2012 Prius V Oil Issue - internal leak?

Welcome to Prius Chat .

Some questions:

• How many miles on your Prius?
• Will you check the oil and top up when it is low?
• What’s your long term plans for keeping this Prius?

You now have an oil burner that will require frequent dip stick checks.

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

Over 150,000 miles?

 

The sharp turn you made might have been the cause of it. I would continue to monitor oil levels. Hearing all this oil burning I'm becoming a fan of really using cleaners like Chevron Techron prior to every oil change. I think of it as detergent. It's supposed to loosen up the dirty stuff in the engine. But like washing your clothes. The dirty water needs to be emptied (the oil changed) for it to really be considered clean. Or else you keep the dirty water in your engine for too long until the next oil change. The gunk that it loosened up would only stay around longer in the engine. So I time it with my oil change.

 

Wow this is an extreme amount of oil burn in such a short period of time. Not sure I have ever heard of a case this bad.

At any rate..use the search feature and search for 'oil consumption' and you will find lots of discussions on the topic.

Unfortunately, once the consumption starts usually the best remedy is to check the oil frequently and top off as needed. There are other 'mitigation' techniques that some have used...with varying levels of success. I'm not sure any of these methods have actually solved the consumption problem though...only slowed it down somewhat. However, your case seems very extreme. You might want to double and triple check the consumption rate and then report back here.

 

Unfortunately the 1.8 engine seems to do this. One month it will be fine, next month it will slowly start consuming oil, and so on and so forth. Keep a eye on that level, especially if you're driving high speed. I had a 2012 v and I always ever week checked the oil at least once. It did burn any oil until about 120,000 and on week it started burning oil I traded it about a month later.

 

Yea, it's kind of sad for a clean car to be burning unnecessary oil. When you think about it, a hybrid is burning less gas and should be lasting much longer then a normal car when it comes to burning oil. Burning oil on a hybrid shouldn't occur until 300k miles. Toyota acknowledge the design flaw but the fix is expensive. Also using thinner oil on a hybrid does not help when it comes to oil burning problem.

Article on oil burning in general. Every car eventually deals with it and manufacturers recommend to just keep it topped. I recommend to keep it cleaned with system cleaners as part of any long term maintenance. When you think about it, the oil being burned itself would build up more carbon.

"many newer engines use thinner, lower-viscosity oil, such as 5W20 or 0W20 instead of, say, 10W30. Because these oils are thinner, it's easier for them to slip past gaskets, seals and rings that have worn even slightly over time, thus increasing oil consumption."

How Much Oil Consumption Is 'Normal'? | News | Cars.com

 

So it's burning 1L every 100 miles? I think the dealership is out to lunch on this one.

 

Responding to Original Poster? And how do you figure that?

That'd be in the same league as gas consumption, lol.

 

I'm not really sure how I did that either. I tried to use math. I guess I did it wrong. I'm willing to do some sort of penance if everyone promises to overlook this incident.

 

I agree with everything you said! This shouldn't be happening, especially hybrids. It makes me mad when people say it's totally normal. My brother has a 07 ford escape hybrid that has well over 200k and doesn't burn any oil. And it's had a rough life (brother isn't a car guy in the slightest!)

 

Ya..I agree. NO other vehicle I have owned has ever consumed a noticeable amount of oil ( mostly Mazda and Hyundai ). Unfortunately, I always get berated around here when I bring this up. Well I used to anyways...the people around here now seem to be 'mellower' than in the past.

It is a shame that Toyota *knows* these engines have the potential to consume a rather large amount of oil. So much so that they put it front and center in the manual. I still have a hard time with this as none of the other manufacturers *I* have dealt with have had this in their manuals.

As discussed in the past, it really does seem like Toyota made a bad mistake when they went to the 10K oil change interval. It just seems 'too good to be true'....and unfortunately it seems to be turning out that way as these vehicles age.

At any rate, somehow folks around here convinced me that this oil usage is 'OK'. So I do my duty and check the oil very frequently and go about my day.

The good news is that our 2012 Prius v (wagon) does not appear to be consuming a noticeable amount of oil (yet). Our 2010 liftback does. Getting a Prius with a 'good' engine seems a lot like winning the lottery.

In all honesty the Honda Insight is looking better and better lately...

 

They should put the oil use disclaimer front-and-centre,in the sales brochure, lol.

FWIW, so far, our 2010 is the vehicle we've had that hasn't used any oil. That's coming from a monotonous string of Hondas.

 

It's interesting

Yeah, my own v wagon was on a 5,000-ish mile interval with its previous owner, I intend on holding to that. I did 3,750 miles / 6 months on my previous vehicle.

As for the usage? I agree with you, it's certainly not okay. But, honestly, I'll take excessive oil consumption over [insert catastrophic failure here] any day of the week. Extra oil is going to cost, what, only a few hundred dollars over the entire life of the vehicle?

 

Yeah members here can definitely be touchy here about this subject, they just don't want to face the truth. Honda put a tiny 1.3 in the 2010 insight and that engine was worked hard and put up wet in that car. They also just 10k+ mile intervals and they don't burn any oil! there is a thread on this on insight central.. The 2012-13 insight had real bad oil consumption problems, turns out bad piston rings from the manufacturer. Honda would rebuild your engines if your insight started to drink oil. At least they acknowledged it!

 

Wander over to any CRV forum today and you'll find not oil consumption as an issue but rather gas in the oil issues in their new 1.5 turbo DFI engine. Cold weather and short trips made it noticeable and now the obsession with used oil analysis, dipstick measurement, which oil and fuel to use, etc is in full swing. China forced a recall. So far Honda NA is pretty silent beyond saying they are looking at it. Owners concern is that lubrication may be significantly compromised by the fuel in the oil such that major moving parts have a significantly shorter lifetime. Some dealers are offering free 5k oil changes. But I've seen pictures of obvious oil way above the dipstick marks in even shorter intervals. I've been following the issue because I almost bought a CRV before I thought to look at owners comments. One thread is now up to 177 pages.

 

Oh sounds fun! !

 

I called my local Toyota dealer for a quote to replace the pistons and rings for a 2012 V - $2,800. Of course that can change and not final amount.

Toyota headquarters will likely not cover anything, unless they get enough social pressure for not fixing their green cars. Because burning oil is not that green. Then they might maybe do something. If ever. If you have a business and that is a business car, easy tax deduction right there.

If you know your car well and know that almost everything about your car is in top shape except for the oil burning due to piston/ring issue (which Toyota appears to know about and should have a long term fix to), then I would consider doing the replacement. That is far better than spending money on another $10k car that you don't know what issues can surface. As long as there is no wear to the engine itself, other than the pistons/rings, then I think worth the fix and the peace of mind. The key is, "is it actually a fix" or just another band aid solution. If Toyota confirms that the fix results in a better designed piston/rings with little wear and tear long term. Then I think worth it. Unless you want to trade it in for a new car.

Filling in oil every certain amount is like dealing with the symptom and maybe adding more because of the possibility of engine damage from heat and stress. Plus the extra carbon build up in the engine and the catalytic converter.

 

I'd also add, if anyone does go through the hassle to replace the piston rings, definitely replace the head gasket while they are at it. The 1.8 has been plagued with head gasket failures, some say to clogged EGR, and some say bad design (actually both I think). My sister's 2010 drank oil like mad, and had the headgasket fail. No wonder some call it the "Turd Gen"! My first of 3 Prii is still on the road with 312k miles. My brother and his wife just took it on 23 hour road trip! Like they say... "They don't make em like the used to"