Emergency- Should I replace oil?! Am I damaging my Prius?

The Prius burns 1 qt of oil every 5k miles and that’s normal. I Change my oil every 10k miles and at the end of it, it burned 2 qts. The maintenance reset indicator is automatically turned on every 5k miles, that’s factory set so you can’t change it.

 

I don't see our 2015 Prius using *any* oil in 5K miles -- but I assume that has the revised piston rings.

 

All they can do is reset it, and Toyota has programmed it to go off roughly every 5000 miles. Note too: that is just a general maintenance alert, not specifically saying change the oil. Toyota USA says to change the oil every 10,000 miles or yearly, whichever comes first.

That said, I don't think you can go far wrong sticking with 5000 mile oil change interval. For what it's worth, that's what Toyota Canada recommends for 3rd gen. Maybe the oil's fine for 10,000 miles, but oil degrades gradually, so at 5000 miles I would think it's working better. The difference is debatable.

Our 2010 so far is not using any oil between changes yet, but we're very low usage, I follow the Toyota Canada recommendation, 6 months always arrives WELL ahead of 5000 miles, and I change at the 6 month mark. Also, only 85K kms on the odo.

Oh, and Canadian Prius don't have that maintenance minder. It's mostly just a pain: it's easy to keep track, and less hassle.

 

How do you “seeing” it not using?

 

it’s probably still new, mine has 205k miles so over time, it’ll burn some oil. As long as its not burning a qt every 1k miles...

 

Welcome, @William206.

Have you been doing this since the car was new? And how many miles on it now? From the looks of that dipstick, your habits are supporting my theory that early oil changes help delay the onset of oil burning.

The manual calls for 10,000 miles or annually with synthetic, as @Mendel Leisk already pointed out. I like to change mine at about 7,500. I've never had an oil burner. I know that's not proof, but its for sure not proof that it doesn't help.

As for the unspecified noises, without knowing a lot more about them, they could be anything from a worn out crankshaft main bearing to a stone in the tire tread.

MPG will tend to decrease in colder weather. If this is your first winter with it, don't be surprised to take an efficiency hit. Cold engines are harder to spin, cold tires are harder to roll. And the engine will run more than in the summer so as to keep the cabin warm for you.

 

The oil level on the dipstick doesn't go down.

 

This "theory" is printed on Page 40 of your Warranty and Maintenance Guide:

They merely reset the maintenance mile counter to 0000, not for any future distance. The car is programmed to display a reminder at 4500, then a stronger warning at 5000.

But as others have pointed out, the long term wisdom of going the full 10k for oil changes, remains uncertain.

 

One information left out is if the car operates in severe condition, or not. Severe 5,000, if not go with 10,000.

 

I wonder if it’s a track car, would it be considered severe?

I use mine as a DD and I change it every 10k without issues. I’ve read someone did an oil test at 10k and said they could push it till 15k?

 

Doesn't the maintenance guide also state what conditions it considers examples of 'severe' service?

 

I change mine every 4,000 but I do it myself.....basically every month....$25 is pretty cheap......

 

Yeah, in the US book, at each service interval. It's shown in the screen grab above by @Fuzzy, I've highlighted:

 

Yes, hiding in plain sight.

Maybe highlight dirt and dusty roads too? Oil change is also hidden in that one.

 

Maybe with amsoil signature series oil w/mobil 1 20,000 mi filter

Not ruin it also includes not going to oil and lube guys for oil changes.

 

I've done 15k intervals using Amsoil and the analysis came back stellar. They commented longer was fine in my case. I've been putting 1500 a week on the car the past several months.

The types of trips and length of time is pretty key to determining safe intervals. A Prius in good condition that is used regularly and piles on miles should have no issue going 10k with a high quality synthetic. A lightly used car or short trips is a different story.

I bought my car pretty much a year ago. It's a 2011 and it had 42k on it. 10k intervals with the prior owners driving habits wouldn't have been the best idea.

 

What "the Prius" are you referring to ??
Mine certainly does NOT.
It depends on a LOT of factors.
You can say that is not ABnormal, but not necessarily that is is "normal" for any given model and mileage.

And.....for the OP.....there is nothing in your information that constitutes an "emergency".
Nothing to cause any concern, actually, in my opinion.
When I had older cars, I tended to change the oil when it got down a quart......no matter what the mileage. That usually was a bit before the max. recommendation.