oil consumption--2004 Prius

first priority is to check your oil level more often, but you should change it every 5,000. maybe 3,000 if your planning to keep it.

 

You can send used oil out for analysts. Some auto parts stores sell that. I would do as Bisco says and check you're oil at every full up and Change again in 3,000 miles.

Article on Oil Analysis.

What Does Your Engine Oil Tell You? - Edmunds.com

 

It is a good idea to check your oil every time you fill up. If your car uses or burns oil, you will be more likely to know what is going on rather then to wait until you change the oil and discover what you did. I do agree that it would be better if you were to change the oil every 5,000 miles. There are some who run longer if they are running synthetics. However, if you are interested in longevity of your engine, it would be better if you changed the oil every 5,000 like the manufacturer recommends. Try to get into the habit of checking the oil whenever you buy gas, and while you are under the hood take a moment to look at the fluid levels also.

Good luck to you and welcome to Prius Chat.

Ron

 

It looks like your oil consumption rate is 1 quart per 4,000 miles which really isn't bad for a car with almost 100K miles logged. I suggest you check your engine oil level at least 2x per month and be ready to add oil after you've driven 4K miles.

You don't have to change the oil at 5K mile intervals. 8K-10K mile intervals is fine considering you are using a full synthetic oil and the heavy freeway driving you do. However you don't want the oil level to drop below the lower dimple on the dipstick, and I suggest you might carry a quart of oil in the car so you are ready to replenish as needed.

 

Only 2 quarts? You're exaggerating... Or maybe just not measuring correctly?

If your car was that low on oil I doubt your MPGs would be that high and I suspect a Prius is going to throw an error code of some sort if the engine gets down to nearlly half-full of oil. Of course others on here know better than I.

Perhaps you really meant to say 2 1/2 quarts? That sounds more realistic... Did you change the oil filter and count the oil inside the oil filter as part of your calculation?

PS: Using synthetic oil makes an oil change every 10,000 miles ok, but I usually do it around 8,000 miles.

 

That is not the case, unfortunately. The usual way people are informed of low oil is for a vague "Problem" sign to flash briefly on the MFD while they make some sudden acceleration, as when going around a corner quickly. They might not notice it if they are looking at the road.

At that point the oil has already been much too low for a while.

 

Good point about the filter, yeah there could be nearly 1/2 quart unaccounted for there.
As nh7o says though, you wont get any warning until it's too low reach the (pump) pickup and it starts sucking air. At two quarts it would probably still be pumping ok, but the oil will be working much harder and get more degraded (more contaminants per unit volume and it will run hotter as it spends less time in the sump).

Anyway, what is it about the Prius dipstick that seems to frighten people so much?

 

Do you recall how much new oil you used, when you did the oil change 3 months ago?

The difference between the top and bottom dipstick dimples is around 1.6 quarts, by the way.

 

As Patrick suggested with the type of running you are doing 10,000 mile change interval should be fine using synthetic oil as long as you keep a check on the level. In the UK and Europe 10,000 miles is the recommended change interval for the gen2 Prius.

 

i have heard that synthetic oil will burn and/or leak more than conventional oil, so yes check it every 1k. if you do your own oil changes, its not a big deal to change it every 5k. it won't hurt to go longer, but i do it when the maint light comes on solid, which is every 5k.

 

I fear my dipstick because it gives two readings... On one side it says half way between the marks and on the other side it shows at the lower mark... I've never heard people complain of this, but it doesn't make sense to me. Is there a problem with my dipstick or is it just a bad design that we all have to live with?

 

A bad design we have to live with. I suggest you consider the lower of the two readings as the actual.

 

Thanks Patrick... In looking at the dipstick tube it seems it goes into the engine block nearly parallel to the ground at first rather than perpendicular. I wonder why they made it that way?