2008 Prius 1.5 quarts low on oil...

Most of these cars burn oil at higher mileage, what oil did you use before the extended performance?

Yes you probably did a little damage to the engine and it probably will burn more oil now.
Just because the oil says extended performance that does not mean the car won't burn it. If you go 10k mile oci, you better pay attention to the oil level.

On the dipstick, the bottom and top level marks equals 1.6 quarts, if your level was below the low Mark, it was more than 1.6 quarts low. I'm guessing since the triangle came on, you would be around 2 quarts low

SM-N900P ?

 

1.5 quarts over 8,000 miles (if you haven't checked since changing) wouldn't be enough to cause smoke. My '97 burned a quart every 3,000 miles or so, no smoke.
Did it ever use any oil before this change?

 

You damage your engine every time you drive the car.
The trick is to minimize this damage, especially if somebody else owned the car before you did.

I'll skip the "check your oil" lecture, since you've already put theory to practice in that area.
What you need to do now is:
1. Start (or continue) monitoring your oil volume and try to quantify your burn rate. Anything that happened up to now is irrelevant. I presume that you've either replaced your oil or brought the volume up to scratch. Verify that you're not leaking oil instead of burning it.
2. Start (or continue) to monitor your fuel efficiency. If you maintain fuel efficiency and the county isn't wanting to borrow your car for mosquito control, then just drive the car.
3. Don't try to make it up to your car by buying it new plugs, tires, oil treatment, seat covers, etc. Don't take it to the dealership or a mechanic and tell them your story! To most of them, it will sound a lot like: "Do you need to make a boat payment or buy your wife some jewelry?"
Most importantly:
4. Don't listen to any sage advice from know-it-alls (like me) who will tell you to sell the car immediately because you've screwed up the motor. You're in Sullivan county according to your info, and IIRC there's no Vehicle Emissions Testing in your area, so I wouldn't consider doing anything outside of normal maintenance until your oil burn rate gets to be something like 1q/1,000 miles. (YMMV)

Interestingly enough.....some OEMs do not consider even this to be an excessive amount, but that's a topic that is best discussed once you've determined what YOUR car is up to.


Good Luck!

 

When you don't stroke engines by pulling and checking their dipsticks often enough, they get depressed and start drinking. I see that happening all the time.

 

The problem is very simple, long drain intervals without checking the dipstick or topping off the oil.

 

Yeah it could have added quite a bit of engine wear, so be aware that it might burn oil a little bit faster in the future. Even if you go back to 4 to 5k mile intervals it would be wise to still check the dipstick fairly regularly.

Unfortunately this tends to be a common mistake. Something about the "hi tech" nature of the Prius seems to make people reluctant to look under the hood.

The fact is that these Prius engines do often consume a modest amount of oil, especially as the miles start increasing around the 100k to 150k mark. Consumption around a quart every 5000 or 6000 miles is not all that uncommon. Also remember that if you don't keep it topped it off then the oil can start degrading more rapidly as it diminishes, so the rate of consumption tends to accelerate as it gets down near the danger level.

 

My gen 2 2008 has 161,000 miles with regular oil changes around 5000 to 7000 mile interval. Car usually only goes 2 miles per trip and half that is without ICE even running. I have never seen oil low until today after having the car now for 14 years, and it is near the 7000 mile mark since last oil change. Was about to go for a semiannual longer 800 mile drive so checked it. Glad I did. No warning lights and the oil was maybe a few mm above the lower mark so maybe not officially low, but not at midpoint as my usual target. Maybe I pushed it too long, and there were a couple of recent events that may have burned some oil in the last few months. First, there was a car camping trip in which the car idled a good bit, and second was a road trip of 10 hours with higher than normal speeds due to traffic etc....and third is just the fact that most of this car's miles are very low speed with a high idle during the warm up phase which is bound to burn some oil. Guess I won't rush out and buy an EV just yet. It would take a lot of quarts of oil worth of $$ to pay for the gas just to go pick it up probably. Since I only drive about 4000 miles a year that is only a quart every two years. At age 70 if I live to 100 then that is only 7 quarts.. $20 worth of oil for the rest of my driving life. LOL

 

The owner's manual calls for oil level checks every 1,000 miles or 30 days....
Not an especially big deal since your car is a teenager and it's only now beginning to act out.

Switch to 5K OCI's and monitor....

 

Now that you mention it I did check the oil 2 months ago just before that 800 mile trip and less than a 100 miles driven since then so it must have been that I pushed the car too hard unless there is something else going on. No leaks. Will check it again after another 800 mile trip coming up soon. Was very surprised to find it anywhere close to the lower end of normal mid level as this has never happened before.

 

And the other odd thing is that no smoke coming out of tailpipe noted when idling so it had to be something that happened at the higher speed.

 

Between the dots is technically in range, and there might have been some oil in the engine that had not yet drained down into the sump.

 

Check the oil more often and change it at around 5,000 miles. All engines use SOME oil. Old school "wisdom" was that anything less than 1 quart per 3,000 wasn't much to worry about.

Once the engine starts ingesting "lots" of oil, it will tend to get worse more quickly as the oil control rings carbon up. No practical way to undo that.

At some point have the PCV valve and hoses checked or replaced.


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