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I think I've figured out why there's oil burning in Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by JC91006, Aug 27, 2014.

  1. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    well you could do another consumption test and drain some oil out of your oil plug before bringing it back into the dealer. That way it'll be 1.5 quarts low. There's obviously something that needs to be fixed and they should cover it under your warranty.....not after the warranty expires
     
    PriusGuy32 likes this.
  2. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    I have been on 10,000 mi OCI for the entire life of my Prius, as is the entire Toyota fleet in our country as well as most of the rest of the world, and there is no crisis here.

    Not sure what it is about the USA market that has everyone clambering to change their oil every 3-5k mi, but the service centres are sure loving it.

    Fully synthetic vs dyno? Meh!

    It sounds like this poster was fixated on having the engine stripped down and having the rings inspected than actually trying to fix the the problem in a less dramatic way. I wonder if he even read any of the other posts in this thread?

    It seems some engines develop a thirst for oil, and some don't. Nobody has come up with a reliable answer. There does, however, seem to be a correlation between running low on oil and then starting to burn oil.

    The poster claims this is not the case, but it not clear whether the poster was in the habit of checking the oil level prior to having been made aware by the dealer that the oil was down a quart.

    Not too sure anything can be read into this particular case, and certainly it seems that it is a long way off a class action.

    Just my initial musings.
     
  3. mmmodem

    mmmodem Senior Taste Tester

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    I got my license after electronic fuel injection became standard on all cars. All experts, I've read, watched, and listened to including the Click and Clack Brothers and Motorweek have said warm up is for older vehicles without electronic fuel injection. The engine wears more while cold so the best thing to do is warm it up as soon as possible and that is by driving moderately after start up. That's what I've always done and have not had much oil consumption in vehicles I purchased new. My previous vehicle, a 2006 Civic is still being driven by my mom at 180k. The maintenance minder system usually alerts an oil change at 10k miles and that's what I did. The only warm up that Civic gets, is the time it takes me to put on my seatbelt, adjust the radio and shift, about 30 seconds.

    For contrast, since I have a PiP, the ICE comes on when I hit 65 mph on the freeway every morning or when I run out of EV. I can see EV is shouldering most of the load as the battery level goes all the way down to 2 bars before the engine revs up. I've always done 10k oil changes per manufacturer since new. Going to do the 80k change in another couple of weeks. If there is any consumption, I'll report back.
     
  4. Andyprius1

    Andyprius1 Senior Member

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    Right on John. Prius or not plain old did engine abuse and weather factorsl. A combination of cold weather and unnecessary acceleration are probably the main factors in engine wear and premature oil burning.
     
  5. geekwithoutacause

    geekwithoutacause Junior Member

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    Are you guys sure your oil 'loss' isn't because of excessive oil checking and losing a little bit every time you wipe the oil stick ? :)

    Seriously, Using some oil isn't always a bad thing. I would not let it warm up unless you live in subzero climates and even then. What is much more important I think is : 1. Drive it gently for the first 10 to 20 minutes. No high rpm's. 2. change oil frequently, 3000 to 5000miles. It doesn't matter what oil as long as it meets api specs. Use the cheapest walmart stuff. Do replace the filter with a good filter.

    Also, there is warm up and there is warm up. When the coolant is warmed up, the oil is not warmed up yet. It takes quite a bit longer for the oil to warm up. Oil lubricates best when it's warmed up fully. So you really should take it easy the first 10 to 20 minutes if you want to get the maximum life span out of your engine.
     
  6. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Sorry DrCrispy, but I think your overall diagnosis is wrong.

    You say the warranty did repair the "small oil leak"...but what was the cause of that small oil leak?

    You may indeed now have prematurely worn rings, because you evidently drove X amount of miles with the vehicle leaking oil. But I don't buy the premise that Toyota used "rings" designed for 5000 mile standard oil change intervals, and that the change to synthetic and the 10,000 mile interval is the genesis of your problem.

    First of all I don't remember the oil recommendation for The Prius ever NOT being synthetic, they do say you can use dino oil for a cycle, but then recommend changing back.

    It's too bad you have arrived where you have arrived with your Prius. I agree that nearly a quart of oil gone in 1200 miles, and the rate in which you are burning oil may technically fall within Toyota's declared specs, but I wouldn't be happy either.

    Unfortunately this is rather typical of all auto makers. Once thought about buying a PT. Cruiser, but visited a owners forum and found so many owners complaining about Oil Consumption and how Chrysler avoided warranty coverage by having a ridiculously high "specs" allowance. This kept me from ever seriously considering buying one.

    I would also say, as much time as I spend at Prius Chat, don't see a whole lot of threads about excessive Oil Burning or loss. It happens from time to time but I don't see it as an intrinsic problem to the entire Prius line. Unfortunately, whatever happened to your Prius I think is unique.

    I know owners usually defend their vehicles to a fault. But I've had my share of problems with this Prius (Cosmetic Paint Issue), so I don't file Toyota under "Perfection", but I still think Toyota is one of the best mainstream, large, automakers that you can purchase a vehicle from, in terms of quality of their products.

    You may unfortunately have a problem with your Prius. But if I was buying a new C-Max today, and a New Prius today, and both were going to get equal usage, and you asked me which I thought would be in better shape 8 years hence? I'd still place my bets on The Prius.
     
  7. JTM2955

    JTM2955 Active Member

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    Well as the owner of a GenII with 155k miles, I do use a little oil between changes. I am the original owner and have performed all the oil changes but the first ones under warranty. I quit going to the local dealer after finding my tires were pumped to 58 psi.
    I changed over to synthetic oil at 15k and have kept Mobil One or Castrol in the engine at all times.
    Could it be possible that the oil NEVER really got changed at Dr Crispy's 70k change?
    For a vehicle to suddenly start burning oil, there had to be something significant.

    Most manufacturers will not be upset if an engine uses one quart per thousand miles. For Toyota, it would be their call on an engine tear down.

    Mine uses about a half quart per 5k miles. My thanks to John 1701a for showing me exactly how much oil to add without overfilling. I have never put more than three quarts of oil at change time.

    I love my GenII, I even added Sirius XM built in via a recycling yard for about one hundred dollars and an afternoon's worth of labor.

    So I feel your pain, DrCrispy. Sometimes the car gods don't vote in your favor. I hope you have as great service with the C-Max as you have had with your Prius.

    As the owner of three Toyota's, I am yet to have any problems with any of my Toyota products. Would I buy another Prius? Yes, definitely.

    LG-D851 ?
     
  8. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    I let the engine warm for around 40 to 60 seconds every time I have a "cold" start, even in 90F + weather. It's not for the sake of the oil or the engine though, it greatly helps in preserving the health of an old or weakened traction battery!
     
  9. CBarr31

    CBarr31 Active Member

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    Remember this is being posted in the GenII Forum and as far as I know the GenII has always been dino oil and not synthetic. At least Ema's Manual makes no mention of Synthetic in any way.

    As for the oil burning/loss issue there are A LOT of posts and threads on it. Some with definitive pictures of causes of it. This varies from owner to owner and car to car and while most are "higher" mileage vehicles or did lose oil some are not. I put "higher" in quotes because years ago 100,000 miles was considered high mileage. I personally wouldn't say that is the case anymore.

    Happy driving,
    Chris
     
  10. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    Fair enough. But my response was to "Dr. Crispy" who's profile suggests he is driving a Gen 3 Prius.