I changed my oil today 4014 miles, a little over 3 mo. old. Very simple and I did not jack up the car. I put in Moble 1 and pure one filter(purolater). Anyhow when I drained the old oil I was surprised at how dirty the oil was. I use good gas (I stay away from the cut rate sations), but this looks more like what comes out of my 2000 Jimmy. I would like observations from other do it yourself owners. ukeright:
Was it "dirty" or completely black? I would think at +4,000 miles it should be very dark brown. That means the oil detergents/dispersants are doing their job.
Not black but definitly DARK brown. Hate to see that in a new car, we'll see how the moble 1 looks at 5K mi.
I would think the Mobil 1 will look the same after 5,000 miles, maybe darker, since Mobil 1 has far higher detergent/dispersant additives than regular 5W-30. I wouldn't fret about this, the oil is simply doing its job. OTOH if the oil came out looking like it had just come from the bottle, I'd be concerned. My 2000 GMC Sierra SLT had the Oil Life Monitor and would tell you "Change Engine Oil." It almost always came out close to black, especially if I ran Mobil Delvac 1 5W-40 in summer when towing.
I am probably going to do the oil change myself as well, as I am nervous about the dealer overfilling it. I am wondering if I should wait till 10,000 miles on the car before going to sythetic, or can I do it at 5,000 ? I heard a few people, that the engine is not broken enough yet, at 5,000
the Mobil 1 I drained from mine was darker than the OEM fill. I don't worry unless it's black at 5,000 miles.
How easy/difficult is it to change the oil yourself for the Prius? I haven't changed my own oil for a long time (got lazy). I used to change the oil on a '85 Ford EXP Turbo (this car was a bad purchase), and the oil filter had to go through a maze of hoses and engine parts to be removed. Also, what's a good brand of non-synthetic, and then synthetic oil? and oil filter? Thanx!
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sid\";p=\"104544)</div> Best oils: 1. Mobil 1 (both for synthethic and non) 2. Redline 3. Royal Purple Best filters: 1. K&N ($12) 2. Mobil 1 ($11) 3. Bosch ($6) I usually do Mobil1 synthethic + Bosch filter. I did the same thing in my civic for 60,000 miles and the car ran like new even after 3 years. IT IS DEFINETELY WORTH THE MONEY.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SDiego\";p=\"102169)</div> Most of the 'experts' that I trust say to wait until at least 10,000 miles before switching to a synthetic, for the very reason you give. The engine is not yet broken in enough. And as folks here on PriusChat have noted that they are getting incremental milage improvements through 20,000 miles, I'd tend to agree. I just had my 5,000 service from my Toyota dealer, and they overfilled the damn thing! Idiots. I'm going to have them drain off the excess. :cussing:
Sid: Price does not equal quality when it comes to oil filters. I have used for years Purolator filters and have recently moved to the Purolator PureOne filters (as teeball is using). What matters with regard to filter quality is a combination of the number of pleats (more pleats mean more surface area when each pleat is the same length from filter core to outside wall) and filter medium. Bosch, Mobil1 and K&N are very good filters and work wonderfully, however you are paying the price for their brand name and as a casual armchair researcher on corolland.com noticed when cutting open various brands of filters, interior construction and quality vary from filter to filter. There is a lot of snake oil out there in the automotive fluids and filters world. Just walk into your nearest Schuck's, PepBoys or AutoZone and you will see isles and isles of fluids and filters, of which most of them are nearly identical in composition and many are made by the same organization with different names put on them before being put in a box for shipping. Teeball has the right idea, Mobil1, which is probably one of the better full synthetic oils out there and a reasonably priced quality oil filter such as the PureOne.
The synthetic vs. dino issue has been discussed many, many times in this forum. Basically, "do whatever you want to do". Remember that the Prius ICE never overheats and has a 5000 rpm redline.
I just didn't think it would take 10,000 miles for a engine to breakin. Thanks for the info I still have not decided to let the dealer do it, in fear of over filling. I should at least let them have at least a shot at it.
