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Mountain driving redline

Discussion in 'Prius v Main Forum' started by Davidww, Sep 28, 2022.

  1. Davidww

    Davidww New Member

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    Five
    Our 2013 Prius V (160K) has been consuming oil for a few years since about 110K. It is primarily driven from Washington DC to the mountains of Western Maryland and West Virginia; about 2.5 to 3 hours so most miles are mountainous freeway miles. We've accepted adding oil and checking every or every other oil change. We have added a quart of oil every 300-600 miles; sometimes more. I've had multiple dealers and mechanics check it out, steam cleaned undercarriage and dye check, and according to the mechanics no obvious reasons for the oil loss. Recently I may have discovered that simply not pushing the gas pedal to the floor and driving the car as hard as I have in the past seems to result in a greatly decreased loss of oil. During a longer road trip through generally flatter terrain much less oil was consumed/lost as well. Does anyone else have similar experiences? Is there any mechanical issue this particular characteristic points to? Should I just drive slower or buy a faster car? lol Thanks for any input.
     
    #1 Davidww, Sep 28, 2022
  2. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    The design of the piston and rings is flawed. Toyota actually changed them free under the five year 60,000 powertrain warranty when consumption hit a quart every 1200 miles. Driving it at low rpms may help slightly but pistons and rings along with valve seals are the definitive solution. Generally people simply get a rebuilt engine swapped in. Depending on your location, an engine swap has cost $3,100 up to $7,500. At the high end, a new short block is used, at the low end just new pistons and rings along with a rebuilt head in both cases. The engine suffers from head gasket failures as well with oil consumption a smoking gun.
     
    #2 rjparker, Sep 28, 2022
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  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    get a faster car :p
     
    #3 bisco, Sep 28, 2022
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2022
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  4. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Whatever the condition of the engine, and however slowly or quickly it uses oil, it will use faster at higher RPMs.
     
    #4 ChapmanF, Sep 28, 2022
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  5. Davidww

    Davidww New Member

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    Shoot, if only the car had started leaking sooner. Oh well. Is this prognosis a death sentence without major repairs or will it chug along as long as we keep pouring oil into it? What's the failure mode? Increased oil consumption or getting to the point of needing an IV drip for oil while running? My spouse unexpectedly on the side of road?

    Edit: Grammer
     
    #5 Davidww, Sep 29, 2022
  6. rjparker

    rjparker Tu Humilde Sirviente

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    If you are at a quart every 300 miles there is a very real possibility of running out of oil one day. The engine only has a little over 4 quarts before the red oil light comes on. This is a low oil pressure alert, not some kind of low oil level warning. Running without oil has predictable engine failure modes.

    Otherwise, the car is pumping a lot of oil through the catalytic converter, egr and pcv systems. No matter how you slice it, clogged catalytic converters or blown head gaskets are likely sometime in the future. You might make 200k, maybe, without a major engine repair. Even then most people just replace the head gasket and clean the egr and hope for the best. The catalytic converters seem pretty robust, we don't hear of many clogging up.

    Some claim piston soaks help but I suspect the strong solvents probably clean up worn valve seals to reduce oil consumption. Personally I would be investigating a rebuilt engine swap with new rings at minimum and a rebuilt head. With a one to three year warranty. Ideally before a head gasket blows.

    Here is another thread with relevant discussion:
    Suddenly getting misfires on all four cylinders | Page 2 | PriusChat
     
    #6 rjparker, Sep 29, 2022
  7. Davidww

    Davidww New Member

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    Thank you. We had considered the likelihood that one forgetful day the engine may give out due to our negligence and I had figured the catalytic converter was likely getting clogged but I didn't know about the robustness of the cat and others issues you mentioned. We're in the market for a new car in the next year or so. Hoping the right EV comes into play for us that doesn't cost a fortune so we can walk away from all this ICE garbage. We lost a Subaru wagon to a blown head gasket which we replaced only to have it blow a second time! So a second EV is worth a lot to us for not having to go through what, two, nearly (knock wood) three head gaskets in a decade?
     
    #7 Davidww, Sep 29, 2022
  8. Air_Boss

    Air_Boss Senior Member

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    Everything old is new again, and in this case, better.
     

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    #8 Air_Boss, Sep 30, 2022
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