I have noticed my oil consumption has jumped to 1 1/2 quarts at 3000 miles..(it has been changed every 3 to 4000 miles) and is always very dark.. there's no leaks and the spark plugs were clean (just a little ash) when I changed them with the last oil change. no smoke from the tail pipe and the car still gets 45/48 mpg .. any ideas if its worth fixing or should I just keep adding oil until it dies.
Beachbummm, Welcome to "The Burn" ... as I call it. Here are the two threads I follow most closely regarding it. Many people including myself have tried many different things. Some work for some people, some have good results with some things and others see no change at all. This issue is the definitive "results may vary" problem .... Good luck!!! 2008 Prius - burning oil at 135,000 miles | PriusChat Burning oil at same rate regardless of oil thickness --- What does it tell us? | PriusChat Happy driving, Chris
1.5 qts per 3000 miles isn't horrendous. Engine oil, when you get it on sale, is still reasonably inexpensive. I have a enough full synthetic oil for 20 changes in my basement. I won't be shopping for more oil any time soon.
Let's see..... No car payment. Probably still gets almost 50-mpg. Uses about $2.00 worth of oil every 1,000 miles. Yeah. You're going to go broke keeping this car on the road.... Keep it. Change nothing, except the oil.....about as often as you have been. Good Luck!
Just keep it topped off. There's no reason it can't keep going for a long time like that, as long as you don't let it get too low. I like to top off before mine gets under about the half way mark (between the two dimples) on the stick.
LOL I can relate to that, I've got way too much "stash" as well. About enough for six years of oil changes and top-offs at the current rate. My wife has told me I'm not allowed to buy any more until I've used at least half of it.
