Burning oil

And what about that, exactly, do you think qualifies as "precise" ??

A certain amount of oil needs to "flow" in those bearings but the amount needed to prevent excess wear actually is pretty wide.

And as the bearings wear, the flow increases......and the input pressure goes down some as a result.

 

True dat! But if you're an astronomer, those tolerances are insanely precise. If you're a machinist, not so much.

 

Mine burns a little oil now at 268,000 miles while using Mobil 1 5W30 oil. Just changed this weekend and put in Mobil 1 0W30 oil and I can say that the engine sounds so much quieter comparing. Has anybody else noticed this? Will see if it still burns same amount.
TomK

 

The engine runs quietest when the oil is filled to capacity. Chances are that the oil level may have been lower because it is using some. That might account for it being a bit noisier than before it was changed.

 

nope

 

I have a 2011 Prius with 140,000 miles.Mostly highway miles. Two years ago it started to burn all the oil out, scary. I found out when I got an oil change.Every oil change since it has been low. I now check it often. I just had two quarts put in three weeks ago. I went to the store last night, and check it again, a quart low. You are not the only one. There are several with this issue.I called Toyta and voiced my concern. They said they are not going to fix the problem unless they get thousands of calls. Please call... Im still finishing up paying for mine, and I really didn't want a $25,000 hoopty.

 

If you know your engine eats lot of oil why do you let it get 2 quarts low. That will just exacerbate the oil loss.
You do know that running the oil low caused the engine oil loss to accelerate right?

Don’t know what a hoopty is but I do know what engine replacement means.

 

Same problem here. My very-well maintained Prius has never had one issue. Until last month at about 115,000 -- it now burns more than a quart of oil every 1000 miles! My young adult child now uses the car, and I fear the day she forgets to add the oil!

 

Did the oil burning start after you young adult child started to drive the car?

 

My 2007 with about 272k was burning 1.5 to 2 quarts of oil for every tank of gas. Now at 285k miles it is burning 1 quart every 3,000 miles. A BIG IMPROVEMENT. I had to replace the catalytic converter in the car. Hopefully the current oil burn rate will not kill the CAT. If anyone knows I would love to hear. Also the oil now stays clean whereas before it would get dirty very fast and by putting a camera down the spark plug holes I noticed the cross hatch groves in the cylinder walls. so i think I can get some more miles out of this engine. But in California Catalytic converters are VERY EXPENSIVE. So running the engine to the bitter end does not really pay!

What did I do? Put 4oz of Sea Foam down each spark plug hole and let it peculate down through the two compression rings and the oil ring and the oil passages to the bottom of the piston. Probably overnight works 18 hours with just a rag over the spark plug holes left the pistons dry in another Prius. I have pictures and more detail at Burning oil problems due to dirty piston rings (oil & compression) and prevent catalytic converter problems and keep the oil cleaner for a longer engine life.

 

That is good info bernie3015. It really comes down to not having long oil interval changes. The oil may be able to lubricate up to 10,000 miles but it gums up engine internals resulting in oil burning. I saw in youtube a Toyota mechanic explaining why Toyotas burn oil. So, since oil changes are cheap just change your oil every 5,000 or so and these engines will be much happier.
TomK

 

^ +1

@ Seafoam.....
I don't get paid to advertise for them, nor am I a distributer.....but I HAVE used it and I've even mentioned it in this forum.

Seafoam only has 3 ingredients, and you could make a pretty good....maybe even BETTER version if you want use it by the gallon - BUT(!!)....none of the three ingredients are a time machine, and there's no such thing as retroactive oil changes.

Homemade Seafoam Knockoff - Instructables

 

None of which are particularly good solvents.
All are fairly common and cheap.
The CAN it comes in probably cost the maker more than what is inside........and yet it is priced ABOVE it's main competitors.
It is marketing psychology.
Similar to the people who honestly believe that high octane premium gas HAS TO BE BETTER simply because it is more expensive.

 

You mean it's NOT?!?!

 

Oops. Sorry to burst your bubble.

 

I have a 2007 Prius. Runs fine and average gas mileage is 42 to 45 mpg depending on where I'm driving. I been using 5w-30 quaker state full synthetic for 3 years now and its presently 138k now. I'm losing oil 3/8 of a quart every total of 5,000 miles. I bought a quaker state 10w-30 full synthetic. Should I use this or should I keep on using 5w-30?
Thanks,,,,,

 

Half a quart every 5000 miles is NOT anything to worry about.
It would not hurt to bump it up to 10W30 but probably wouldn't make any difference.
Changing to a "high mileage" oil might reduce your usage some.......but I would just keep doing what you are doing.

 

Move up to 40 weight oil and keep the oil at the full line always.

 

5w-30 to 10w-40?
I use to have a stock of quaker state oil probably around 8-5qts and lots of Toyota filters. I just ran out. Maybe Ill try to switch to Castrol too this time.