Oil Burning

welcome Ted; have driven 3 Priuses over the past 6½ years and none of them burned a single drop of oil. i used to check the oil level a few times a week. i am now down to less than once a month. i would not recommend it as i have been lulled into a sense of complacency

welcome to PC!!

 

No oil consumption here. Not in any of my other three Toyotas either.

 

it goes down a bit it depends on how hard the car is driven! i did notice my oil go down a bit !

 

This seems consistent with the manufacturer figures for other-brand cars I've owned, only one of which regularly needed added oil between changes.

Do any other common models or manufacturers list lower oil consumption limits in their manuals?

 

I bought new a 2000 GMC Sierra with the Vortec 5.3 that had oil consumption every bit as high, sometimes more. Have never owned a Toyota or Honda that burned any noticeable oil

 

Toyota says:



However, my car has yet to show any oil consumption with 44k miles. I check the level every 3rd or 4th time I refuel.

 

yea the i qt every 600 miles is just sad. But i haven't noticed my oil level going down over the 30,000 miles i have drove.

 

I guess Toyota is most interested in reminding new owners that an internal combustion engine burns oil. How much it burns is affected by miles on the engine, type of oil and weight, topping off as needed, how it's driven, and the list goes on.

Since the oil change interval is now 10,000 miles, (am I right) the owner should check the level and replenish as needed. I don't believe that there are many Prius on the road that are burning much oil. I hope the entry in the owners manual would discourage an owner, who just added a quart after 6,000 miles, from complaining that his engine is defective.

Your mileage may vary.

 

By my estimation, if you're burning a quart every 600 miles, what's the point of changing the oil every 10,000? You've already changed it 4 times!

+1 to not burning any, though. I'm at about 4500 miles so far, and it's just as full as it was when I picked it up.

 

my fathers girlfriends 2005 cadillac with 60,000 miles has burned a quart every 500 miles since it was new. dealer told her it was 'normal'. mormal for gm maybe. northstar engine i believe.

 

Prius, which uses the high-compression and retarded-valve-timing version of the Corolla engine, will burn about half quart in the first 5,000 miles, when the engine is broken into. After the engine is broken into (after 5,000) miles, the oil consumption should be a small fraction of a quart in 5,000 miles.

Later in the engine's life (after 100,000 miles or more), you will start seeing leaks and higher oil consumption.

The rule of thumb is that check your oil regularly, at least once every 5,000 miles with a new car, and notice the oil level. This will tell you how much oil is being consumed. If all is normal, it will be a fraction of a quart, and you don't have to worry about checking it frequently or adding oil.

Note that it takes one quart to go from the low mark to the high mark on the dipstick. Chances are that most new Toyotas won't require adding oil but if there is something wrong, you would ruin your engine if you are not checking your oil. It could be that the dealer might have forgot to put the drain-plug gasket for example. Also, do not overfill when adding oil.

So, the long story short, you should check your oil even with a new car if you care about your car.

 

I check the oil on the dip stick and the washer fluid every Saturday.I do this first thing in the am or when the car has not run for a few hours. I do not burn any between oil changes.
Tire pressure- the first day of every month. I keep a visual on all four tires when every I can throughout the week.

 

I went almost 20k mile between oil changes recently and I was down about 1qt.. It may have actually been less because I usually ask the guy changing it to fill to just a bit under the full mark.

That's not bad IMO. Then again, I come from background of racing GM cars and trucks. lol

 

So if i do the math there is nothing wrong with a prius that burns 16.6 qts of oil between oil changes. Thats more oil than if the prius was a 2 stroke.

 

All engines burn some amount of oil, even if it's only a small fraction of a quart, including the Prius/Corolla engine, because that's how they work.

At one point in its life, the Prius engine will start burning/leaking 1 quart every 600 miles, but this could be after 200,000 or 300,000 miles.

When your car has more than 120,000 miles on it, changing the oil every 5,000 or even 3,000 miles is a good idea, as the oil will be consumed and deteriorate much more rapidly. In fact when the oil deteriorates, it thins with hydrocarbons and is consumed much more rapidly. The 10,000-mile oil-change interval only applies to the first 120,000 miles or so.

 

Strictly speaking, yes. But that's just Toyota covering their nice person. The largest oil consumption rate I recall reported in Priuschat is half a quart in 5000 miles. At 51000 mine does not burn oil measurably between changes.

 

I disagree, if i had to add a quart every 600 miles there is no reason to change the oil early, cause every week i would have 1 quart of fresh oil added.