A little background. I have a 2008 Pree with 216k on the clock.... 10k ago I did the hybrid traction battery ($1500) and recently did new control arm links and bushings ($450).. I did the spark plugs as well roughly 10k miles ago... Before I did the spark plugs I had an oil change done by my mechanic. He came in to his waiting area and said, theres no oil in your engine.. of course that freaked me out... so I went in to his shop and watched him drain the oil and probably a quart came out... when I changed the spark plugs there was a tiny bit of oil on the spark plug for cylinder 3. Car has zero oil leaks just is burning oil. Now I check the oil every 1k miles and am finding it really doesnt need a whole lot of after changing the spark plugs. I change my oil every 5k and have never skipped. Heres my question after all that info... recently I have noticed a very light tick coming from the engine. Not just at idle, but it increases with the engine speed. It's light but it is easily audible. I don't notice any strange vibrations in the car. The tick is present, even though engine oil is full... anyone else experience this issue? Is my engine on its way out? Is it normal for an engine with this many miles? Thanks for the input!!!
Question no.1 was the tick present before you found out it was low on oil? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I'd describe the sound of when the engine kicks on as machine gun fire...or maybe some may call it a tick. It's loud and then when gas engine shuts down it is dead silent. Then back to machine gun fire. Maybe post a video?
definitely not machine gun fire loud. Just a light tick that speeds up with engine speed. I’ve had the car since brand new, it’s a new sounds.
If it's not burning much oil and you're getting good gas mileage it could of just been a freak occurrence? Perhaps the person at the oil change place got distracted while filling it up with oil and didn't fill it full enough and because the engine was short on oil it started burning oil and then after 5K miles there was only a quart left? This is yet another good reason to always do your own oil changes!!! Those oil change places are a waste of money anyways....
The oil change guy said there was no oil in the engine and then you said you watch him drain out a quart of oil. Kinda hard to believe your judgement of seeing a quart of oil when the service guy said "no oil." Something is not clear here. And if you only saw a quart of oil drain out of your car your engine would of likely died with warning lights before you got back to the oil change place. None of this makes any sense at all... Please post a quick video or audio recording of the noise you're concerned about?
To explain further, he was referring to no oil being on the dipstick, not LITERALLY no oil in the car.
