Oil Usage ?

Bring the car back.......just kidding.

The Gen 2 engine at 1.5L is puny . It has to do quite a bit of lifting during its life with charging the traction battery and what not.

Some Gen 2 owners have been lucky and their cars haven't been burning oil after 100K miles but some, like me, have had to deal with it since we bought ours. I bought my 05 Gen 2 with 134K miles in late 2010 and it now has 232K miles. It burned oil when I bought it and it still does. The OC hasn't increased drastically over the 98K miles I've driven it. It burns about a qt every 2500 miles now. Not great but not that bad either.

In the grand scheme of things, oil consumption is a small price to pay for a very reiliable car that gets excellent fuel economy. Just keep checking the level every 1000 miles and top off as needed and you should have no problems otherwise. I haven't.

 

1. Before you look for a solution, see what the engine oil consumption rate on your car is.
2. If it turns out the engine is consuming oil, the least expensive solution is just to add some oil as needed.
3. You could also replace the PCV valve, that might help and would not hurt.
4. If there are no engine performance issues, no visible exhaust smoke and the car passes local emissions control testing, why would you spend four-digits to have a replacement used engine installed? That would be the best solution but that is like using a sledgehammer on a fly.

 

I have 2005 with ~160k miles and it does not burn any oil between changes. I change oil at ~7-8k miles. The car has been on Mobile 1 full synthetic all its life.

- Alex

 

this is the second 'shocked to hear some high mileage prius burn oil' thread in a week.

 

It is fairly common, but not a bid deal.

I have 125K on my 2005 and burn no oil between 3K miles OCI on dino.

 

Yeah a little bit of oil consumption is quite common on these once they're at that sort of mileage. Make sure you monitor it closely over the first 5 or 6 thousand miles, and make sure you top off regularly (as needed).

A quart every 3000 miles or so is definitely not the end of the world. Oil is cheap, just top off as needed.

BTW. I'm at about 145,000 miles right now and I guess I'm burning about a quart every 7000 miles.

 

I have 122,000 on mine and use synthetic and go 10,000 between oil changes. Does not use a drop of oil yet (knock on wood)!

 

I'm jealous. 133,000 miles, current rate of oil consumption is maybe 1/4 - 1/3 quart, between the 5,000 mile dinosaur oil changes.

 

5W-20 is not a recommended viscosity for North American 2G Prius. 5W-30 is the recommended viscosity.

3K mile oil change intervals sounds good from the point of view of helping the mechanic's revenue stream. I do not think that is necessary from the Prius owner's point of view, 5K or 7.5K mile intervals are adequate.

Before an oil consumption issue can be reported, the owner has to actually monitor oil level over time and notice whether it changes or not. Many owners do not think this is something they need to do. Once the Prius odometer hits six digits it would be wise to check oil level at every other fill-up, as it is possible for sudden changes in oil consumption behavior to occur.

Further, the distance between the two dimples in the oil dipstick represents 1.6 US quarts. Some owners think the distance corresponds to 1 quart and hence underestimate the amount of oil being consumed. The true test is to see how much oil has to be added to bring the oil level back to a specific spot on the dipstick, after accounting for time needed for the oil to drain down from the cylinder head into the crankcase.

 

People doing 3000 mile oil change intervals rarely report oil consumption simply because it's not a long enough interval to notice unless it's severe. Also other things like short trips and fuel contamination can influence the apparent consumption.

In the US 5W20 is not recommended for the gen2 Prius so it's a moot point.

It's unlikely to be directly related to any one magic brand of oil or any magically low oil change interval. There are several users here reporting only ever using "dino" (mineral) oil and still having no oil consumption at high mileage.

When it comes to oil related issues there is no end of anecdotal evidence that can lead you to false conclusions.

 

While in general I agree with what you have said. Toyota in some countries seem to have changed the recommended oil to 0w-20 at some point in 2008. My car is just one such example in that both the hand book and the filler cap state to use 0w-20 oil, and there are others here on PC that have reported this.
My UK Prius has now covered 113,000 miles always with 0w-20 oil and uses no measurable oil at the Toyota recommended 10,000 mile oil change interval.

John (Britprius)

 

when you buy a 6 year old car with 170,000 miles, you have no idea of the type of driving and possible abuse it has seen. nor do you know the level of service unless it is completely documented. to expect it to burn as little oil as when new is positive thinking but not realistic.

 

I agree with you John. A good quality 0W20 should be fine. Modern synthetics hold their viscosity and shear down less than older technology oils anyway.

 

I'm currently using a 5w-30 dino oil. Is it a good idea to switch to a 0w-20 full synthetic? If so, should I use the Genuine Toyota Oil? Would any full synthetic be the same?

 

For Gen2 USA the preference is 5W-30 or 0W-30.
You don't have to switch to synthetic on a Gen2, that's my preference.
The Genuine Toyota generally gets very good marks for quality.
I use Mobil-1 easy to get from Walmart, but other quality brands out there.
Mobil-1 does have a high mileage version to try to minimze oil loss if that is an issue.

If switching from dino to synthetic, I don't really see a big issue. If you look at Mobil1 web site, I think they say you can just make the switch. Some people remember when the first synthetics were a little harder to swtich over to. I do not think we have that problem anymore, but you could check a couple website to be sure (Mobil1 etc).

 

I would not use 0W-20 in the Utah summer. Maybe in the winter season.