2008 Prius - burning oil at 135,000 miles

I am monitoring my oil usage and I finally went back to dealer oil, bulk 5w-30. Used 500 ml in 1000 miles. I put a bottle of rislone in and I'm using B mode to slow down from freeway exits. Love the car. Other than the oil burning, it's perfect at 262k.

I tried rislone before, but with full synthetic. I researched auto rx and noticed that they specifically recommended against synthetic oil for the additive.

I have had 2 check engine lights in the last 15k miles, both p0420, caused by the oil burning for sure. I was able to get it emissions tested before the light returned. Good for another 2 years.

 

one thing i have noticed with the gen II prius is they do not like synthetic oil very well. it is to thin and always gets sucked up through the intake. i was having this issue and mine only had 94k on the clock at the time. i was adding a quart every 1000 miles. switched back to 5w-30 conventional and have not used a drop in 3k miles. i know synthetic provides better wear protection but this engine is not a typical engine. it is best to stick with what it was sold with which was just conventional. toyota says 7k life on standard oil for this prius but i change it every 3500 miles during the summer and every 3k in the winter since the engine runs all the time here with the 60 below zero temps we have.

 

This seems quite remarkable, going from burning 3 quarts in 3000 miles, to burning not even a drop.

 

i know. i keep checking the oil every 3 days to make sure its still fine and so far the dip stick still reads where it was when i filled it. while using synthetic though i did develop a knock/clatter in the engine at certain rpm's and on start up during cold weather. im hoping that nothing was to far damaged but i will continue to use conventional from now on out. i am just glad the engine is not sucking up any more oil.

 

Yes.

defrankond, what was the synthetic oil brand and viscosity that you previously used, and what is the conventional oil that you are currently using?

 

was using castrol syntech 5w-30 full synthetic. switched to mobil 5w-30 conventional.

 

Probably the Castro oil? I never have had good results with this oil. Always uses oil when I try it. Weird. H

 

Castro Oil?

Is that this stuff.

 

that would be it but i did not use the titanium. the previous owner used quaker state oil, i used castrol twice and switched back to mobil conventional. wish i could say this car did not live a hard life but it did. the previous owner was a medical supply salesman who drove from souix falls sd, to phoenix az constantly, he was about 400lbs plus all the equipment that he carried. just makes me mad that for 86k miles he used such a sub grade oil such as quaker state. that is probably why the engine is worn and rattles at certain rpm now that i think of it.

 

Quaker State is not a bad oil, surely it would be equal to the conventional mobil oil you are using......

A driver that's 400 lbs would not have any effect on the car's engine. If it's worn and rattling at such low mileage, it would have to be damaged from low oil or overheating.......and not likely by overloading and using Quaker state.

 

well considerng the state this car was in when it was delivered to me, i would not put it past his driving habits and weight. the driver side door was used as a lifting tool to pull him out of the car. he was heavy enough to bend sheet metal requiring two guys to straighten the door back to its normal set position so it would close properly. as far as quaker state oil, i have never had any luck with it. used it in a ford taurus years ago. 3000 miles after the oil change the engine had to be replaced. needless to say i just sold the car and got a different vehicle. that was many years ago however, and to this day their oil looks like water. car has never overheated, and has never had a low oil condition as far as i know and as far as service work shows. water pump was replaced at 49k miles and oil was changed at every 5k for the first 25k miles, then every 3k after that. inverter pump was replaced at 60k and aside from the steering intermediate shaft replacement thats all that has been done on service history.

 

Synthetic oil is the oil of choice by Toyota In Europe where oil changes are every 10,000 miles. My own gen2 Prius now close to 110,000 miles has run on 0w/20 synthetic from new and still uses no measurable oil between changes. This is not in line with the statement the gen2 Prius does not like synthetic oil.

John (Britprius)

 

European versions of the prius are different than the US versions.

 

Yes but only basic differences in standard equipment - simple things like rear disc brakes and an EV button. The engines are identical, and surely that's the only thing relevant as far as engine oil and oil changes go.

 

A lot of synthetic oil users in the 200k/300k thread, including myself (272k). Matter of fact, I don't recall anyone with that much mileage using conventional.

 

kammssss,

Ema has never run anything but conventional, mostly 5W30 but some 10W40 to slow "The Burn". Actually the oil burning seems to be pretty well under control with Ema as long as I run pure E0 gas in her. It has stabilized at 1 quart every 3,000 miles or so. I could do 3,000 OCI's but I top off around then and then do a full change with filter at 5,000 miles. Ema now has 385,000 miles on her.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

Update,

For anyone interested Ema now has over 453,000 miles on her and I am still running conventional oil. I have pretty much switched to 10w40 all the time now so she burns less oil in between changes. The "Burn" can vary from 1 quart/1,800 miles to 1 quart/2,400 miles or so. It all depends on how hard I run her especially in the mountains. Keeping RPM's below 4,000 is good but the single biggest difference BY FAR is running ethanol free gas!!!! Makes a huge difference.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

453,000 miles is very impressive. You're certainly piling the miles on! Glad the oil use has slowed down and hope you can bring her on home to 500,000...

 

1 quart at 3k miles is not much at all. I've tried all these different oils and it still burns the same. I decided on putting the lowest cost Synthetic oil in it and a cheaper filter and running it 10k between oil changes and adding a half quart every 1500 miles. Changing every 3k seems a big waste of $ and resources but to each their own I guess.

 

Any Ema updates?