Using Synthetic Motor Oil?

Well, all you guys have just discovered how little these service advisors actually know...

I've used M1 for years on other cars and have had excellent luck with it. With the Prius, I use only the Toyota branded oil. I've actually had it analyzed by Blackstone and found it's chemical composition to be completely different than the 0-20 M1. It has considerably more Molybdenum in it than any other oil I can find, including M1 (any viscosity range). "Moly" as it's called, is an additive that adds considerable expense to an oil, but bonds with the metallic surfaces to reduce friction. It's what makes the Toyota oil different (superior?) to M1 and other synthetics. It may be blended to Toyota specifications by Mobil, and may use M1 as the "base" oil, but it's definitely different in composition. This isn't opinion, I've actually done the analysis of both oils (same viscosity, 10K miles each) and the numbers don't lie...they are not the same product.

 

I am not sure there's anywhere online you can get the Toyota dealer besides the dealershipships.

 

Not sure what you are saying. I have ordered Toyota parts from dealers selling on Amazon and from dealers selling online.

 

If anything, it's probably because WalMart is so huge, buys mountains of everything, and has enormous leverage over suppliers.

 

I had a honda del sol running conventional oil. Did a valve adjustment regularly and always had to adjust a few. Switched to M1 synthetic and after that taking the valve cover off was a waste of time. The clearances never moved again. I swear it completely stopped any wear of the valve train.