Six tanks with Techron solved high oil consumption at 140K miles

I hate to tie anyones underwear in knots, but I will only put Sinclair Gas simply because it isn't full of additives, only what an engine of these generations needs, as well it comes from our soil. Texas. I have used Chevron gas in older vehicles and it does well. But for the sake & life of a Prius, Chevron gas burns up like gas on a fire, it is more additives than fuel. And burns gaskets gums up lines and makes vehicles puke.
Its called marketing, to get us folks believing it is some gold.

My family owns land where the oil in Texas comes along with other productions. And for myself I dont trust no other.

Just my opinion, and a voice. God Bless America.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I have just learned to live with it. No noticeable difference in fuel economy, no smoke out the tail pipe, and I can extend my oil changes because I top up my oil more frequently with fresh stuff. Win win.

 

Only not harmful substance in fuel as adative is Shell premium with nitrogen enriched....
If you want to play safe
Techron is good addative used with recommendation on the label...
Any other are not so good
10 000 miles on oil changes are way to much of stretch on synthetic % to stay with parameters
Quality of fuel is another issue that needs to be look ...
There is various combinations..
Are you trying to save on fuel ( cheapest you can buy )
Use oil changes with oil samples to see how fast your oil breaking apart
Or buy Shell that with Nitrogen will do best on carbon...and find with oil samples where your oil changes should be set
Chevron addative will help on piston build up...just not so effective on piston rings
Carbon build up on piston rings are related to oil .....
Play on your part and find what type of oil is giving you best results
Just remember that switching from one oil you have used for long time to different oil produce change in oil color is not sign of new oil that is worse than old...
It is showing that new oil is cleaning better tham old
I can write all day....
Oil samples are key to see what your oil is doing and how good is fuel you use and you can see your tune up conditions

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

i don't see why 10,000 miles is too long with a synthetic. Most are designed to go 10k and keep in mind the prius engine cycle is probably only running about 75% of those miles.

 

I'm going to give this a shot for my brothers car, which has severe oil consumption issues. I changed my engine due to this issue.

 

The only way to know for sure is to test a sample or two. How do you spell "Blackstone" laboratory?

 

Very interesting. I thought I knew everything about oil consumption, but this surprised me. One thing to keep in mind is heavy techrone treatment is known to thicken engine oil a lot. This is why they used to recommend oil change after use. Now, the dose is probably very diluted, but it could be an issue after 10 doses. The best way to control for that is to run new oil after treatment full OCI and follow it up with heavy oil (15w40) to see if difference can be attributed to viscosity alone.

On the other hand, the effect could be real. It's also sold as Yamaha "ring-free" additive for 2-cycle marine outboards.

Yap, typical behavior in oil consumption. I posted about it in a separate thread. This is why we didn't have that oil burning epidemic before 10,000 mile OCI.

If ones drives hwy at decent speeds (when there is oil consumption) the duty cycle is 100%. If one only drives low speed city, it only 50% (I measured), but there is no oil consumption at those speeds.

 

UPDATE 2: I continue to make estimated measurements based on the stick level compared to a paper gauge with 6-7 ounce increments. Very coarse measurements at best. But the trend line continues upward. Latest estimate, it used one quart in 7904 miles. I'll keep this up until it plateaus and begins to decrease. I have 143K miles on the ODO.

 

Update 3: Increased oil burn. Estimated oil use on this cycle was 1 quart in 2772 miles. Could have some seasonal influences as in the past month the temperatures have been 100 + and even a couple of 110 days. Still all highway miles and still using 0W20. I will continue to watch.

 

And so, Update 4: Decreased oil burn. Estimated oil use on this cycle was 1 quart in 4367 miles. Coming up on 150,000 miles, currently 149,322. Going to get another dealer oil change, and look-see, and I think it's time for the inverter coolant loop to be drained and refilled. Such a reliable vehicle!

 

You should try 10W-30 oil this change.

 

That would be a really bad tradeoff. AzWxGuy's fuel economy will suffer with the thicker oil. All he needs to do is keep topping off the oil and making sure that the oil change interval is 10K miles or less.

 

The difference in fuel economy is so small, it would not be measurable. I've been running 5W-30 & 10W-30 in my '08 for 100K with no adverse affects.

 

5W30 is spec for second gen?

 

This thread would have a lot more value if the OP would update their status but they haven't logged in in nearly a year.

 

AzWxGuy does not have a serious oil consumption problem (2700 miles per quart is not excessive for a Toyota engine with that many miles on it). I'm glad my Altima only has 37K miles on it. It will be several years before I can return to obsessing about oil consumption again.

Oh, in case you didn't notice, AzWxGuy has a Gen 3 which "uses" 0W20 oil. Not exactly an apples to apples comparison to your and the OP's Gen 2s which "use" 5W30.

 

True, I would not classify his oil consumption as serious, but to me it would be bothersome and something I'd want to remedy if possible. Switching to 10W-30 virtually eliminated oil consumption in my wife's '08, which now has 186K miles on it.

I didn't notice. Thanks!

 

Yes, I realize I posted in the wrong group. My comments should be a Gen III thread. And since there is so much variability in my oil usage, due to environmental factors or the challenges of getting a good measurement, this will likely be my last update to this thread.

 

OK, one last update on the subject. Vehicle is at 154,918 miles and latest oil consumption calculation is at 3923 miles per quart. So, consumption is increasing as are miles. Still runs like a champ though.

 

Thanks for the updates, I'll be giving this more of a try..