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My experience with oil consumption (2010 prius 73,000 miles)

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Former Member 68813, Aug 7, 2016.

  1. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    I decided to start this so I would log my experience. I'm kind of sensitive to oil consumption in toyota cars as I used to have 2003 corolla (made in 2002) that had oil consumption that started at about 75,000 miles despite oil changes every 5000 miles, that were beyond what was required at that time (7,500 miles). Only a couple of years later toyota went to 5,000 miles OCI with regular oils. After watching that oil consumption steadily getting worse over a couple of years (up to 2-3 qts/5,000 miles), I did an aggressive program of engine flush/piston soaks that almost eliminated the consumption (no consumption for the first 5,000 miles, and then it would slowly come back at low levels).

    I'm not sure if this is purely incidental, but i noticed oil consumption in my 2010 prius for the first time (not counting the very first OCI) at the 73,000 miles point, where I had to top off 0.3 qt. By the end of that 9,700 mile OCI @79,300 miles, it burned 0.6 qt. Not wanting to watch it getting steadily worse like in the corolla, I did engine oil flush with BG109 per the can instructions. I'm not planning to shorten the OCI or go to thicker oils yet.

    Now, it's possible that consumption was merely due to the oil brand switch (I went from penzoil platinum to M1 EP). I'll keep you posted.
     
    #1 Former Member 68813, Aug 7, 2016
    Last edited: Aug 7, 2016
    m.wynn, jdcollins5 and Mendel Leisk like this.
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    what is the toyota threshold for warranty?
     
  3. Former Member 68813

    Former Member 68813 Senior Member

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    thanks for replying. this is not a warranty issue.
     
  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    pleasure.
     
  5. AMac

    AMac New Member

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    I have an 03 Corolla as well with 215k on the speedo. I use Valvoline full synthetic 5w-30. my oil consumption is about a qt per 900m or so. I still get about 28 mpg though