Prius Oil Use. No Longer Trying to Fix a Non-Problem

doesn't oil burning add to pollution? testing is only done on new vehicles.

 

I give my Prius a healthy drink of oil every other day when refueling... I commute 80 miles per day most work days (40 mi each way):

8-12 mins stop and go to the highway (45-70mph)

24-36 mins on the highway (85-100mph)

8-12 mins stop and go to destination (45-70mph)

I notice the oil consumption to be worse more in line with the rpms than the speed necessarily. Also a clean fresh oil change seems to fare a little better as well.

I would estimate my Prius drinks 1/5 of a quart per commute day, or approximately 1 quart per week for me. Been that way for nearly 10 years now.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Never heard any of this We use oil during regen You read this somewhere and where would that be Just out of curiosity I'd like to peruse that article because I've got a generation to that doesn't use any oil and it has three bars on the screen all the time when I'm driving it the little cars for the regenerative braking. So I'm doing a lot of regenerating and using no oil per se I do have some generation twos that use oil but I don't think regeneration of the breaking has anything to do with it personally because the car that burns oil the worst does a lot of you know state highway and some interstate driving so it doesn't really get a chance to regenerate much and that car goes through some oil I believe it's just poor maintenance high mileage something but it's not common for the one NZ to do this but it might be for the Atkinson FXE thing that we're dealing with here but it certainly not in Yaris and Scion vehicles this I know

 

Either a clever troll, or dead serious? Either way, hoo boy…

 

My experience with many "good" cars over the decades is that using 1 qt (or less) in 3000 miles is fine.

However, the car manufacturers set a much higher limit because they do not want to warranty any "oil consumption" problems. (It must be good to write the laws so that they benefit you and no one else).

Realistically, there's not much to be done about oil consumption unless you want to commit to a piston re-ring job.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I’m relatively new to Prius’s.
Apparently so.

This post has some misunderstandings and your interpretation of oil use is incorrect. Along with your understanding of use of B mode.

The engine is not designed to burn up to 1.1 quarts of oil every 600 miles.
EVERY internal combustion engine ever built will have some "oil burn". It's just a fact of life, mechanics and oil lubrication systems. BUT, they also have a maximum specification for the amount of oil that can be burned before it is considered to be a warranty item or considered to be the point where engine wear may be considered as "unacceptable".

Toyota has merely decided that 1 quart of oil disappearing in 600 miles is the trigger point for their engine warranty. Other manufacturers use other trigger points. If you take the car in for that claim they will inspect the car for leaks, perform an oil change and SEAL the engine with tamperproof seals. They will document exactly how much oil was added. They'll tell you to drive the car a specific distance, then come back for them to perform another oil change, where they'll get an exact measurement of how much oil is removed from the engine and compare to how much was added at the start of the test. If the "missing" oil is greater than the trigger point, then warranty is triggered.

 

Completely wrong. Many gen2s over 100,000 miles use way less than a half of a quart in 5,000 miles. All used practically no oil when new.

Your hv battery will be full if you simply maintain a safe speed downhill with your brake pedal. Which also controls regen.

When the hv battery is full going downhill the hybrid system will automatically go into full engine braking to reduce brake pad overheating.

You can do a ring and valve seal job to fix it if you wanted to get the oil burning under control. Oil burning has downsides: clogging a very expensive catalytic converter, potentially running out and ruining the engine and costing money.

 

These misunderstandings are not unusual for the new Priuser.

Putting the stick in “B” to get max re-gen is actually untrue. You get less regen using B. Here's why; the use of B is designed to increase the amount of time it takes to fill the battery. It does this by decreasing the regenerating current and adding additional engine braking to net a greater braking force akin to downshifting in a manual transmission. It is implemented with long mountain descents in mind to allow the battery to fill slower while descending the mountain and maintaining decent control. One of the downsides of using B is that oil disappears quicker than usual. It is simply a matter of physics when using the engine as a vacuum pump. Neither good nor bad, it just is what it is.

A 4-mile downhill does not qualify as a long mountain descent. you can leave it in D and do your descent using the brake pedal to increase re-gen to hold your speed. If the battery fills doing this then all re-gen will be cancelled and replaced fully with engine braking (controlled with the brake pedal).

For reference, the longest climb/descent close to where I live is a climb from sea level to 555 m (1820 ft) and the descent from the top back to sea level is approx 11 km (6.8 miles) in one direction and 7.6 km (4.7 miles) in the other. Neither descent is long enough to use B.

Never use B on the flat in this way, you are just robbing yourself. Initial let off the accelerator from 1000 to 1600 m (¾ - 1 mile) out from the lights followed by gentle brake pressure as you get closer will net you much more into the battery.

You have used language like this throughout your post, and I get the impression that you think "putting the stick in B" is "using re-gen". This is a misunderstanding. Re-gen is used all the time and is integrated into the hybrid synergy drive system. Basically, anytime you see green arrows going towards the battery on the MFD battery graphic, you are regenerating electricity. You increase re-gen by applying the foot brake.

I hope that helps.