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Low oil warning

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Sishoch, Jun 12, 2022.

  1. Sishoch

    Sishoch Junior Member

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    Have a 2005 with 138,000 miles, owned from new. It was parked for four years while I was out of state but I've been driving it daily for a few months. Occasionally, the red triangle would flash and it would beep. Tried to read the codes but there weren't any. Perused this forum and discovered it was a sign of low oil. Had to add two quarts to get above the fill line. Thank you all for saving my engine.

    But why the cryptic signal? Shouldn't there be a low oil light on the dash and shouldn't it cause an engine code? All it said on the display was "problem" which was no help at all.

    For the record, it never burned oil before I parked it and I rarely had to add oil. Oil changed every 5000 miles.
     
    #1 Sishoch, Jun 12, 2022
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    As these engines get older, they will start burning oil. Have you had a habit of checking oil level to say "it never burned oil before"? After it sitting for 4 years, you didn't change the oil before driving it again?
     
    #2 JC91006, Jun 13, 2022
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    low oil pressure notification would be nice, but toyota trusts that you'll keep an eye on it apparently.
    you're fortunate. for most people, a blown engine is the only indicator
     
    #3 bisco, Jun 13, 2022
  4. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    Car sits for 4 years and you just cross your fingers and hope for the best? Like not even checking the dipstick? Wow!

    This website may of saved your engine this time, but with you car care ethic you should probably start shopping for a new car ASAP.
     
    #4 PriusCamper, Jun 13, 2022
  5. PriusCamper

    PriusCamper Senior Member

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    I wonder what's so scary about a dipstick? One time someone with 300K miles on a Prius asked me how to check the oil level... How that prius did that well for that many miles is beyond me.
     
    #5 PriusCamper, Jun 13, 2022
    bisco likes this.
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i suspect most haven't been taught. manufacturers/dealers don't encourage it.
    maybe we need to go back to more practical life classes in high school
     
    #6 bisco, Jun 13, 2022
    nancytheprius likes this.
  7. Sishoch

    Sishoch Junior Member

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    For the record, I changed the oil, tire, wipers, and 12v battery before I started driving it. I also cleaned it (there was a rabbit living under the hood) and had it painted.
     
    #7 Sishoch, Jun 14, 2022
  8. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    How many miles did you drive since the oil change?
     
    #8 JC91006, Jun 14, 2022
  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    2 quarts over a few months equals 1 qt/2,250 miles
     
    #9 bisco, Jun 14, 2022
  10. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    I knew how to check a dipstick long before high school.
     
    #10 CR94, Jun 14, 2022
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    one of the fortunate ones
     
    #11 bisco, Jun 14, 2022
  12. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    With the car sitting for four years, the oil return holes in the pistons might have got gummed up. To test this, you could try doing a piston soak using Berrymans B12. Some have reported success trying this.
     
    #12 dolj, Jun 15, 2022
  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Yeah, when we went to our Toyota dealership's "new owners night", the service manager gave us a tour of the service department, and proclaimed "our goal is to ensure you never need to pop the hood"... :rolleyes:
     
    #13 Mendel Leisk, Jun 15, 2022
  14. Sishoch

    Sishoch Junior Member

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    About 4000 miles in 4 months
     
    #14 Sishoch, Jun 16, 2022
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