Excessive oil consumption solved by a Ford dealership

Not the EGR. But I cleaned the intake manifold about 100k miles and it looked brand new when I took it apart, and changed the PCV valve too.

 

I did my first oil change on my 2016 Prius about three week ago and don't like the plastic cover. I always had a habit of checking the garage floor after an oil change looking for drips. I don't know how much it would have to leak to show up on the garage floor.

 

There might some sound deadening on the top side of that cover too, might absorb a minor spill.

On my third gen I remove the entire panel, to avoid stressing that brittle "hinge". Fourth gen it's more tempting though to just take off (completely) that sub-piece at the oil pan. Maybe take the whole panel off anyway, good for leak check, and CV joint look over.

 

I wish the oil filter was on the front of the engine at least. Next time I will get the car higher in the air for easy access. I have the equipment, I'm lazy.

 

I leave the door open. I change the filter, then drain the oil. While the oil is draining I check the boots by hand, because, as Mendel has stated, you can't see them very well unless you remove the whole undertray, and I'm very lazy! Then refill the oil to "approximately" the correct level (can't tell because the front is so far up - can't even easily reach the dip stick) so I add the "correct" number of litres. Start the engine, check for leaks. Close the door after shutting off the engine. Back the car off the ramps, and then check the oil level and adjust if/as required. My ramps lift the front of the car about 18" off the ground. I have to use a wheel "chock" to make sure it stays up there.

 

David, what I do, is let it drain good, torque the drain bolt and filter, underpanel back on, car back on the floor (I do the lift with a floor jack and safety stands) and then just add the spec'd. quantity, dub it done. I'll take a cursory look at the dipstick, just to make sure it's registering.

I will check the level more carefully a day or two later, after some driving. So far it's always been right at the top mark, or ever so slightly low, by this method.

 

My method- tighten the filter with filter cap til I can't tighten anymore, it actually stops/bottoms out safely. Tighten drain bolt and stop when I see the washer slowly physically bend or lightly crushed.

 

My little metal tab is sitting in the drawer of my toolbox. It just seemed to get in the way of my oil filter wrench, and then when I got the wrench on it would still be trying to prevent the filter from loosening. Total pain in the butt.

 

I wished they would put the filter on top like BMW does. That would be extremely easy!

 

If they made it easy everyone would change their own oil.

 

I know! What a nightmare that would be!