I was wondering if anybody else with a high mileage Prius has encountered this. With my 04,05 and now 08 Prius non of them have ever used a drop of oil between it's 5k mi. oil change. Now my 08 since it has passed 80k mi. has started using a 1/4 of a quart of oil when it hits approx. 4k since an oil change. While this is certaintly a miniscule amout of oil it just is out of character of the car. My Prius now has 91k mi. on it and is the highest mileage of the Pri that I've had. I was just wondering if anybody else notice their Prius using a bit of oil after passing 80k miles?
Yes, my 2004 has 97K miles and is burning ~0.75 quarts after 7,500 miles. Extrapolating your 2008's oil consumption rate leads to ~0.5 quart after 8K miles. The actual might be even greater if you were to go that long between changes, to the extent that oil viscosity starts to thin as more miles are logged.
Actually I first noticed this when the time before last I used my local garage for an oil change and he put in Valvoline SynPower synthetic, so I switched back to my regular Castrol thinking maybe the synthetic was the cause but no. Is synthetic really better with higher mileage engines?
A good synthetic (note I said good) generally will resist consumption better than dino oils. In my experience, Amsoil, Motul, Maxima, and Schaeffers Supreme 9000 are the best choices. Obviously, using any of these oils, you would only change them every 15-20k. I've never tried a high-mileage oil, but some claim to reduce consumption. These oils I've personally turned to when I've had cars that gulped Mobil 1 and Redline down. Not that they are bad oils, but they didn't mate well with the cars I was using them in- (Corvette, S2000, MR2.....may have had to do with the being high-reving.) You may want to change the PCV valve out as well.
I have an 08 with 70k on it. I used Mobil 1 (Full Synthetic) since about 1400 miles. I still do not use oil between 5k oil changes. Maybe because my mileage has not gone high enough quite yet?
Probably because using Mobil 1 for 5k mile OCIs is overkill. Good for the engine though. You'll probably never have to worry about engine problems with this regimen.
Hey I'm glad I'm not the only one that puts so many miles on it's all my trips back and forth to Fl. LOL. Actually I'm going to be in Daytona next week. How do you put so many miles on your Prius?
I have about 65K on my 2007. I used Pennzoil synthetic 5w30 year round. No oil usage between changes, 5K intervals, oil does not even get dark brown. I reuse the old oil in my mowers and generators. I put about 600 - 800 miles per week on my car when I am home. Plus many trips from MA to Charlotte NC and other race desitinations. I don't mind the oil expense to ensure a long life...
my mileage is listed on my signature. mine burns oil too. i use really good synthetic, and change the oil no later than 10,000 miles. (i didn't like the results at 15,000... more oil burning...) I definitely burn over a quart within 10,000 miles
I have 138,000 on a 2005, and I don't burn any oil at 7,500 mile change intervals. I use synthetic oils, and WIX oil filters.
Someone (jayman I think) posted that a car with high mileage of dino oil changes would start to consume oil if switched to synthetic. The reason is that the detergents in the synthetic tend to clean out the gunk deposited by the dino oil that used to help sealing leaks. So the lesson is either to switch to synthetic early, or don't do the switch at all. (All of the above are info gathered from previous posts, not my personal experience ).
Yes I've heard that too, although others have said it's not true, but I tend to think your right since mine didn't start using any until I got an oil change with synthetic.
