First Oil Change...Wait 10K Miles?

So good you said it twice

I hear ya, but equally I've never seen an engine with oil sludge since an old 1987 Vauxhall Cavalier I once owned - it used a US GM engine

Maybe it's the oil used that causes sludge? But I've just not seen it and speaking to the local taxi service agent about a year ago or so, he'd not seen it in years either. We've had catalysts on most cars for 25 years and they've been mandatory since 1993 so similar problems should occur. Is it different laws on oil and what it can contain? Maybe it's what's in the petrol itself? Or is it ethanol?

I had an old Ford Mondeo 2.0 petrol that ran to just short of 300k taxi miles before I got rid and that was the original engine and ran sweet and had no sludge. It rattled a little but was fine and economcal right up to the end.

I still think it's shock tactics from the oil and/or service industry that keeps you all using low oil change intervals. I know many taxi drivers running oil changes at 15k or 18k miles, running 30k miles a year and running their car upto 200k miles with no issues. How can such differences apply depending on which side of an ocean you live?


Merc UK warranty is unlimited miles upto 3 years; Mercedes-Benz UK - Warranty - Mercedes-Benz warranty

 

Toyota and VW had big time problems with sludge.

 

I think very little of the material that makes it past the air filter ends up in the oil. Your post makes it sound like it all does, most gets burnt and exits down the exhaust.

Gasoline will not block the filter nor will the filter remove it and even after 10,000miles with normal use from oil analyst results fuel contamination is usually below 2% with the Prius, and often much lower than this. More cold start short runs more fuel in oil, long runs evaporate it off.

Some contamination does come from blow by, but again not all the blow by finds it's way into the oil most is removed by the PCV valve back into the induction system.

My own Prius now has 84,000 miles on the clock and I will try to take some pictures of the cam shafts through the oil filer orifice it is as clean as the day it came off the production line and only ever had 10,000mile oil changes. The oil comes out so clean I save it and use it in my garden machinery.

 

That was a great article and explained everything I don't have time to on my phone.

 

Hi GrumpyCabbie I remember the 70s/80s Vauxhall (GM) Viva had terrible problems with sludge and Vauxhall brought out a modification that consisted of a square steel plate that fitted in front of the rocker cover to stop cold air from the cooling fan blowing over the cover. The inside of the cover looked like it was full of gray mayonnaise.

Fords used to suffer with sludge, but BMC's/Leyland did not.

 

Exactly.

I was in the service department at a Toyota dealer for eight years, I'm not pulling this stuff out of my nice person.

 

Correct, here you go.
Toyota Agrees to Sludge Settlement for Consumers

 

All those claims are before the use of synthetic oil mandatory in the Prius.

 

And now you know why.

 

I wonder if that's it? Synthetic oil is used here virtually all the time and has been for years, yet in America it seems that any old junk bought down the local supermarket for $4.99 for 5 litres will do.

I have searched google for UK issues with oil sludge and can't find more than one or two entries. Is this the same as the unintended acceleration issues that Toyota had 2 years ago? Where nowhere else in the world had problems, yet in litigation mad America every man and his dog had problems with Toyotas?

I've not come across oil sluge in the last 20 years after working with taxi fleets and also working in a company fleet department, yet 2,000 miles away it's a serious issue.

Something is weird somewhere. I'm not saying you don't have the issues with sludge, but it must be something localised that's causing it.

 

Like I said, it wasn't just Toyota with the sludge problem.
VW Audi Oil Sludge Class Action Lawsuit Settlement -

 

The strange thing is I have not see or herd of any Prius having sludge problems. A search on PC brings up nothing that I can find, and going back as far as the gen1 (2000) is 12 years of use, so sludge in the Prius engine appears to be a non issue.

 

One thing I note that you have hit upon is the oil differences. Is it a case that we are being ripped off on oil prices (up to £60 $96 a 5ltr can) or are those in the US being ripped off with poor quality product all be it at a low price.

 

This is what I'm telling ppl. Its hard to comprehend a 10k mile oil change, but that's where technology development is at now.

Galaxy Nexus ? 2

 

I had no problem with the extended oil changes. I came from GM cars with oil monitors and VW diesels with 10,000 mile oil changes.

 

I had no problems with the initial oil changes when sticking with the manufacturers recommendations. It was the rest of the cars where the problems were.

 

If we can figure out the logistics I'll be happy to take used oil from people who are steadfast about changing at 3000 or 5000 miles when the manufacturer says 10,000 miles!

 

This has been argued time and time again. Do what you feel comfortable with/matches your driving. VW recommends every 10k, so as long as you at least do that you won't have issues warranty-wise.

Anyway, I might do mine sooner than 10k because I do a lot of short distance driving, but not sure exactly when yet.