Prius oill filter better than Mobil 1

I assume that they were talking about the Anti-Drainback valve which theoretically holds oil in the filter when the car is turned off. Almost every brand of oil filters (even the M1) have this feauture already or include it in their premium lineup. But I don't think its an issue on a Prius anyway because the filter is not installed sideways so it shouldn't drain anyway.

 

Probably a rebranded Mobil 1, Castrol Syntec, etc, but +30% higher in cost

I hope it's better quality than the no-name bulk crap they have sitting in the tote bin. I had my dealership bulk oil tested and it was real crap, not to mention contaminated.

It's standard industrial practise to have a desiccant breather system on a bulk lube tank. This keeps dust and moisture out, and is very important to prevent contaminating the lube oil. Every dealership tote bin I have ever seen, including all the quickee lube places, uses a simple inverted pipe as a breather.

 

You have been feed a line of nonsense from your Toyota dealership. Here is a thread on the Toyota OEM oil filter and as one can see from the pictures the pressure relief valve is no different from that on any other oil filter.

Bottom line is that the Toyota OEM filter is a good natural paper filter, but is less effective than the part synthetic and all synthetic filter media filters such as Mobil 1 and Amsoil and others. Keep the Mobil 1 filter in preference to the Toyota filter.

Rumple

 

I agree that the dealership gave you a load of bull. No oil filter has a pressure valve, some only have anti-drain back valves. This type of valve isn't needed as the Prius filter isn't installed horizontally.

I am amazed how little people know about a car's oil system.

 

Every full flow filter I have ever seen has an anti-drainback valve, and a few don't have the pressure relief but most do. On some cars I know, like older Nissan Maxima the pressure relief is built into the engine, so the filter doesn't require it and doesn't have it. Those are pretty rare as it costs more to make the car.

The anti DB valve is a check valve for the dirty side of the filter. It is necessary in any position, to prevent the oil above the filter outlet from backflushing the filter and it's dirt. The outlet passage from the filter also stays full for better oiling at restart.

 

The oil filter link is good, but there is no way to tell what the filter is made of by just looking at it and assuming all sorts of things. Denso makes the filter, they make good stuff, and put a lot into their filter medium research. The air filter is a good example. They make a lot of the parts in Toyotas and is one reason Toyota is considered reliable. The Denso filter from Denso is available for about the same price as the Toyota branded one, but has the red ADBV. The fact it is made in Thailand only means it costs less to the consumer.
A full flow oil filter must maintain oil flow as well as catch dirt, and the medium is not just simple "paper." All in IMHO.

 

In respect to your last comment, what is that about? Many, perhaps most members of this group, aren't car or oil system experts. This group is a information center for all of us. RtStuf was sharing information he learned at the Toyota Dealership. The dealer rep stretched the truth in the information seminar? Gee whiz, what a shocker! I commend RtStuf for sharing what he learned. When you post something that is debatable, better informed members respond and cite the explanation. Your comments, other than the last sentence, and the other members gave great information to RtStuf and the rest of us oil system impaired Prius owners.
I'm going to have to tell my wife the joke about the oil pressure valve and anti-drain valve...she'll get a real kick out it....

 

The Toyota 0W-20 in quarts is manufactured by Nippon Oil.
Nippon Oil also supplies the factory fill 0W-20 to Toyota.

The BULK oil is likely 5W-30 = cheap.

So, if you need the 0W-20, make sure you specifically request it and verify that they are not using the BULK oil.

 

when i read the back of the labels on the toyota 5w-20 and 5w-30 bottles full synthetic, it seems to have less certification than mobil 1 5w-30.

 

Sorry I sounded rude. It is just that changing the oil on our vehicles is about the only easy thing we can do these days. It is bothersome when many people would rather over pay to have this done instead of doing it themselves. Also, we have the Internet now to get our information and yet still people rely on "Stealerships" for an education. When will we learn?

 

As much as I hate the "stealerships" I will comment that even though they are more expensive to take any of your vehicles to, at least 90 % of the time they are able to do competent work. I recently took my wife's Volkswagen to an independent shop to get the Timing belt and Water Pump changed. Guess what happened they decided to save a few bucks and not change the T-Belt Tensioner because the tech said it looked like it was in good condition. Of course the Tensioner ended up breaking about 4 months later. Talked to the dealership later and they said that they would refuse to do a timing belt change if the customer didn't replace the tensioner.

 

It could be that the independent shop has less parts inventory in stock and it was too much trouble to get the tensioner for your repair job.

I agree with the repair philosophy that one should replace all moving parts in the immediate vicinity of the repair job, rather than have to disassemble the front of the engine multiple times.