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My 2010 Prius, It's official, 1qt oil every 4,000 miles

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Mola, Apr 6, 2018.

  1. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    I am still bum about it, but I am starting to accept it. I HOPE!

    I am justifying it in my head that, by the time I use up another quart, it will be due for the oil change.

    I just need to address oil seeping on the back side of the engine.

    Maybe the oil use are from the:

    1. Timing chain tensioner O-ring - plan to replace
    2. Crankshaft position sensor O-ring- plan to replace
    3. Oil pressure sensor switch - DONE
    4. Oil filter assembly O-ring- plan to replace.
     
  2. GFO

    GFO Member

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    How many miles on the Prius?

    I had a late 90's Mitsubishi Montero and the v6 in that engine was notorious in burning so much oil it might as well been classified a diesel. Great car overall, very little went wrong with it and I still miss it to this day, sold it 4ish years ago. They used some soft metal like brass on the valve guides and they would wear out around 100K. By 135K, I was using 3/4 to 1qt every 1,000 miles due to oil seeping past the valve stems and into the combustion chambers.
     
  3. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Any plans on usinf "high mileage" or thicker rated oil to alleviate the oil escape?
     
  4. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    I am planning to replace the valve stem seals. still have to plan how to attack it. I hope it is just the O rings. The Prius does not smoke at all. no blue smoke. usually the the Steam. Did your montero smoke?
     
  5. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    Yes, I am planning to try out 5w30 next oil change, I even have a 0w40 in line if 5w30 does not work.
     
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  6. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    This is very common issue on third generation Prii. How many miles does your car have?
     
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  7. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    140,+++ miles. I drive 200-250 a day.
     
  8. GFO

    GFO Member

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    At start up their was a slight blueish tint to the exhaust but it cleared up once warm. Figured more oil was seeping past the valves when cold and then it lessened once things warmed up internally and expanded.
     
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  9. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    I don't understand............one quart ($5) every 4000 miles.....why would you put any work into that? Why even worry about it? Are you leaving oil stains under the car after its been parked for a while? If not, you're chasing a mirage and you're going to dump money trying to fix something that doesn't need fixing.
     
  10. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    I am just thinking to fix what is obvious and be proactive and preventative.

    Like seeping oil where the sensors are.
     
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  11. GFO

    GFO Member

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    Have to agree with the above statement, a quart every 4-5k isn't all that worrisome in a car with 140K miles. If it is indeed an external loss of oil and it's leaking out onto the road, I'd look into stopping the leak. But if the car is simply burning a bit of oil at that mileage and at that rate. I'd not worry.

    Use a bottle of cheap fuel injector cleaner to keep the spark plugs and combustion chamber clean as oil burning can muddy things up in the long run though.
     
    milkman44 likes this.
  12. Johnny Cakes

    Johnny Cakes Senior Member

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    Right -- let's say you drive 40K miles per year. That's $50 per year.

    Look at the bright side -- it's like a continuous oil change! :)
     
  13. Mola

    Mola Junior Member

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    Yeah, convincing myself that way, refreshing the oil with the same oil additives.
     
  14. padroo

    padroo Senior Member

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    Just a thought, you might be wasting your time doing valve seals if the guys are worn out. I don't know if the Prius has guide problems. The machine shops that recondition the heads know, I would pick their brain.

    I would only use Fel-Pro gaskets and seals.
     
  15. Aaron Vitolins

    Aaron Vitolins Senior Member

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    I thought the common prius oil consumption was known to be from the pistons rings, "high efficiency " piston rings wear out prematurely apparently
     
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  16. Tande

    Tande Active Member

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    Apparently NO one, at least on this form, has disassembled a 3rd Gen. Prius engine to learn just exactly what IS responsible for the oil consumption! ......seems to be more guesses than anything.....
     
  17. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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  18. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    @danlatu ? He discusses the pros and cons of various rings, replaced with something different?

    Blown Head gasket rebuild....@297k | PriusChat
     
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  19. BZzap!

    BZzap! Senior Member

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    Almost all car manufacturers, now a days are obsessed with fuel mileage figures. How do you improve fuel mileage? Well, one of the best ways is to reduce friction in the internals of the engine. This can be done in a number of ways and one of the most effective solutions is low tension piston rings. Ah, but there are trade-offs! Higher mileage oil consumption is an obvious factor. The manufacturers don’t tell you this as a matter of fact. The engineers are playing brinkmanship with this dilemma. They also go so far as to require very low viscosity oils with high mileage change intervals. With all this being said (but not being very transparent about the trade-offs) the manufactures have calculated their losses. Yes, your car is going to consume oil in its later stages of life. Nuff said.
     
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  20. Tande

    Tande Active Member

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    Mendel Leisk likes this.