating an observation.

Yep! Especially when you are comparing Gen 4’s to a 2010.

 

With stop signs and stop lights and multi-cycle signal delays galore, I find it quite difficult to get a displayed average speed of 60 mph.

I think my nearest over-70 MPH speed limit sign is over 400 miles away from home.

At least at that time, Toyota could lump all trims and options together for EPA MPG purposes if the curb weights were close enough. PriusChat influencers who were invited to the Gen3 Introduction show, several months before first sales were available, reported back that Toyota was still juggling feature choices and production mixes to make sure they could get an EPA 50 MPG score (49.500 to round up, not 49.499 that must be rounded down) for the combined product line. A few people in the PC delegation were even able to view an engineer's / marketeers's spreadsheet showing the various choices they were still deliberating. They couldn't build too many Level 5 - ATPs in the production mix and still maintain that score.

This 'trick' is nowhere near what Ford did to get its original C-Max Hybrid MPG score. And the EPA even agreed that Ford followed the rules then in place. But following many complaints and even lawsuits, the EPA retroactively changed the rules to be more realistic, and forced Ford to post a lower MPG, with compensation to existing owners.
Ford to lower fuel economy rating on C-Max hybrid! | PriusChat

 

It actually does. It may be an insignificant amount, but it does. If the oil is clean when you change the oil, compare the oil viscosity to the used, nasty oil that is removed. Since the used oil is dirty and has deposit and junk, it is thicker. So actually, @Grit is correct. It does effect MPGs.

Your low MPGs could be from the original spark plugs that need to be changed, but more likely to be the cause of the low MPGs is that you are driving 75 to 85 mph. If you drive above 60/61 mph your MPGs drop drastically the faster you go. I have tested this. Going 60/61 yields somewhere between 50 and 60 MPG. Going 63/64 mpg yields avg. 47 MPG. Going 70 mph yields 45 MPG. 72+ goes downhill from there the higher you go. Your ICE is working harder and faster the faster you go. The faster you go, the less the electric motor can help the ICE.

 

I drive a 70% of my driving is highway miles (50 to 60 mph) and it shows my average speed is around 30 mph. So, @Grit is probably not driving as slow as you think.

 

Ok, agreed. "an insignificant amount". But Grit is right.

Thanks for the Spark Plug change suggestion! What brand do you recommend? I'm on it!
And I'm keeping track of all that smelly gas I'm using in this Prius, so I will be able to tell if fresh spark plugs makes a difference.
I have other Road Trips planned, but not on 80 MPH interstates. That was S. Dakota.!

But really? You think I should drive slow on interstate highways with 70 and 80 MPH posted?
You must be a joy to be behind....
How many dollars will that save?

And actually its a steep curve for speed vs MPG.
60 MPH is so wasteful compared to 50 MPH.
50 MPH is so wasteful compared to 40 MPH.
And that's legal on the interstates, you know. Why are you not driving 40-50 MPH?

The money you save will be a little bit noticeable, but your time at your vacation destination will be noticeably less.
And right again. When cruising on the interstate the 'Energy Recovery' hybrid system does little. So what?
All your power comes from the gas pump, ultimately.

 

It’s important you only buy from either a Toyota dealer or authorized denso dealer like advanced auto parts.

 

Thanks for the suggestion.
But why is it important to only buy this particular Iridium Plug?
What happens if I buy an American made Iridium version of this plug?

 

The only other brand I would venture off to is NGK. Stick with Denso and NGK or possibly have future problems. I was referring more to avoiding unauthorized dealers I.e random eBay or Amazon sellers where you’ll more than likely receive fake plugs.

 

I've bought Bosch plugs from autozone, twice.
When I changed the first set of Bosch plugs, they still looked newish.

In theory, if you but the plugs from Toyota, you'll have a much better change of actually
getting the REAL plug, not a chinese cheap copy.

 

I haven't had occasion to buy new plugs yet, but I did buy a seemingly genuine Toyota oil filter at Walmart, and it did look like the real thing: good printing and hologram on the box, and the filter itself was quite robust rather than flimsy. I assume that a company like Walmart -- or other major chains, whether auto parts or other -- will make sure that the products they buy are the real thing. However, I did hear a few decades ago that the UK Sony operation had discovered that they had fake cassette tapes in their inventory: presumably a customer had bought genuine tapes and returned fakes for credit.

 

walfart will buy the cheapest crap they can. The cost of a Prius oil filter from Toyota is only a few
cents different they getting anywhere else..... and you'll know it's a Toyota filter.

 

I don't doubt that Walmart buys cheap crap, but I would expect them to be very careful about passing off cheap crap as "the real thing," whether it's Toyota or any other well-known brand.

 

You can get genuine oem oil filters at Walmart and good quality name brand oil. I have seen opened boxes where the filter and oring were swapped with the cheaper brand. But the worst thing at Walmart is their service guys who are more likely to leave the undercover poorly attached.

 

OH NO! assume!