Oil vanishing Act

The car is burning it. And now that you ran it so low it will really burn it.

That’s what happens to a high mileage poorly maintained motor.

 

how many miles on her?

 

You should be checking your oil at every fill up and establish how much oil it is burning.
Cars that burn oil are hard on catalytic converters.
Sounds like you are close to a new engine or a new car.

 

Ralph, your observation is very typical for these cars. If you do not have visible leaks and the oil is not registering on the dip stick it's going out the tail pipe.

As Ed suggests above, since the engine has been oil starved it will really consume oil at greater rates now. Your only courses of action: 1) religiously monitor your oil level and increase the oil's viscosity level to slow the rate of oil consumption, 2) find a used motor and replace yours or 3) buy another car and start over all together.

 

Before you start sniffing around car lots, I'd make sure that you don't have an active leak somewhere....and then, as excellently mentioned above, I'd figure out how much oil you're going through.

Priuses have really REALLY small oil sumps.
This means that you might "only" have to add 1 quart of oil every few thousand miles or so, and your 08 might still have a lot of service left in it - especially if you're the parent of a child who is going to need a college-car.

How many miles on the car?
How much do you drive a Year? Month? Week?

Advice:
Make sure that there's not a leak.
Start changing your oil every 5,000 miles instead of every 10,000.
figure out how much oil you're using and get back with us.

@catalytic converter.

Word association time:
When I say "vet" does this make you think of a place to take a sick dog or Vehicle Emissions Testing?

The reason I ask is that if you don't live in a place ruled by an oppressive, totalitarian government then replacing the catalytic converter...even in a Prius is relatively simple and cheap......so do not let this unduly influence your decision to sell or keep the car.

Good Luck!

 

But not necessarily during the fillup. With self-serve gas, and maybe a line up behind you, just pick a quiet time at home: pop the hood, check the oil, the two coolant reservoir levels, maybe have a look at the engine filter, washer fluid, and so on.

Good trick: pull the dipstick, leaving it out, go around the tires checking pressure, and then do the dipstick check. Oil tends to draw up the guide tube when you remove the dipstick, and the delay before doing the check gives it time to drain back down, making the reading clearer.

 

There definitely is an art to reading some dipsticks. The easiest is when done cold.

 

Yes cold especially on this car. Its pretty easy to read first thing in the am before you start the car. If you pull in to a gas station and shut the car off and pull the dipstick it will read about 1/2 a quart low anyway.

 

I have same issue. Go about 2000 miles...Check dipstick...2 to 2.5 quarts low!

I believe I have found a solution and if you would like to try it out please report back if it helps...But I'm only experimenting at this point and not 100% sure it is working. But I believe I reduced it down to only losing 1 or less than 1 quart in 2000 miles. And this is only my 1st change using products below (barely 2k miles in but already noticed not burning nearly as bad). I'd imagine will improve again on 2nd change.

$12.16 Liqui Moly Oil Saver

$37.15 Royal Purple 5W30 High Performance Motor Oil

Drain old oil put new filter...Put the Liqui Moly oil saver in...Then add about 4 quarts (until full) of the Royal Purple.

Reset trip on dash, drive 2000 miles (or whatever number you check at) and see if helps.