2012 Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon.........) Oil Consumption Issues

@Raytheeagle or @danlatu may have ideas. They have reduced oil consumption on their Gen 3 which has the same engine.

 

Welcome me to Prius Chat .

What you describe matches my experience .

I commute 78 miles everyday and if I use higher highway speeds, I do burn a bit of oil.

But I am aware of this and check the level often (every weekend). My consumption rate is about 20 ounces every 10 k mile oil change.

The cause is a small 1.8 L engine pushing around ~3500 pounds of mass over the hills and down the freeway. If you make it go fast, it works harder and some oil will blow by the rings.

One thing I do every oil change is perform a BG Products EPR flush before draining the oil and add BG Products Extended Life moa with the new oil. I find it helps keep the oil consumption rate right there unless I am in a hurry.

Hope that helps.

 

I noticed the oil consumption to increase @ 7~10k miles on mobil 1 0w20. I have been doing 5k (winter) 7.5k (summer) oci now on both of our 3rd gen prius' (2010&2011). I also check the oil every week so there are no surprises. I believe the oil deteriorate's at a higher rate later in the oil life because the oil is broken down faster due to fuel and moisture in the crankcase. I think this is exacerbated in the winter due to motor being cold and running rich because the engine is colder. In cool weather I also see more moisture build up, it is all seen in the oil catch can on both of our prius'. If the engine is burning this oil/water/fuel it may cause the rings to coke up (clog). The lack of oil properly lubricating the cylinder walls can cause more damage to the engine making it consume more oil. If I had an infinite amount of money I would be able to pull a motor to inspect these rings @ 60k, 120k, 180k etc. with and without the use of an oil catch can on separate prius' from day 1. I believe the use of a oil catch can keeps the engine cleaner reducing the wear and oil consumption. Having both prius' start up with zero knock was enough for me to use an oil catch can, I have seen nothing but positive feedback from other's here on priuschat using an oil catch can with reports of zero knock
Your car willl benefit from a 3k oci if it is stopped and started more frequently, idling a lot, driven at higher rpm's and hot/cold conditions. I am sure that the amsoil and mobil 1 motor oil's could last 10k~30k miles in a lab with perfect condition's without all the cold start/stops. In reality fuel and moisture are present in the crankcase and there is no way you should trust the oil manufacturers claims. Unless you can win in court and get them to pay for a new engine. I do not trust Toyota or any other manufacturer when it comes to certain recommendations because all they want is your money at the end of the day. Your warranty is up, what do they care, they are covered. If the warranty was covering the car for 500k miles then I bet they would be more concerned.
I know you can send in your oil to be tested at black stone labs to see how much life is left on that 10~30k oci. Here are some articles of you can read about oil.
Amsoil
Bobistheoilguy
another

Coked piston rings


Both of our prius' are running great.

2010 prius 117k
2011 prius 306k

 

In your case where you mention wet oil at the tailpipe. You could possibly have had a broken oil control ring. I have broken a ring installing pistons on an engine during rebuild. With 1 broken oil control ring, I had to buy another entire set. They are not sold separately. Was your oil level checked and topped off at all when doing the 10k oci? I know running low on oil will burn up piston rings in a heart beat. Especially if it were done 6 times in 60k. I do not trust iffy lube or the stealership. Yes they do dumb things. Look in the garage and see who's working on your car. Distracted by a text message, accidentally adds to much or to little oil, hell even forgets to put it in? Strips the threads on your oil pan, forgets to tighten it up, loses the dip stick (this actually happen to us on one of our fleet vehicles/iffylube) In the toyota manual, it does state that your engine will burn oil. That is why I check it every week regardless. I am sorry to hear your bad luck. I know I have had a couple of bad days myself but I will always be on top regardless of my loss since I do all of my own work.

 

How much do you add, roughly? Or conversely, how much does it drop, in what mileage interval? For example, down an inch on the dipstick, by 5000 miles, something like that.

 

2012 with 90K. Oil level has been steady between 10K oil change intervals. Car has been driven on long trips with 90+ mph driving and all is good.