Shell Rotella 5w-40 for 2007 Prius?

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Thoughts, anyone, on this combo of car and oil? I have it, I use it on all my other vehicles, and am hoping it will work OK for this vehicle in the Seattle climate.

Thanks!
 
Rotella 5w40 will work fine. Toyota originally speced a 0w-30 or 5w-30 for that, but remember your engine copes quite well with cooler 5w-30 which is as thick as a warmer 5w40. Not much hot running difference in viscosity, no problems at all there.

Generally don't recommend somebody jump up 2 whole grades, like if they speced a 5w-20 for that car, but going up one grade is fine.
 
The Prius is spec'd with an high VI 0W20 for lots of reasons. If 5W40 was the perfect oil for this engine the Toyota engineers would have spec'd it. Use the oil Toyota specified. For background read CATERHAM's posts on high VI oils.
 
Originally Posted By: greguzzi
Thoughts, anyone, on this combo of car and oil? I have it, I use it on all my other vehicles, and am hoping it will work OK for this vehicle in the Seattle climate.

Thanks!

If you want to use xW-40, go with M1 0W-40 SN. It's thinner than Rotella, higher-quality than Rotella (has some PAO and ester), and formulated primarily for gas engines. It works wonderfully in my Corolla. Online rebate is available until the end of November.
 
Originally Posted By: Gokhan
...If you want to use xW-40, go with M1 0W-40 SN. ...


LOL - Just the other day I threatened to run M1 0W-40 in a Prius just to watch the spin out here.

So far - this is going way better than I'd have expected.

Originally Posted By: Eddie
5w40 will work but, certainly not the best for the engine when it is spec'd for 0w20. Ed


Except that a 2007 Prius is not specced for 0W-20 at least not in the US that I've seen anyone produce un-refutable evidence of. (Yes there is a chart, but what country is it for)
 
I doubt it will do any harm, might even be just fine to very good for your engine but your engine is spec'd for a 5/30 oil so Im not sure why you would go up to a 5/40, even more so in a cool climate of Seattle.
Personally I would follow the manual and use the 5/30.

Here is the Toyota PDF on oil weight for the 2007 Prius, Click Here, Page 432
 
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I sometimes drive a company car Prius. It's a 2012 with 260K+ miles and it uses Mobil 1 0w-20 or 5w-20 purchased at Costco. It's driven vary hard by some here that hate the car. In there hands set on "power" vs "eco" mode it get a best of 29mpg. I often get 60-62 because I play the arcade game and others get between 45-55mpg. At least the car keeps going and the most frequent problem is that it blows out headlight really often and it's a blind reach to change the bulbs.
 
What are your other vehicles? Maybe you are running the not optimal oil in those too.

5W-30 covers a lot of vehicles and there are some great ones made.
 
It'll be just fine. You might lose 2% fuel economy. Too much panic here.

I like the idea of using one oil for all vehicles. Your Prius is out of warranty. If you've got a diesel truck or something turbocharged that does well with 5w-40, go for it.
 
i have no problem using 5W40 in 2007 prius (spec'd for 5W30) during summer hi speed hwy driving, but winter? huge loss of mpg. makes no sense whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I sometimes drive a company car Prius. It's a 2012 with 260K+ miles and it uses Mobil 1 0w-20 or 5w-20 purchased at Costco.


Prius didn't start using 0w-20 or 0w-30, either one (no 5w-20 speced, sorry) starting with the 2010 model year. 2007's use 5w-30 or 0w-30 HTHS about 3 oil.

Rotella T6 will work very well. Not that much difference hot. Thicker oil films are not a problem.
 
The car specs 5w-30 SL on the engine oil cap. You might see a slight hit in mpg with 5w-40. I use 0w-30 Mobil 1 just because it was on sale a few years ago, and I stick with the same oil now. I felt the mpg went up a bit with it. Mobil says it's Ok to use in place of recommended 5w-30. The engine itself is not fussy or delicate about oil I don't think, as to harming it.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
At least the car keeps going and the most frequent problem is that it blows out headlight really often and it's a blind reach to change the bulbs.


some prius have that problem and there is a TSB with a revised HL harness that fixes it. my 2010 doesn't have that issue and it didn't break even once in the 70,000 miles (not even burned light) i put on it. it had one recall though. the most reliable car i ever had.
 
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
i have no problem using 5W40 in 2007 prius (spec'd for 5W30) during summer hi speed hwy driving, but winter? huge loss of mpg. makes no sense whatsoever.

Define huge.
 
Again, go with a more premium oil like M1 0W-40 SN. Rotella is cheap Group III intended for 18-wheelers. M1 0W-40 SN has Group IV and V in addition to III+ and is intended for most demanding engines.
 
Huge would be lucky to be 2%, unless it's mile long trips twice a day...and if that's the case economy will also be woeful in the first place.

follow Garak's suggestion, and it's likely massively less than huge.
 
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