sudden oil use

check you oil level every so often now, to see if it is still using up oil
if not, then whoever changed the oil last time did not put any or enough in

 

Re: never checking the oil, there's your problem.

And, not checking your oil when you had the 1st set of symptoms probably led to the increased oil consumption. It seems your master warning light was your oil pressure warning, which means oil is dangerously low already. VERY few cars have any sort of oil level warning.

I wouldn't be surprised if you're going to have high oil consumption from this point forward due to neglect. Yours is not the 1st time I've seen posts here of the same sequence of events: oil unchecked, master warning, discover oil is low, oil consumption is high from that point forward.

 

" but as we all know, the Prii do not use much oil"


What? Who knows that? Countless threads here over the last 7 years complaining of high oil consumption in high mileage cars.

And here's how you can guarantee your Prius will start consuming oil:

Never check the oil....let it run down to almost empty just once..then it burns up the oil rings on the pistons and damages the cylinder walls.

Hilarity & high oil consumption ensues.

 

Agreed... Basically your inability to regularly check your oil level means you pretty much destroyed the engine and the problem will continue to get worse until you'll soon have no other option but find a low mileage used engine to install in the broken ones place. Lesson learned...

 

Hi Plastermaster. It's hard to say just how "sudden" the onset of oil consumption was. Since you never checked the oil in the past, then you can't really say for sure how sudden or gradual it was. Only it's discovery was sudden.

I suspect that the oil consumption probably started out gradually. Many of us see a small amount of oil consumption after about 100k miles. Usually is pretty manageable and progresses extremely slowly so long as you top off and ever let it get too low.

It's hard to say why it suddenly didn't make it the 5k miles that it had before. Sometimes a change in driving conditions or a different brand oil will increase the consumption. It may have been a slight underfill or a combination of all of those factors. It may also have been at the point where you were already getting significantly sub-optimal lubrication towards the end of your oil change intervals, and had already been experiencing higher than normal wear. Perhaps the person changing your oil was assuming that you were monitoring the levels and he was simply draining and refilling without paying any attention to the amount drained.

In any case, you probably will be getting even higher consumption now, as the engine wear will likely have accelerated after the latest event. It may still be manageable though, so get the oil changed (use 5W30) and start monitoring it every 500 to 1000 miles and find out exactly what sort of consumption you've got.

 

Another item to consider is the PCV valve. Have you ever had it changed or changed it yourself, if not this could contribute to oil consumption if not working properly.

I hope not to much damage has been done to your engine but this could be an expensive lesson in checking fluid levels of your car on a regular basis no matter what make or model of car.

Not keeping the oil topped up "not overfill" does not only cause bore and ring wear but can cause a connecting rod to burst it's way out of the side of the engine with no warning as the big end bearings cry enough.

I know I keep mentioning the UK driving test, but in the UK showing the examiner you know how and where the various fluids are checked and topped off is part of our driving exam. This shows how important the government believe this is for road safety.

John (Britprius)

 

Why in a rush to make conclusion, guys? Let's see what's the regular consumption is first.

My 2004 "suddenly" consumes 1qt/2K since 150K miles, with no warning, and I did regularly check oil, never let it run lower than the low limit on the stick. So maybe it is a normal problem due to age and no need to worry too much.

 

This scenario has been seen often enough here. I don't know if it makes any difference, but this thread seems relevant:
One for the Experts - Only (Oil usage) | PriusChat

 

Yea... you're probably right... At the same time many of us have had bad moments in our car driving lives when we screwed up and were irresponsible and damaged our vehicle. This situation very much seems like one of those moments. For the owner's sake hopefully not, but we'll see?

 

No rush. Facts are there. Never checked the oil. Who knows exactly how low the oil went maybe empty but I bet it went real low. Nothing but bad comes from that. And like I said...run it close to empty on a high mileage car and it will surely damage the oil rings in the pistons and scuff the crap out of the cyl walls. If you drive it hard like that it will take out the main or rod bearing also. A conclusion I guarantee.

To many posts with the same scenario.

 

An acquaintance's five year old 2012 Prius c with 75,000 miles had no oil consumption. He consistently changed the oil on time and it never needed topping off. Then one 50 degree F (10 degree C) day in a traffic jam, he had a "Low Oil Pressure" light. He pulled off the next exit ramp after a mile and it needed 3 quarts of oil, which he added one quart at a time, checking the level in between. He drove it straight to the shop where they found it had a leak "in the part between the oil pump and the engine" (the driver's words, not the mechanics), so when the oil pump pumped, oil was squirting out onto the road. So there's an unknown (to me) part near the oil pump that can fail as the engine ages. This part seems to have failed catastrophically since his last oil change. The good news is that he was able to successfully drive several minutes under these conditions without destroying the engine, despite the fact that I advised him to park it immediately when he called me for advice when the light came on in traffic.

 

welcome! i think there's a timing chain cover or something that has a defective gasket.

 

Your in the G2 forum. Never heard of an oil leak issue like that on a G3. Post that over on the G3 forum Repair & Maintenance section
see if anyone has seen that before. Sounds more like the oil filter came loose.as the oil pump is internal to the engine and cant really leak outside of the engine.

 

Yes the warning you get is knocking engine apparently thats the piston rod wrist pin failing on cylinder #2. All the reports of pistons through the block on this site and youtube have been cylinder #2.

A quart every 600 miles is alot of oil. Drive it till it explodes.