Oil, Oil Filter, or Air Filter: Which one worked?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by tadman95, Mar 9, 2016.

  1. tadman95

    tadman95 Junior Member

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    So, I have a 2005 Prius coming up on the 170,000 mile oil change. Oil/filter have been changed every 5,000 miles. Most of the oil changes were with Mobil1, a couple with Castrol Edge when the price was better. For filters it was usually Pureone with a few Mobil1 filters thrown in. Air filters changed pretty regularly but usually Fram. :(

    At the 165,000 change I tried the Pennzoil Platinum oil which came with the K&N filter. Also changed the air filter to an OEM. Now, 4700 miles later, the oil is remarkably clean and there has been almost no oil burn off. There's usually a 1/2 quart loss. With the Mobil1 the oil was usually pretty dark. THE PP looks like it just came out of the bottle. Now PP is suppose to be pretty good at cleaning up the sludge. If its so clean now, would that mean that the engine is that clean and if so, did the K&N filter or the the OEM air filter make that much of a difference in the oil staying so clean?

    None of this really matters, I just find it interesting.
     
    #1 tadman95, Mar 9, 2016
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    I would say this is mostly due to variations in the engine oil formulation between manufacturers.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Mar 9, 2016
  3. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Yes the M1 may have more detergent but if the car has spent its life on M1 I can assure you its a pretty clean motor. Only way to tell for sure is pull the valve cover off for a peek. I have not done that yet on my car maybe Pat can weigh in on the difficulty on that. Some cars are easy some a pain especially with the spark plug through the cover.

    Btw, M1 is excellent oil. You can easily go 10,000 miles on that oil and the oem filter especially at those miles. Your wasting alot of oil. Modern oil is really good and this little engine is not hard on oil. Use the oem filter its the right filter and only $4.

    The car is hard on Inverter coolant. Service that.
     
    #3 edthefox5, Mar 9, 2016
  4. tadman95

    tadman95 Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I'm going to use M1 on the next change to see if it comes out as dirty as before. If it does, that seems to indicate the Pennzoil does not do a very good job of cleaning.

    The Inverter service is on my To Do list with a couple of other items. Waiting on the weather and my schedule to coincide.

    Thanks!
     
    #4 tadman95, Mar 11, 2016
    edthefox5 likes this.
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