3rd gen headgasket / oil issues?

burning oil before 150,000 miles is not really an 'issue' unless you want it to be.
in your o/m, toyota staes that up to 1 quart/600 miles is considered normal.

that being said, the first year of pip is 2012, and 2012 lift backs haven't accumulated as many miles as 2010-11's.
also, unless you don't plug in, your car's engine runs less than the lift back.

 

sorry to hear it. can you link to some of those pip stories?

 

believe me, i've seen them. if you are planning to keep your pip for 100,000+ miles, what do you propose?
some here feel that 5k oil changes solve the problem.

 

Not only have you seen them, you've posted in them. Congrats on getting to 55k posts.

As an owner of a 2010 Prius II with over 156 k miles and going strong, our Prius had a small drinking problem,but is manageable. I change thenoil at 10k miles and do some other things along with experimenting with various 5w-30 synthetic oils. The key is to pop the hood and check the dipstick before the dash light tells you to.

The other issues cited by the OP, I do not remember any reports of actual water pump failures (but I have been having long days at work so I might not remember well). As someone who has removed and replaced the Gen3 mag drive water pump (and tore it apart), the weak point in the design is the plastic impeller, IMO. @m.wynn 's water pump at 140k miles looked good, but he was looking for piece of mind.

I plan on replacing our water pump at 200 k miles in a couple of years for the same piece of mind. But that assumes I don't get a Prime before that .

 

Is there any recommended interval for changing the water pump? I'm used to getting the pump replaced along with the timing belt in previous cars.

Must check out the EGR valve too. I wonder if blockages are in any way related to fuel quality? The standard petrol here is 95 RON (equivalent to 91 octane by US standards IIRC), which is considered "premium" in a lot of the world. Not sure if just octane is really a good indication of quality though.

 

One of the problems with the internet is that people are much more likely to post their problems so it's very difficult to get an idea as to whether a problem affects most cars, or just a small percentage of them. Thanks Raytheeagle for sharing what I think is a "no problem" story. My Prius only has 32k miles, so even though it doesn't use any oil, it's not a useful data point for high mileage oil consumption.

I can say that anybody who thinks oil consumption past 150k miles is a sign of poor design should try owning a Taurus from the 80s or 90s.

 

Since the water pump in the Gen3 is magnetically driven (seal less design) and not belt or mechanically driven, it should "last the life of the car", much like the Trans fluid. Here are some pics of the water pump after logging 140 k miles:



With the Gen3 water pump design, there will not be the overt signs of failure like we are used to (coolant seepage, noise, etc). The tabs on the impeller seem like the weak link as it took very little lateral force to separate the 2 halves of the impeller.

As for gas, over here in the states there is something called "top tier" gas. It is not higher octane content, but it has higher detergent content or increased additives that help fight carbon deposit buildup. Does it prevent carbon buildup: No. Does it extend the time it takes for the deposits to build up: Yes.

Not sure what is available across the pond, but there might be something similar.

Hope that helps.

 

i think you're over reacting, but we all have to live with our own demons.

 

Yes, we have similar here with most of the main brands claiming to have some additives, though it's hard to tell how effective they are. There's also Dipetane which is a fairly popular additive product here and also claims to reduce carbon deposits, although it's mainly used by diesel owners. I might try it out again (used to have some after my previous diesel car).

 

Thank you for the good post.
This reminds me of a "comment" thrown" by Honest John about the water pump being "buried", which I believe is false.

Honest John's Motoring Agony Column 10-06-2017 Part 1 | Motoring News | Honest John


Do you confirm is easy to take the Water Pump out?

 

Here's the instruction from the Repair Manual:

 

Here are videos @m.wynn and I made for the water pump removal:

My Prius is down 4 quarts of oil 9000 miles after oil change

Not too bad and something a DIY type could do.

 

Thank you! Yes, I even sent "them" a diagram like that to make my point, but honestly didn't make a difference. "They" responded very quickly that this pump is the inverter one...Someone has a very narrow time to learn.