Switched Oil from 5W30 to 0W20 after 193 miles, watching mileage.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by CrazyLee, Dec 22, 2014.

  1. geekwithoutacause

    geekwithoutacause Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 1, 2015
    63
    12
    0
    Location:
    Phoenix az
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    That big of a difference in pressure sounds like a leak or leaks in this case
    . Keep an eye on it.
     
  2. Daves09prius

    Daves09prius Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2010
    680
    161
    0
    Location:
    Gettysburg, PA
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    One
    Please keep posting about your findings. I too have been wondering if 0W20 would offer better MPG vs the 5W20. I've been using 0W20 in my car for quite some time and have noticed that I burn a lot of oil and minimal MPG difference. I think I might switch back to the 5W30 synthetic and see if anything changes like my oil usage or MPG goes down.
     
  3. CrazyLee

    CrazyLee Member

    Joined:
    Aug 3, 2014
    153
    24
    0
    Location:
    Muskegon, MI USA
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I have found that 0W20 oil works well but doesn't deliver much in savings of fuel, except maybe in the short trip driving. I had been using 5w30 synthetic, the last being Pennzoil Platinum. That oil was good but now I wanted to get some service by Toyota under the Eclectic Electric's belt. I took it in to my local Toyota dealer. I opted for regular Toyota oil at $33.00 total bill VS over $60.00 with synthetic. The con in this is it took almost 2 hours. I'm glad that they had a real nice massage chair I used for 1/2 hour!

    Surprisingly I am getting better fuel mileage. My guess they "cleaned up" my ECU data and now the car is running "more normal" since I probably lost a smidgen of mileage with the conventional oil.

    I am now listed as needing a steering part under warranty replacement since they looked up my VIN #.
     
    bisco likes this.
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    110,513
    50,230
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    great work lee, thanks!(y)
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Witness Leader

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    57,211
    39,490
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    Yeah thanks for the comparison. It's surprising how "all over the map" 0W20 prices are. Up here I get Toyota 0W20 (synthetic) for $5.91 per liter. That's a slight uptick, on a purchase I made yesterday. For the last 5 years, they've been selling it for $5.65 per liter.

    Those prices are Canadian dollars, and liters are a bit bigger than quarts. Actually a bit of a head shaker tho: even though I needed the oil for a Honda oil change, I opted to get the 0W20 oil at Toyota dealership. A Honda dealership, more-or-less across the street, was selling their Honda 0W20 for $9.07 per liter. If you walk into an automotive specialty shop, Pennzoil or Mobil 1 0W20 are in the neighbourhood of $10~12, sometimes liters, sometimes quarts.