Why 2010 only Gen3 w/oil burning complaint?

It may be as simple as the 2010's are obviously the oldest, and so more of them are reaching higher miles.
We will have to see if similar reports start to manifest in following years, with the passage of time.

IF Toyota recognized the problem and made any changes? I don't remember any public admission about it. And..you probably wouldn't get one.

As far as I know (And Anyone Correct Me If I'm Wrong) but the engines are the same.

 

@Marine Ray : you have a perfect test subject. Have you checked your oil level, it's currently on the top mark, or some notable point? Note also the miles, and give it some time, see what happens, post an update.

For another "data point", our 2010 with 67K km's, still apparently burning zero oil between changes. Using Toyota 0W20, with an admittedly very short 3500~4000 km oil change interval, most recently. I'm following the 8000 km or 6 month Canadian interval, and it's time governing.

Also, this is the first vehicle we've had that (so far) doesn't consume oil between changes. For me status quo would be a cup or two top up.

 

There you go! That's not to say there aren't owners with consumption, not sure what the factors are. Bad patch of piston rings, who knows.

Our car, I think I'm gonna start calling it "sleeping beauty" lol. My wife and I both retired in the last few years, and we've gone from maybe 15K km's annually to 7~8K, next to nothing. I keep it on a smart charger pretty frequently, since sometimes it'll sit 2~3 days, then we're just going shopping, or a local outing.

 

completely false. have you searched? if you had, you would see those:
2010 vs 2011 vs 2012 oil consumption | Page 4 | PriusChat
Another oil burning Prius | PriusChat

 

135,000 on my 2011 Prius, 5,000 mile oil changes since I purchased it with just over 120,000 miles on it. Haven't noticed any oil loss on it at all. At 140,000 miles I think I am going to move to 10,000 mile interval.

 

egr valves on later models have been updated

 

i would move to 5w30 oil and clean the egr valve cooler at around 100k miles.

 

I will say no to this. I think tankyuong may be referring to the redesigned EGR circuit on Gen 4 or perhaps the Gen 3 EGR valve/cooler received revised part numbers, as Toyota often does whether making an actual change to the part or not. That said, I have 2015 EGR valve and cooler on my 2010 and there is zero visual difference between the old and the new. They're are both simple parts and any change would be pretty obvious. What's important is keeping the EGR circuit flowing freely. The 2015 valve and cooler will not ensure this any more than the 2010. It's on the owner, unfortunately.

 

Think alot of this oil burning is how you drive, picked up a 2010 off a friend of mine, 196000miles said it burns a little between oil changes.. He did a lot of fast motorway driving, we don't and haven't noticed anything unusual in the oil burning department. In the last 7000 miles dipstick has dropped about 3mm.

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I too doubt there's a difference in the EGR components, of any 3rd gen year. The warranty extension I just got doesn't spell anything out.

 

I agree .I have a 2010. I think it is how you drive it that makes all the difference. I have 140,000 miles and have had severe blockage in the egr valve and ports to the point I had to replace the intake manifold. I do a lot of highway ,high speed driving. Oil consumption was horrible.I am now in the preventive maint. mode. Check oil every 3 weeks noting mileage and will have a cleaning done of the manifold,cooler,pistons,etc when I put an additional 40-50,000 additional miles on.If you just drive in town mostly I don't know if you will experience this type of problem. Heard a lot of varying opinions on this but makes sense.

 

IIRC, I think I read of a change in the design of the piston oil control ring that was said to be implemented in either late 2012 or 2013 Prii. Did not see pictures , so cannot say if change was width or cross-section or some other aspect of the ring. Anybody else recall this?

 

I know what the owner's manual says about it (1.1qt./600 miles or 1l./1000km), but what oil consumption can be considered as "ok, nothing to worry about"? Read all the topic that I could find, but didn't find answers to two questions - does the consumption increase with the age/miles when the ~150k miles are passed (I mean if the engine drinks for example 1qt/3000miles when it has 150k miles on the clock, will this consumption increase after 60-70k more?) and does the engine flush / pistons soaking help?

 

As an engine ages, the components get more use, so it is reasonable to expect oil consumption to crop up if not seen. We have 156 k miles on our 2010 Prius II and going strong . I began to notice oil consumption starting around 120 k miles at the tune of a quart every 4500 miles.

Since then, I have done engine flushes, went to 5w-30 oil, added oil protectant, slowed down on the freeway speeds (only go 0-5 mph above the posted limit) and cleaned the egr system front to back. I have dropped the oil consumption down to Less than a quart between 10k mike oil changes .

IMO the BG Products EPR treatment before the drain and adding the BG Products Extended Life MOA has helped my situation. But slowing down on the freeway helps the most.

Hope that helps answer your 2 questions .

 

Thank you, Ray, great input! My 3rd gen doesn't have the drinking issues yet (100 k miles), but I was interested when to expect it and will the oil consumption increase in time. Looking through the oil filling cap, my engine looks clean without gunk or deposits, but I think to pour some engine flush additive before changing the oil. I have friends that work on old heavy vehicles, they put mix of gasoline (or naphta/paint thinner) and diesel fuel into the oil and let the engines run about 20 minutes before changing the oil, but I don't want to try this...

 

I believe if you have the solar roof you must have a package IV.