Engine Oil Burning?

Sorry, but this is incorrect, Mendel. You do all this fiddling up front, then the engine doesn't start til the END of the procedure. If you push brake and Power at first, you'll go right into Ready, and never (ever) will get to maintenance mode.

 

Ok, lemmee check. It hinges on the meaning of (IG) right?

Addendum: Hitting a wall. "IG" stands for "ignition"? Maybe @Patrick Wong or somebody could check.

 

It's a serious philosophical conundrum....

"IG" meaning push the Power button with foot OFF the brake.

 

Yup.

Someone with a dog-in-the-race could test.

You've been there?

 

Ok,, yeah @Ed Beaty you are absolutely right:

I HAVE used "invalid mode", when doing a brake fluid change, and that instruction uses the same (IG) term, which turned out to be "two pushes of power button without foot on brake". I'll fix my post above.

 

Mendel: "You've been there?"
Ayuh.
Also, there's a good short YT vid on maintenance mode entitled "How to put a Prius in maintenance mode" for the more reading impaired.

 

Very helpful! So basically every 10,000 miles you do the Extended life MOA (this is the engine flush). Every 15,000 miles you add the 44k treatment. And you're driving about 20k miles a year I think? How did you figure out that this method works? Do a lot of other 3rd gen Prius drivers on here do the same? Seems like people would have a lot less issues with the 3rd gen Prius oil burning if they followed your protocol.

One last question - should I start doing this on a low mileage Prius (whether it's 3rd or 4th gen - regular prius not pip) - to try to prevent or delay the oil burning thing? I intend to keep the car to 200k miles and above. A little worried about a '15 Prius with 80k miles but seems clean. Maybe I should spend a little more for lower miles if 100k miles is the danger zone.

 

All that rigamarole STILL doesn't get the engine running. It just gets it into Maintenance Mode. But if you then depress the brake and push the Power button, then engine starts and runs, continuously. Figured that out with help of @NutzAboutBolts video (video #11, linked in thread at top of 3rd gen Maintenance Forum)

I've edited my post #38 accordingly:

Engine Oil Burning? | Page 2 | PriusChat

 

@Haschwalt: "you do the Extended life MOA (this is the engine flush)." This is incorrect. MOA is an oil additive that you add just ahead of the NEW oil during the oil change.

The 'engine flush' is the BG EPR product, which, just before you drain your oil, you add to the crankcase and run the ICE for 10 minutes or so (using Maintenance Mode to do this), then immediately DRAIN the oil. Then you can replace the filter (make sure you do it correctly vis a vis the O-ring) add the MOA, then add the new oil.

Got that?

 

Is the BG engine flush product any better than any others? And is the "M" in the MOA product Molybdenum Disulfide? I remember it being all the rage in the 1950s and may have used some in my motorcycle, but I thought it had gone out of fashion.

 

Motor Oil Additive.

I’ve used a couple and the EPR does make the drained oil jet black.

We did a comparison one Bay Area Meet up and you could tell the difference in the drained oil.

 

Ah ok – so the MOA goes into oil cap. Re: BG EPR - wouldn't have the tools/lift/stands to drain the oils I think. Car will mainly be parked on streets, no garage etc. Can Toyota dealership or 3rd party lube place do this if I buy and give it to them or do they carry these? When you say add to the crankcase, how would I do that? Is that the oil cap that's on the engine (for refilling the synthetic oil?) or is it some complicated process?

 

EPR is added through the oil cap prior to draining the old oil.

MOA is added via the oil cap once the new oil is added.

Maybe try @m.wynn for additional support.

 

@Haschwalt: I strongly encourage you to get with someone face to face to walk you through this business (cf. Ray's suggestion: @m.wynn or someone knowledgeable).

I strongly advise against going to a non-Toyota third party for oil service, whether you use the additives or not (MOA or EPR), and many places--perhaps even Toyota dealers--will not install any parts or fluids that you bring to them (if they carry them, fine). They'll understandably want to SELL things to you...so you may want to call ahead to confirm.

For the record, I've been using BG products for decades and think they are excellent; not cheap, but very good at what they purport to do.

 

For jerrymildred. A nice big one : [sorry, I mis-posted this; belongs in another thread--where I DID post it...]

 

I can't do the oil change myself because I'll be on the road mainly/no garage/no tool. And it seems removing the oil cover is fussy unlike older cars like my '01 Camry. So that leaves 3rd party and Toyota. Are you saying Toyota won't carry those additives you mentioned (MOA, EPR)? If so, am I sole out of luck?

@Raytheeagle - do you think I should start this maintenance treatment on day 1 of my 2015 Prius (say at 40,000 miles)?

 

I buy the BG Products off of Amazon. You can also use their distribution network.

Up to you what you do, but I’d wait a bit.

100k miles is about the time I will start the EPR treatment. I may start the extended life MOA earlier, say 70 or 80 k miles.

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

I used EPR on our Pontiac Vibe with 166K miles. The old oil (which was a little dark to start with: Mobil 1 Extended Performance, which is darker when new than the 0W-20 I use in the Prius) drained out looking about the color of melted chocolate. Did it really clean deposits from the system, or does EPR contain something that automatically turns that color when it's heated, or...? I added MOA. I can't tell any difference in the car's performance.

 

I asked my dealership if they would do the EPR flush and they said that they would. I didn't get discuss it much more than that, but I imagine a that the service tech would follow the label instructions and run it for only ten minutes (IMO 20mins is minmal). Any more than that and they might charge you a labor rate, or add it to the overall hours. So what I did was run it myself in my drive way and then drove there afterwards. Oil consumption has been vastly improved so far.

If you plan on keeping the car for over 200k miles I think using MOA earlier rather than later may help you get there. Any jump on lessening engine wear won't hurt.

 

you guys are overthinking this, man-splaining, and guy-jerking this topic way too much. it's a 90 hp prius engine. super low stressed and low strung. low oil capacity, cheap oil, cheap filter. i don't even think about it. no additives, no junk no nothing. just buy the jug from amazon and filters from ebay and rinse and repeat til the end of time.

if your car is burning oil, the engine is just tired and rings/valve stem seals worn. no potion is going to fix it. engine is such a cheap replacement anyway, it's moot to be going in circles and wasting precious time arguing over a prius engine.