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Burning 3.9qts every 1000 miles

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Fatmatt86, Dec 5, 2018.

  1. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    No but the vehicles BEHIND him are !!! :ROFLMAO:

    (Actually not really funny.)
     
  2. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    Yep
     
  3. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    Nothing on the back end. It's been 3 weeks since she's had a bath (carwash) currently at 278,969 miles. Still in the same condition. No knocking, nothing. Drives smoothly, just still uses 3 quarts every 1000 miles... When the triangle comes on and it says problem on the dashboard, I add 3 quarts. Been doing this going on 2 and a half years now. Still running strong.... Tried MMO, nothing different. Tried every brand of oil out there, no difference. I did see some improvement when I added Lucas oil stabilizer, but for the cost of Lucas, I could get 3 qts so it wasn't saving me any money. I still get free oil, so until that stops and I have to buy oil, I'm gonna keep on driving it in its current condition. No need for a engine swap or anything. This engine still has alot left on her.
    20200622_153721.jpg
     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Consider adding a quart every 333 miles?
     
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  5. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    I used to own a grand prix that was miserable to drive behind. It smoked and all and you could smell the exhaust. This Prius is not the case. It does not smoke, and the people behind me don't smell exhaust or get sprayed with oil. I've driven behind this Prius before while my wife drove it, so I know.
     
  6. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    I still say you could run that thing on other peoples' drain oil, given how little time it spends in there. But in a way your car is my hero. Just the absolute boss of skirting the edge of oil starvation and going a little further. Keep doing what you're doing!
     
  7. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    Roughly every time I fill up with gas, I should be adding a QT of oil. To be exact, the oil consumption is in the range of 340-378 miles a QT, depending on which brand of oil I put in. I used to keep a long log sheet of it every single time I added oil, but don't really care to do so anymore. I'm done experimenting with different brands and oils and stabilizers. Just been adding oil when the problem message pops up.
     
  8. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Well then it is possible that there is a significant LEAK causing the oil to disappear.
    Have you looked for an oil "signature" where it is usually parked ??
     
  9. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    It's not leaking oil. Had a mechanic raise it on a lift and remove all the trim and they confirmed it wasn't leaking. No spots of oil where I park.
     
  10. Calimobber

    Calimobber Member

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    This is a funny post. Im glad it finally puts an end to the "prius has no oil light if you run it to the light the engine dies."

    Ive heard of old civics running like months on no oil. As long as you have some oil the engine will be just fine. It sounds like the typical prius issue just worse than most. The oil holes in the piston are dirty and it pushing oil up past the rings and burning it off. Yeah id recommend the piston soak or just a ton of sea foam in the oil, but at this point since you tried, it might not work and seafoam isnt cheap.

    Just keep adding oil every time you fill up the gas tank... Cheers!
     
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  11. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Almost no car has a "low oil level" light.
    ALL have an oil pressure warning of some kind.
    Depending on the actual driving conditions at the point where the oil pressure goes low......or to ZERO.....you actually CAN
    burn up the engine in just a minute or two. And that includes hybrids too.

    What he is doing by waiting for an oil pressure warning before he adds oil is NOT a wise thing to do.
    He has been extremely lucky. There is no "skill" involved.
    Most people are not that lucky.
     
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  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Probably oil getting past the valve seals too.
     
  13. Calimobber

    Calimobber Member

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    lol im not saying he did anything skilled. Ive been working on cars and engine for over 15 years and never agreed it was super bad for the engine to run the oil down to the light. Not saying its good but thats what the light is for. Toyota knew this motor burned alot of oil thats why they said it was normal in the manual. Im just saying Fattmatt running it down to the light over and over just shows your engine isnt damaged or going to die soon because your low oil light came on. Even at 1qt left the oil pump is stillworking to cover the engine in oil. A little oil going a looong way.


    "Probably oil getting past the valve seals too."

    I think your prob right about this one. Just has lots of oil caked around letting oil get by all over.
     
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  14. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I think you're flirting with disaster waiting for low pressure light. Low pressure is just what it says, and it's really 11'th hour, like running the gas down to vapours. That said, @Fatmatt86 seems pretty skilled at it, surfing that edge, lol.
     
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  15. Rmay635703

    Rmay635703 Senior Member

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    At 1200 miles per gallon of oil in a high compression engine I bet she just burns off the top lube nice and clean

    Honestly he could run $0.99 a quart HD30 and things would still be fine

    damn straight, he could run drain oil and he can still get away with the 10,000 mile oil and filter, considering it would be a quart of oil out and a filter.

    I would just run whatever $5 a 5q jug clearance oil is on the shelf, no point in using anything special
     
    #135 Rmay635703, Jun 23, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2020
  16. Bunce

    Bunce Active Member

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    Have you tried a heavier weight? I switched to rotella 5w40 I think it was, and oil consumption slowed right down. It appears to be the worst at highway speeds.
     
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  17. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    No that isn't the reason at all.

    Many/most/all car makers have a similar "policy" in writing somewhere and it is because they don't want to be swamped with warranty claims from cars that use a little oil.

    AND.....that light means that the oil pressure is low or non-existent.
    If that happens when flying down the freeway and there is no good place to stop......AND you don't have any oil with you........

    If you don't understand how that can be a bad thing, you aren't much of a mechanic.
     
  18. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    I tried heavier weights, but it seemed rough on the engine when the engine clicked on
     
  19. Fatmatt86

    Fatmatt86 Member

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    Just wanted to come on here and update everyone on this post that my car is still running and I am currently at 294,914 mi. The car still uses a quart of oil every 300 to 350 Miles, however the low engine light that I have been relying on all this time no longer comes on. Not knowing this, I let it run completely dry one day, and as I went to Whataburger, the engine sounded like shit. I backed out of the drive thru and checked the oil on the dipstick and it was completely dry. I then added three quarts of oil into it and have been driving it since. I think some damage was done by it running completely dry, and it now starts to knock for like 20 seconds after I start it up at the beginning of each day, then runs good and smoothly. That Whataburger incident happened over a month ago roughly 1600 Miles back. I've driven it from Texas to Tennessee and back with no issues at all. After that trip the check engine light began to flash so I had it checked at O'reilly's auto parts. 16 codes came up, 3 I have been aware of and they mainly deal with the CAT, but the rest were all related to engine misfire. The engine did not seem to be running lean or anything at all, so I'm not sure why it threw these codes. I unplugged the battery and reset these codes, and have been driving it for over a week now. Yesterday alone I put over 250 miles on it on a drive from Texas to Oklahoma, none of the codes have popped back up other than the Cat codes. Well that's the update so far. Looks like I might get the shirt off of another persons back that bet this won't make it to 300k. I'm feeling pretty confident it will, but don't expect it to last much longer after that without a new engine swap.
     
  20. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Amazing.
    That you are still driving this death trap on the highway.
    I hope that it doesn't throw a rod on the Interstate while a big truck is right behind you.
     
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