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The site was down; also some Microsoft servers - issues accessing Outlook through certain portals.

The underlying issue is the excessive oil consumption in your combustion chamber, so I don't understand why your befuddled that your plugs only lasted 10 months!!! That's almost as bad as coolant leaking into your combustion chamber - same results. Did you do anything to remedy the oil burn issue???? Apparently you somehow dumped 2+ quarts of oil into those combustion chambers, assuming oil isn't just leaking out of your engine. IMHO; repairs will last longer, if the underlying condition causing the failure is also repaired; otherwise it's just a temporary Band-aid.....

YMMV

 

I would hope top quality denso or ngk iridium plugs were installed. They are much better and should last years in a good engine.

Its burning way too much oil which is fouling the plugs. It needs a major rebuild with new rings and rebuilt head (assuming the cylinder walls are not damaged) or a replacement engine.

While keeping oil in it and proactively changing plugs may keep it going for awhile, a clogged catalytic converter could result. The cat should code first.

 

Yes... The server for PriusChat is owned by Danny the creator of the website so there's no employee keeping the server online and Danny is an IT guy who's super busy. Moderator told me once that the only time he hears back from Danny is when website is down and even then it can take a day or two to get it back online.

As for the spark plugs, I've pulled plugs from Prius with 150K miles and 10 years on them that still looked new. So we need to figure out what's causing them to fail. Oil fouling of plugs on these clean burning engines isn't really a thing. But we need to see a photo of the bad plugs to know what's going on.

What's your oil consumption like? Maybe switching to high mileage synthetic oil would help and do oil changes more often too. Also there's a product called engine flush that you pour into the engine and run it for a few minutes before the oil change... All that would make it cleaner inside your engine.

Or if the oil that's fouling the plugs is cleaner than dark soot, then it's a relatively easy valve cover replacement.

Worse case scenario is your piston rings are failing but I think you'd have symptoms bigger than fouled oil plugs with that problem. We had a guy on here that was burning a quart of oil every couple hundred miles and he kept that engine running for 4 years before it finally failed.

And if the rings are bad and you need an engine swap, as a last resort you can try a piston soak recipe, which can get lots more life out of your engine.

 

You could have carboned up your oil rings by idling all the time, that causes the plugs to get oiled and misfire. Short tripping where the engine never gets to full heat also causes this, that and never getting on the throttle. Two quarts low indicates the rings are seized with carbon. You can try an oil change with a quart of ATF and a 1/2 quart of Seafoam, and you have to run the engine hard to get it really hot and clean off the carbon. It takes up to 500 miles or more to work. The alternative is an engine overhaul. Another thing that happens when it's cold like in winter Canada is the car never reaches operating temp. You have to cover 1/2 the radiator with cardboard. A sign of this is the heater blows cold, but this is only when moving, not parked.. Another reason to hate the lack of an engine temp gauge on the dash.

I've car camped a bunch in my 2nd gen Prius including central Canada in winter (during an arctic cold front). I never run the engine to keep warm at night. I have a -40F synthetic fill sleeping bag, no problem with the cold. Blankets don't cut it, a good sleeping bag is way thicker and you are encapsulated. Never understood people freezing to death in cars or homes, just have a good sleeping bag.

 

That would explain it... But these engines burn so clean... So I'm skeptical...

But your most important point is spending a hundred dollars on the warmest possible sleeping bag is probably going to be the least expensive solution. I remember back in the 90's I preferred to sleep outside of the house I was living in and just before bed I'd throw my sub-zero sleeping bag in the dryer to heat it up and head out into freezing weather and climb in and it was like a sauna and rarely would I wake up till morning.

 

Where the plugs black, and or oily?

Japanese ignition systems only like Japanese plugs, I've seen misfire from the wrong plugs

 

Sorry; It doesn't matter if there's Denso or Bosch plugs installed - they will both oil foul - because that amount of oil isn't suppose to be there !!!!

Good Luck, Hope that Band-Aid will hold for another 10 months...

Don't forget to keep checking oil and coolant levels at every fill-up......

 

Quality iridium plugs are not going burn to a crisp. Standard Platinum plugs can. Hopefully you have iridium now.

I have seen gen2 Prii burning a quart a month and never foul an iridium plug. I have never seen iridium plug electrodes burned to a crisp.

Ask what type your guy installed.

 

Probably just need to drive the car a little more often rather than just idling it charging devices really drive the car . You running it anyway! That's why you have a chance of getting the engine to operating temperature and things naturally clean up in the combustion process . That do not happen in park lots just sitting .