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excessive oil consumption solved*

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by rufuslyon, Feb 26, 2019.

  1. rufuslyon

    rufuslyon New Member

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    *Disclaimer* This is what worked for me but may not work for you. Just something to check while troubleshooting this issue.

    Hey guys, like most of you I’ve been experiencing excessive oil consumption with my prius. I’m the third owner of a 2007 with 230K plus miles and my car was burning about 1.5qt:750-1000 miles. After reading several threads on this forum I decided to do a piston soak with B12 to see if it would solve this problem. While removing the coils and spark plugs I noticed that there was oil on the coil and spark plug threads which can only mean one thing; spark plug tube gasket failure. A quick trip down to my local auto parts store and $20 later my oil consumption is now at an acceptable 1qt:3-3.5k miles. It took me about 30 minutes to replace the gasket but if you’re not mechanically inclined then it’ll take roughly about an hour.

    you’ll need the following to complete the job:
    14mm socket
    12mm socket
    10mm socket
    Screwdriver
    Pliers
    Fel-pro valve cover gasket part#VS50624R
    Cold beverage

    I would write a full DIY but the job is pretty self-explanatory. Remove windshield wipers, cowl, airbox, pcv hoses, coils and valve cover. As long as the gasket is seated properly you will not need any RTV sealant (silicone) but for whatever reason you feel that you need to, remember to use a very small bead and let it set for at least 5-10 minutes before putting the cover on and torquing the bolts. Hope this helps

    *Edit 1: I replaced the PCV valve the day after I bought the car so I’m fairly certain that it wasn’t contributing to any significant oil consumption
    *Edit 2: I’ve tried everything that this forum has recommended (seafoam and mmo piston soaks, motor flushes and running gallons of techron fuel injector cleaner) to help with this issue and only replacing the valve cover gasket has helped curb my oil consumption.
     
    #1 rufuslyon, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Great job! Another member discovered a gasket leak when he removed his plugs too. His engine had around 270k miles on it.
     
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  3. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    Cant wait for your update on oil consumption following that piston soak :whistle:
     
  4. Zeppo Shanski

    Zeppo Shanski Active Member

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    I've noticed this fact in a number of threads. A considerable number of you all accept the fact that your cars consume oil. ... What? ... Acceptable oil consumption? ... I've never heard of that ... even in junky cars. Please explain how any oil consumption could be acceptable.

    TIA for some understanding here.
     
  5. Jmack111

    Jmack111 Member

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  6. rufuslyon

    rufuslyon New Member

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    sorry if this is a repost, I haven’t been on the forum for a while so I haven’t seen any of the newer threads. ☺️

    in any internal combustion engine oil is a consumable. When the piston is moving down during the intake or power stroke the compression rings will scrape off most of the oil from the cylinder walls but not all of it. if the rings scraped off all the oil then you have metal to metal contact and your cylinder walls would be scratched to hell which in turn would allow excessive blow by. motor oil has a high flash point but some of it does get burned off during the power stroke (combustion). this is due to the molecular bonds of the oil breaking down due to age and contamination toward the end of the OCI. This contributes to the “acceptable” oil consumption.
     
    #6 rufuslyon, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
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  7. rufuslyon

    rufuslyon New Member

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    I did a seafoam and MMO soak/motor flush several months ago prior to finding the gasket leak and that did absolutely nothing for the oil consumption. I might do a berryman’s b12 soak later but that’s only because I saw some carbon deposits on top of the pistons. Considering the first owner was a rental car company that probably abused the crap out of this car and the current mileage I have my doubts that a piston soak would help lessen my oil consumption
     
    #7 rufuslyon, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
  8. Jmack111

    Jmack111 Member

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    I used berryman’s b12 try to clean the ring drains on my piston. Let soak over night .5 of a quart less brurn a way. But still burn 1 quart between oil changes I have no leaks at all and I've replaced my cat witch I think I could of got a way with just cleaning the screen on it it was caked 50% cover but mpg are great 46mpg good for Seattle. Thinking of try it again with air pressure pushing it drown with the drain plug off . Nothing crazy

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  9. rufuslyon

    rufuslyon New Member

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    I was averaging around 48 MPG during the summer/fall but right now I’m down to high 30s – low 40s because it’s been really cold lately. Thinking about doing it another piston soak with B12 sometime late next month when it warms up. We’ll see if it does anything *crossing fingers*
     
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  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i'd say we're more resigned to oil burning than accepting
     
  11. Zeppo Shanski

    Zeppo Shanski Active Member

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    OK look guys ... I understand your responses to me because you don't know my history. Let me tell you ... in the last 40+ years I've built or rebuilt a lot of engines, both for passenger and race cars. I know all about why they burn oil. To tell you ... the amounts of oil going through your engines ... in the shops I've worked ... we'd call those "mosquito abatement vehicles". I can't at all understand how you could call that amount of oil consumption "acceptable".
     
  12. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Last I heard, Toyota's version of acceptable was 1 quart every 600 miles, yet there is no mosquito fog screen behind those vehicles. If you can't accept 1 quart every 3k+ miles, then you're going to need to replace about 90%+ of engines on the road today....sounds like you need to go back to work!!

    There is NO internal combustion engine on the planet that doesn't burn some oil. Physically impossible.
     
  13. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    I can't accept it, yet have done little besides running some 5w40 HDEO in hopes of cleaning up something or mitigating some other thing :cool:

    When the weather warms I will attempt a piston soak and such.
     
  14. Zeppo Shanski

    Zeppo Shanski Active Member

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    "... 1 quart every 600 miles ...".

    Thats 8+ quarts per 5,000-mile oil change. ... WHY CHANGE THE OIL?!?
    1 quart per 3,000-miles is a burnt-out engine. It also completely blows away any idea of a low-carbon automobile. It's an air-pollution disaster.












    LOL. You guys crack me up. ... Children.
     
    #14 Zeppo Shanski, Feb 26, 2019
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
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  15. Zeppo Shanski

    Zeppo Shanski Active Member

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    This is just nuts ...
    CRM_Page_63_Thirsty_30_08-15.png
    The thirsty 30
    According to data from Consumer Reports’ 2014 Annual Auto Survey of owners of 498,900 vehicles from 2010 to 2014 model years, these 30 models have much higher rates of oil consumption overall than the average for their model years.
    * Only one(1) American car is on the list. ... It's not really American though.
    The Chevrolet Spark is a city car produced by GM Korea, originally marketed prominently as the Daewoo Matiz. It has been available solely as a five-door hatchback. The first generation of Daewoo Matiz was launched in 1998 by General Motors' South Korean division GM Korea, previously known as Daewoo Motors, replacing the Daewoo Tico. After the General Motors company took control over Daewoo Motors in 2002, it has increasingly been marketed under the Chevrolet badge. The second generation model was introduced in 2005, with the third generation launched in 2010. An all-electric version, the Chevrolet Spark EV, was released in the U.S. in selected markets in California and Oregon in June 2013. The Spark EV was the first all-electric passenger car marketed by General Motors since the EV1 was discontinued in 1999.
     
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  16. SFO

    SFO Senior Member

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    One has to ask what the average oil change interval is on the above vehicles o_O

    And it still amazes me that more people don't check their oil more often :cautious:
     
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  17. Jmack111

    Jmack111 Member

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    I have 3 Prius now kids had 7 in total only 3 burn oil a lot of oil all around the same miles so it not normal my thinking is is you change the oil regularly this doesn't happen. But I've been told it's the rings on the Pistons get gummed up that doesn't let the oil pass through the drain holes and the holes are too small almost recalled

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
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  18. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    You are getting the negative responses that you ARE getting because.........you aren't being specific with your comments.

    There have been threads, and individual posts in this forum talking about oil "usage" anywhere from NONE between changes to a quart every couple of hundred miles.

    Certainly some of the situations discussed here DO show excessive consumption.
    But then some don't too.

    Once you get past, oh say, 150,000 miles using a quart every 5000 miles or so should be considered perfectly normal.
    Using a quart every 500 miles is NOT normal.

    Continuing to throw around non-specific generalities and saying "you don't understand" isn't accomplishing anything useful.
     
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  19. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    Yes it is. In fact, the '1 quart every 600 miles' is in the manual ( unfortunately ).
     
  20. will the engineer

    will the engineer Active Member

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    Jeez thats nothing. I added a quart and some to my recently sold classic car - every season I drove that car. And I only drove the car during the weekends around town.

    I believe its a trade off having a high compression engine. I just need to double check if high compression engines led to more losses in motor oil.

    Lastly if users are complaining about gumming up position seals. Just use marvin mystery oil 100 miles or so before the oil change. rinse and repeat.



    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.