Bigger Oil Filter?

Hmmm... Dura Lube Engine Treatment, available at Pepboys is apparently 100% CAS 64742-65-0 (undeclared percentage should mean 100% right?). If the Toyota oil is 5% Adriatic Spindle Oil, that would be about 6.24 oz or 1/5 of the 32oz bottle to use a total of 3.9 quarts of oil.

I think I'll add some of this before changing the oil and see what happens under the conditions of burning 3/4 quart in 200 miles.

 

I think it's likely a myth that there would be any cylinder wear... as I understand it that would come from a head gasket leak and/or total lack of lubrication. I don't think it's been allowed to get that bad.

As for the HEV Battery, it's likely to just have been collecting corrosion. I looked at it in an OBD app and the cells weren't flagged as having any problem, though I was just exploring it. I'll pay closer attention when I have time to do this. A 4 year 14 volt battery will last 8 years if you treat it with battery terminal protector (it's a spray on wax or grease substance). I'm thinking my first step will be to replace the nuts and bus bars on the battery, or save $50 and just clean them and use battery terminal protector which I would just use anyways. It'll be a painstaking process with a paint brush with so many of them, but the symptoms I'm seeing are telling me that it's got corrosion on it that's wasting electrons as heat. The ICE doesn't stay off as long as it used to, and runs down without much use, though can still hold quite a bit of charge and yet my mpg is around 30mpg. At this stage of the game, I might be able to get rebuilt battery results just from cleaning the terminals. What would happen otherwise is that one cell would get significantly lower in capacity than the rest as a result of excessive corrosion on it's terminals specifically and it would overheat and give you the battery light of death. Mine hasn't done anything of the sort, so it's very likely able to be cleaned up with new zinc coated nuts and busbars or a good cleaning with a cheap acid and some battery terminal protector. In this case the removal of corrosion will increase the voltage output of the cell and only make it more homogenous to the set, it shouldn't not work better. However, since no one has yet explored this, I'll have to do some research on the battery operating temperatures at the terminal to make sure that the stuff I use on an under the hood battery won't deteriorate or release fumes in cabin or just spend an extra $50.

 

I'll agree that there may be some types of engine wear on parts that can generally be replaced, but cylinder wear I think you would hear in the acoustics of the engine. I just don't hear any rubbing sounds... some noisy valves, but that's really all I hear. I suspect that damaged engines/engine wear was part of the stick shift phenomena, but these days, there's just no way to push an engine into or beyond the redline and no reason you'd every want to do it anyways. The power output in most engines just drops at that point, all the fun is in the healthy range. Aside from that, something would have to fail, you'd have to drive it while it was overheating, it would have to break off a valve, run out of oil completely, or have some other strange event occur to it. These are Toyotas and Toyota is very smart about how they build their engines with the exception of lower piston rings... Whatever part of the engine that requires the Adriatic Spindle/Heat Transfer oil is, is likely replaceable or not the cylinder walls. Further, as someone who would be buying the rebuild kit directly and via marked up retail, it wouldn't matter much that I might have to replace some extra parts. I might even replace some of them b/c I don't want to clean them. Then again, I'd rather stick with unworn Toyota original parts as opposed to new generic parts. Toyota/Honda metallurgy is said to be second to none and on the leading edge of the industry and where some automakers are cutting back budgets and using poor designs to increase vehicle turnover and thus profits on new car sales. Our mechanics are used to hearing one thing from marketing departments and seeing another when they crack open the engines and there have been some unfortunate exceptions in very reliable cars like the civic, not to mention very common cars that will produce more exceptions. But I'm fairly certain my 1NZ-FXE is not among them for any reason other than having engine sludge as a result of improper rather than poor maintenance.

RobH: There are lots of different Mobile 1 synthetic oils... very low flashpoint ingredient on the one you mentioned (112C). I looked through a bunch of MSDS and didn't find anything that was all that similar to the Toyota stuff, there might be one and I certainly didn't look at all of them, but you're running blind if you don't know for sure... I'd switch back while you still can. 138k is almost brand new for a Toyota.

For what's it's worth, I asked a dealership if there was anything special about the oil or filter they use and they didn't seem to know the difference, but using a unicorn ingredient like Adriatic Spindle Oil with it's unusually high flash point and heat transfer properties makes me think it's really important.

The premium purolator filter looks pretty impressive, though I have to wonder why Toyota's has a cellophane seal on their's. What might it be hiding? Perhaps a light misting of some oxidation prone additive that has some purpose or another and gets washed out of the filter into the engine where it is preserved by ingredients in the oil?

 

If parts are rubbing and scraping, it will indeed make unfamiliar noises. As a newer car owner, I imagine you are less familiar with a range of anomalous automotive sounds. I on the other hand have only owned old cars and I have lots of experience both with getting them fixed and fixing them myself. I've also read a few Haynes/Chilton Manuals and some actual manufacturer shop manuals. It also helps that my first tool was an automotive stethoscope. If you know where the sound is coming from, it's alot easier to recognize and fix.

Oh and as a matter of fact, you're doctor uses a stethoscope to do just that, and as each species of infection has a probable affinity for a particular area of the lungs in a given season, they CAN (often) guess what it is and give you an antibiotic which has a good chance of having strong efficacy against that particular infection.

But maybe the paraffin content of Toyota oil is for the specific purpose of waxing in scratches that occur and the engines are supposed to get old and consume oil so you'll have a convenience reason to buy a newer one. We'll just have to find that out.

 

CNC97: What brand of motor was this that grenaded?

Sam:
I might also add that low mileage failures on cars are also more frequently catastrophic. The longer an engine lasts, the longer it is likely to last (to a point). Though it may still reach a point of being uneconomical to repair.

Of course, some luxury brands are designed to fail before the car starts getting ugly or gives the brand a less than elite image. Some even buy back their working cars just to junk them. I wouldn't expect that from Toyota or Honda brands.

Anyways, harmonics testing IS used in the quality control of automotive parts to ensure reliability. So good parts running together make a certain sound lacking the sound harmonics of an inconsistent structure that can be broken or damaged when under stress.