Oil usage in Gen 4

no one knows how long the engine will last. you either experiment, or you don't. personally, i consider 276k a pretty darn good run. there is no consensus on the oil burning problem in some gen 3's, but some are doing fine at high miles.

you would definitely use the engine less on a prime.

you can probably find a base prime netting out under 20k after rebates, discounts and tax credits, before ttl.

what other new vehicle would you expect to get 300+ out of the engine?

 

"I am moving to a house that is 2.5 miles from my office. Plus the gas engine would last longer?"

You will have zero oil usage and infinite engine life,'because the engine will never run.

No one knows the life of this engine...they haven't been out long enough. No problems are cropping up yet.

There is nothing at all wrong with 0W-20 oil in an engine designed for it. Keep in mind that the 90,000 hp Boeing 777 engines use a 5 weight oil. I know, nothing at all similar in the engines, but the point that they were designed for it. I've run diesels that used 30 wt. crankcase oil to put out 5,000 hp per cylinder...because that's how they were designed.

 

Sorry have to disagree with you. Manufactures are being pushed to run 0W-20 in the US to meet CAFE standards. Not so in other parts of the world. I am running 0W-40 with no issues. Higher weight oils are recommended outside the US.

 

You seem disappointed to get to 276k miles. There are few cars that ever reach these types of mileage. Toyota's are know for longevity. But reaching near 300k miles is pretty rare.

 

Surprised you are not happy with 276k miles.

 

How about you keep the gen3 for those trips, and get a used Leaf for your commute.

The new Camry calls for 0w16, and much of Japan's car fleet uses it. They are trying out 0w8 there now.

Improving fuel economy standards are a pressure for the use of thinner oils, but it is improvements in engine technology and motor oil formulation that makes it work. Ford has been using 0w20 in their engines for 17 years now, and I think Honda has using it longer. How many cases of excessive engine wear have those manufacturers had? CAFE fines are cheap compared to warranty claims and bad press.

 

0W-8 & 0W-16 oils are quite different from our usual oil viscosities that end with 5s & 0s. Not interchangeable. They were given these odd ball numbers as a means of identification.

About viscosities...the design engineer first needs to look at the pressures developed in the bearings. This is expressed in psi. How hard does the connecting rod push down on its bearing, and how hard does the crankshaft press down on its main bearings? All bearings inside the engine get this analysis. A bearing can be made larger to reduce the psi and allow lighter viscosity oils with their reduced drag. Some don't need to be larger--the pressures aren't excessive in the first place. All this is discovered in the lab and on the test stand and computer simulation.

Hydrodynamic lubrication is where a rotating journal in a sleeve bearing rides up on its film of oil. The oil pump merely supplies cool oil to the bearing. The rotation of the journal can build this hydrodynamic oil wedge up to a pressure of several thousand psi. Higher viscosity oils have higher film strength, but they also generate more heat during rotation. That heat results in greater viscosity loss, so it isn't a clear benefit in an engine designed for lower viscosity oils.

So...trust the design engineers. Here is a good description of hydrodynamic lubrication:
Journal Bearings and Their Lubrication

 

In what way are they different? the numbers just refer to a range of oil viscosities.

The 2018 Camry has a factor fill of 0w16, and Toyota allows 0w20 for future fills.

 

Had a Gen. 3 with 212k never used a bit of oil.
I was diligent after getting a gen 2 that used a quart every 5-800 miles or so.
I will never go 10k on an oil change but that just my opinion. I like to take care of my things.
Got the gen 3 at 102k from previous owner who reported 10k intervals. I put 110k on it changing at 5k twice and 3.5 all the other times.
Once used supertech full synthetic, once mobile 1 rest of the time valvoline.
She seemed to love her valvoline.

 

Is the oil usage due to bad valve-stem oil seals or bad rings? If it is due to bad valve-stem oils, running 15W-40 will greatly reduce the oil consumption (by about 3X). If it is due to bad rings, it probably won't help much but you can try. You can try the following.

Mobil Delvac 1300 Super Heavy-Duty Synthetic-Blend Diesel-Engine Oil 15W-40, 1 gal—Walmart.com

 

I use 0w-16 Amsoil, and it lasts 10-15k between oil changes with absolutely no oil burning in that time frame on a 2020 Prime.

 

Oh, an Amsoil guy on Priuschat, hey?

 

The Gen 4's don't develop oil burning or head gasket issues UNLESS folks wait too long between oil changes (10,000 or more miles).

I've never kept a vehicle for 200,000 miles so hoping my 2021 commuter car, which is getting 12,000 miles a year, can be the first. (Should hit 200,000 in 5 more years.) It'll be sooner if we take her cross-country to Maine and back like we did our 2017. (Spent a total of $200 for gas for that trip in 2019)

 

Yes, 0W-20 can be used in an engine spec'ed for 0W-16, but check the manual, shorter oil drain intervals may be specified. 0W-16 shouldn't be used in an engine spec'ed for 0W-16. Both the base oil and the additive package are different for the 0W-16.

Lubrizol (one of the major additive makers supplying the lube oil blending companies; Chevron, Exxon, Lubrizol, & Acton are the suppliers to the industry) says,
--quote--
GF-6B - The attributes of GF-6B include the following:

• Not backwards compatible with older engines
• Better durability to mitigate LSPI (low speed pre ignition)
  
• Better fuel economy, as measured by Sequence VIF
• Covers only SAE 0W-16 viscosity grade with min HTHS = 2.3 (high temperature high shear viscosity test @ 150°C)

 

Oil viscosity has nothing to do with the oil-drain interval. As long as it is a fully synthetic oil meeting the certification, it will be good for 10,000 miles. There are also extended-performance oils out there such as Mobil 1 Extended Performance, which are good up to 20,000 miles or longer. Again, you can use any viscosity you want, but you will have worse fuel economy with a thicker oil than with SAE 0W-16. Thicker oil is recommended by Toyota for extreme high speeds, towing, high-speed mountain passes, etc. SAE 0W-16 is fine for normal use.

Mobil 1™ Extended Performance 0W-20

 

Okay. You should use the oil the engine is designed for. I was reading not interchangeable as in the case of engine coolants, where there could be negative chemical reactions between two different formulas. This is a case that 0w16 is too thin to put in older engines.

The 2016 Camry called for 0w20, but 5w20 can be used if the 0w20 isn't available. In that that case, the manual calls for changing the oil at 5000 miles instead of 10,000. Toyota likely says the same in the case of 0w20 instead of 0w16 to get the correct viscosity in sooner.

 

Shorter oil-drain interval with 5W-20 when 0W-20 recommended is because TGMO 5W-20 is conventional,

Shorter oil-drain interval with 0W-20 when 0W-16 recommended is a carryover from the manual with 0W-20/5W-20 and/or to meet the EPA mpg rating. A fully synthetic 0W-20 is good for 10,000 miles just like a 0W-16. You can even buy Mobil 1 Extended-Performance 0W-20 or a similar extended-performance oil and do a 20,000-mile oil-drain interval.

Unlike the Gen 4 engine, which was designed for 0W-20 and later OK'd for 0W-16, the Gen 5 engine is specifically designed for 0W-16, but these engines can tolerate a wide oil-viscosity range.

 

Lol, I actually just switched over to it once I found a local Amsoil mechanic. I've got it in the engine and transmission and honestly runs great.