Back in the late 50', my first girl friend's father had a 1950 Buick with a straight 8 engine with 150,000 mile on it. He changed the oil once at 100,000 miles. However, he changed the huge oil filter every 3000 miles and topped of the oil. They don't build them quite the same these days.

Over the years I have seen many niche oil companies come an go, all claiming incredible results. After a few years, they are gone. Last weekend I visited a Toyota dealer selling Royal Purple synthetic - never heard of this brand before walking into the dealer's part room.

I recommend a major brand of Synthetic oil like Mobil One or Castrol Syntech. The few extra $$ is well worth it and you will be rewarded with a long engine life.

I seem to remember my uncle's old International pickup that used a roll of toilet paper as the filter in a canister system. He had that old truck for quite some time.

And we use Royal Purple lubricants at my workplace, it's a petrochemical plant.

Idaho National Laboratory conducted a reliability test on four 2003 HCH. Two cars racked up about 25,000 miles and the other two about 160,000. Two of the cars had CVT failure around 96,000 and 99,000 marks and out of those two, one had another CVT failure at 157.000 miles. Price of repairs was around $2,500 a pop and both cars need new catalytic converters at $1,100 a pop which let go around 100,000 miles.

All information about the test and results can be found here.

http://ev.inel.gov/hev.shtml

While there may be no ferrous metal flakes from the block, pistons or head there still has to be a lot of steel in the engine. Bearings, crankshafts and camshafts come to mind. They do still recommend you change the filter, but their filter is of the higher quality type that needs changing less often.


1969 SynLube Company is formed in Vancouver, B.C. Canada

I think they pass the time test. If the US military uses it, it's gotta be somewhat legit as far as being a superior product with dependability as a priority in that field.

However, I think I should go visit these guys and straighten them out on their hybrid reliability information. I think they read too much of the crap journalism that's been passing as auto reviews and the like...

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
'97 Prius Simulation Prius inner workings

The oil may last but additives wear out. Water and fuel do get in the oil and it's not worth it to me to save a few bucks not to change the oil reg. Trust me just because the US military uses it doesn't make it the best.
We used royal purple in a air compressor at work and it seized up, not to say it's not good oil as Gardner Denver told us not to use anything but their oil and one of the bosses wanted to try Royal Purple, needless to say we didn't use it again in the compressors.Kevin

2004 silverblue 5 sp.

This is horrible! One red flag after another. I'd have much more respect for these people if they had said, "hey - we're not a hybrid engineering company, so we can't say much about the internal workings of your hybrid. On the topic of oil, we can say that....."

I also REALLY hate it when people who don't own hybrids lecture me about all the pitfalls of owning one. Especially when everything they say is counter to what you've experienced in the car. My CVT is at 40K and doing just fine thank-you-very-much. It's like someone without kids telling you how to be a parent. They're not even aware of how foolish they sound...

...and if they'd lie about that, why should I believe anything else they say?

*** Retired after 65,000 outstanding miles ***

Beware claims that the military uses it. They might- but they buy any oil from anyone that can meet basic specs. Lowest bidder, etc.

...speaking as an engineer on 2 ships, the Navy uses the cheapest 2190 (40weight) mineral oil available for reduction gears that can handle in excess of 50,000HP per set- and LOTS of filters and purifiers. Change interval = overahul interval, about 10 years (150,000 miles, assuming 5 deployments @ 25Kmiles per). We sample 2x/day when in use for visual inspection of particulate and water and maintain constant temp. 10 year old 2190 looks a more amber than fresh, but is still very much in spec...and the Navy knows a thing or two about keeping gears running.

Diesels use 9250, which is 40wt with detergent. Change interval varies, but as I recall it was several hundred hours in general. Diesel engine oil is the only type that gets regularly changed, because of combustion products and inevitable fuel dilution.

Gas turbines and hi-speed generators use synthetic- change interval = lifetime. Again, LOTS of purifiers and filters. BUT these oils never come in contact with combustion products- purely rotational lubrication.

So a synthetic manufacturer may well claim 'never needs changing' and' used by the military' and be telling the truth- sort of. But they are probably obscuring which oil is used for what purpose.

These guys should stick to commenting about their oils, and avoid speaking anecdotally and out of context about CVTs, engine life, ANYTHING that is not directly in their line of business- lubricant engineering. Pretty good advice in general, for anyone, come to thnk of it.

Hi RIHCH:
___Please consider reviewing the following thread with a bit more detail and postulation as to why those CVT’s possibly failed …

Dept. of Energy HEV mpg test results

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

Sorry xcel,
I didn't know this subject was already touched upon on an earlier thread. I haven't gotten around to back tracking all the threads posted on HCH. But I will eventually

I agree that fleet service vehicles take a beating and with a number of variables which would make it hard to determine the exact reasons for the failures. My actions behind the wheel of rentals is no different. Although, I would like to know what exactly let go in each failure. Even if the drivers of those two cars indulged in a little aggressive driving, the CVT is not built of glass and should be able to take a little punishment, right? I mean how aggressive can one get with the powerplant in this car????

Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to look for problems in the HCH. I don't resent purchasing the car and I'm in it for the long haul till the extended warranty gives out, if not longer till the wheels fall off.

Just turned over 60K on my CVT, no problems of any kind to report. The guy from synlube is speaking out of the wrong hole. Anyway, I have a friend who is a service manager for a Honda dealership and he tells me that he hasn't had any reports of a CVT failing. Period.