Posted by Marc Gerges on March 20, 2008, 8:11 pm
>
> In Europe taxes and other government overhead compound to drive motor
> oil prices to over $0/quart for the cheap stuff. Lets say an engine
> costs $000 to replace. How often would you change oil to extend usable
> engine life from 250,000 to 300,000 miles? Keep in mind how much (or how
> little) a car with 250,000 miles is worth.
Oil can be had for somewhat less than 10$/liter, and the fact that it's
not considerably less is more related to the USD/EUR exchange rates than
taxes/overhead. Plain mineral oil can be easily had for less than 5.
Of course there's stuff for 50+. But I wonder about the percentage of
snake oil in that...
In the end the engine is probably what fails least often in a car. After
all most are decommissioned due to accidents or damage economically not
worth fixing. That may be, at the right spot, something rather minor
like a brake job, or switching a broken windscreen, or something
similar. One seldom hears of engines dying of mechanical wear (as
opposed to broken belts or similar stuff).
Part of the ecological appeal of Prius is, in my view, to reduce waste.
So, while not wanting to cut corners on maintenance, I'd prefer paying
twice the price on oil that can stay in twice as long.
cu
.\arc
Posted by Tomes on March 20, 2008, 6:41 pm
"Tomes" ...
> "Marc Gerges" ...
>> Tomes :
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm talking about the standard Toyota service intervals, with oil
>>>>> changes every 5000 miles and additional maintenance at 15K, 30K, etc.
>>>>
>>>> I always wonder why the standard Toyota service interval in Europe is
>>>> every 15000 km - roughly 10000 miles.
>>>>
>>> A better grade of oil in Europe is my belief.
>>
>> It quotes SAE on the can.
>>
>> My belief goes to a possibility for money being made.
>>
> I have read in other posts that the SAE in the US is inferior to whatever
> the standard (which has different acronyms) in Europe. I am hoping that
> someone who knows about this will pipe up.
> Tomes
Reading on this can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_oil
look down in the Service Classes section.
Tomes
Posted by e on March 19, 2008, 11:33 pm
Tomes wrote:
> "Marc Gerges"...
>> Mike Rosenberg :
>>>
>>> I'm talking about the standard Toyota service intervals, with oil
>>> changes every 5000 miles and additional maintenance at 15K, 30K, etc.
>>
>> I always wonder why the standard Toyota service interval in Europe is
>> every 15000 km - roughly 10000 miles.
>>
> A better grade of oil in Europe is my belief.
> Tomes
Is that for oil changes?
I think the oil is made to the same standard.
We once ran SOAP (Spectroscopic Oil Analysis Program) on
our fleet cars, and I put my samples through it as well.
There was no reason to change oil more often than every
10,000 miles - in fact, when we tried synthetic there
was no significant difference in the fluid after 10,000
miles.
Posted by richard schumacher on March 25, 2008, 3:02 am
In article
marco@loyola.edu wrote:
> It is time for our 60,000 mile service. Is there anything Prius-
> specific about this that we couldn't do at a local non-dealer shop?
> I'm sure they can do the standard oil changes and filter changes just
> fine, but is there any reason we should go to the dealer and pay the
> premium dealer prices?
There are multiple aspects to this:
1. It is a good idea to use a Prius-certified technician. They are not
all at dealers, some of them are independent. The Prius has enough
unique stuff that you do want someone with special knowledge looking it
over at least once in a while. The 60,000 mile mark is a good time for
it. Also, the scan system is proprietary; ordinary scan tools will not
completely diagnose all problems.
2. Don't ever tell a dealer that you want his X miles service. You will
be charged for everything under the sun, including a lot of stuff that
can't even be done on a Prius. Instead show the service writer the X
miles page in your copy of the Prius scheduled maintenance guide, and
tell them that you want that stuff only, no more and no less.
> In Europe taxes and other government overhead compound to drive motor
> oil prices to over $0/quart for the cheap stuff. Lets say an engine
> costs $000 to replace. How often would you change oil to extend usable
> engine life from 250,000 to 300,000 miles? Keep in mind how much (or how
> little) a car with 250,000 miles is worth.