Low Engine Oil Pressure Light

This is one main reason I like to have oil analyses done every 20k miles or so, in order to see if there's anything else going on there.

 

Sorry, but $20 UOA is not going to detect oil coking in piston groves.

 

No, but it will detect blow-by and abnormally high levels of metal from the eroded surfaces.

 

I requested the free kit from the website that was mentioned here. It seems like I am a lucky guy. Bought the 2010 with 170k miles oil was at the right level. Did 2 changes so far I am at 186k . I drive 300miles a day, I do not check my oil every tank fill up because I do it every night , but I do check it at least once a week. Whatever I poured that is the amount I drained.
So yes I will send them a sample. Just curious what will the analysis show.

Btw. I buy the mobil 1 0W-20 15k miles. Genuine filter from toyota dealer and new washers always.

 

I am wondering if I am experiencing the same PROBLEM! My 2010 Gen 3 PRIUS was operating normally. I currently have 132K miles on it as I have a 160 mile commute. Most of the mileage is highway running around 83 MPH which it does quite effortlessly. I had an issue with a stuck oil filter cap from having oil changes done at one of the local speedy shops so I had to take it to the dealership. They had to use an air chisel to get the oil filter cap off and I bought a new oil filter cap which they installed. Since then I have been having problems with oil consumption. About 2 qts every 4K miles. I performed the next oil change myself and found two small plastic pieces from the oil filter cap in the oil filter. I informed the service manager at the dealership and brought the car in for service. They found nothing. I changed the PCV valve myself (although it seemed perfectly fine) and recently I changed the spark plugs. They looked fine as well! I am stumped about this oil consumption and upon my next oil change will switch to 0-W30 weight Mobile One just to see if this helps with the issue. Toyota is quick to say they will not do anything and the service manager even advised against doing a compression test as he said it would probably come up empty. I am at a loss as to what to do. The car operates smoothly.....you would never know! I keep a qt of oil in the back just in case I notice the low oil pressure dummy light come on when I take a sharp turn.....the first hint that the oil is getting low.

How could I determine whether it is due to this worn ring problem without tearing down the engine? Is there a replacement ring that would prevent this from happening again? All information is greatly appreciated....

 

I am wondering if I am experiencing the same PROBLEM! My 2010 Gen 3 PRIUS was operating normally. I currently have 132K miles on it as I have a 160 mile commute. Most of the mileage is highway running around 83 MPH which it does quite effortlessly. I had an issue with a stuck oil filter cap from having oil changes done at one of the local speedy shops so I had to take it to the dealership. They had to use an air chisel to get the oil filter cap off and I bought a new oil filter cap which they installed. Since then I have been having problems with oil consumption. About 2 qts every 4K miles. I performed the next oil change myself and found two small plastic pieces from the oil filter cap in the oil filter. I informed the service manager at the dealership and brought the car in for service. They found nothing. I changed the PCV valve myself (although it seemed perfectly fine) and recently I changed the spark plugs. They looked fine as well! I am stumped about this oil consumption and upon my next oil change will switch to 0-W30 weight Mobile One just to see if this helps with the issue. Toyota is quick to say they will not do anything and the service manager even advised against doing a compression test as he said it would probably come up empty. I am at a loss as to what to do. The car operates smoothly.....you would never know! I keep a qt of oil in the back just in case I notice the low oil pressure dummy light come on when I take a sharp turn.....the first hint that the oil is getting low.

How could I determine whether it is due to this worn ring problem without tearing down the engine? Is there a replacement ring that would prevent this from happening again? All information is greatly appreciated....

 

Ok. Call me stupid, but the same thing happened to me. My 2010 Prius has 129k miles. It started to beep and show the triangle warning on corners and when braking. Only for a split second. I assumed it was the calibration of VSC. I had an alignment and it was not recalibrated. I think the warning was for VSC. Later, I started to notice the low oil pressure warning at the same time as the beep - again for just a split second. I then took it to a mechanic and had the oil change and VSC set to zero.
I had foolishly assumed that if I did the oil change every 10k that that was good maintenance. Now I will check the oil level myself every week.
I'm hoping there is no damage to the engine. It sounds and runs fine.

 

You're only stupid if you do not learn from the mistake.

As far as damage?
There is a fine line between damage and wear.
If your negligence results in your ICE "only" being able to last for about 300,000 miles would you call it damage or premature wear?
How about a 300,000 mile motor in a car that "only" lasts for about 250,000 miles before batteries, ECUs, brakes, HVAC, and other components start failing and making the car economically nonviable, then I think that your ICE will have held out long enough.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks, I feel better.
My goal is to keep my cars running well for about 15 years. I like this car and am hoping it will reach 15 years, which would be well over 300k miles. I had a Tercel for 15 years that was still running well when I donated it. Anyway, I've learned that it is not enough to follow the maintenance schedule - you have to take one minute a week to actually check the oil. Since the oil pressure warning never stayed on even for a second, I am hoping there was no excessive wear.

 

One more question: Does the gen 3 Prius have a low oil light as well as a low oil pressure light? I did not see any low oil indicator.

 

Almost positive it doesn't. Nothing to back it up tho.

 

I own a 2010 Prius, and this past Saturday I got a Low Engine Oil Pressure Warning. Unfortunately, I was stuck in Pittsburgh when I got the warning, and no mechanic shops were open. I had to drive back to NJ, so I drove for about 450 miles after the warning popped up. I'm going to the mechanic to have a look at it, but I was wondering if if I get this warning, does it always mean that the engine needs to be replaced? I have only 96k miles in this car and usually I do an oil change every 5000 miles.

 

You did not have to have any mechanic shops open, you just needed to buy a quart of oil to put in the engine.....at any store.

Not sure what you can do now, but you should monitor the car for oil burning. It may use oil at a very high rate now.

 

Is there any way to fix this issue and restore it back to the way things were, other than changing the engine completely?

 

If things get to the point where it can't be tolerated......engine noise, oil burning, possible smoke out of the tail pipes, etc, it would be cheaper to just replace the engine vs fixing it.

 

driving 450 miles AFTER low oil pressure warning? if your engine is still working you are lucky. weren't you curious to see in your car manual what toyota wants you to do when you get that warning?

 

Yes, preferably the very first store you saw that sells engine oil. We can argue the merits of different brands, types, and viscosity numbers, but just about any flavor oil is better than insufficient oil.

 

Soon after we got our Prius we got an invitation to a sort-of "new owner night", basically a little talk by the service manager, a walk-through the service department, some snacks and a few give-aways.

The service manager said at one point, something along the lines of "our goal is to ensure you never need to pop the hood". Yeah...