is piston soak a good idea at 150mi on 2006 slight blow-by

I have never done a piston soak, but for as little as you drive it, it’s probably easier to just add an eighth quart of oil every 4 months/ top off as needed!

 

Agreed, at 4k a year you mostly need to worry about keeping mice out and 12v charged. Just keep topping up with the cheap stuff, not worth the hassle of a soak.

 

Excellent! Keep driving it as often as possible and the car will be happy! My 2006 has 118k miles and is very reliable. Have a backup plan for your OG battery but don’t let it consume your thoughts haha


iPhone ?

 

Awesome! I wouldn't expect that hybrid battery to be long for this earth, but milk it for all you can!

I love hearing about one lasting that long, makes my day.

 

Piston soaks are a last resort before giving up on engine... While they will limit oil loss, the solvents can do lots of damage to gaskets and seals. Losing a 1/2 quart of oil per 4K miles is normal for an old Prius. Once you lose more than a quart per thousand miles you might want to consider it. But if you're only driving 4K a year you'll have plenty of other problems before you have to worry about this one.

 

If you’ve got the time and energy then saving the 1-2 grand to get a fun/rewarding project would be better in my opinion. Plus your driving habits probably justify that solution more. I went with the new one but I drive mine three times as much as you and wasn’t near many other Priuses for hand-me-downs. You’re making me want to buy a second Prius and work on it haha

 

Yeah I did everything myself except had a friend help me carry the battery in and out. If you’re attentive to details and take before after pictures you’ll be capable. The orange safety interlock will be your lifesaver

 

Instead of a piston soak, when you do your next oil change I'd recommend adding 300 mL (10 (US) fl oz) engine flush (Wynns, Penzzoil, BG amoung others) to the engine oil and then run the engine for 20 mins (or as directed by the product instructions) before dumping the oil. I do this as standard now. I started off doing this as a short-term process, but I have found it gets so much carbon and soot that I am just doing every oil change. If ever the oil is not jet black, I'll consider doing it less often.

YMMV.

 

That's not bad, I would just keep an eye on it, have an extra quart on hand for top ups.

It's funny, I've noticed a lot of Amercans stumbled over quart "fractions". I'm old enough to have learned and grown up with "imperial" meausrements. An "eighth quart" for example, could also be called "half a cup".

Similarly, OP's "1/2 quart" becomes "a couple of cups". Or maybe more succinctly: "a pint".

 

This stuff works pretty good if you have an engine that wasn't getting it's oil changed often enough and is extra dirty. Though a full size bottle is designed for larger engines and so I do half a bottle on first oil change and the other half on its next oil change. And I Only run engine for 5 minutes, not 20 minutes before the oil change, as long as engine is at operating temperature before you pour it in.

 

It will be black when you use the engine flush.