I love my prius and have a great mechanic.. problemo is it's really guzzling thru oil and his advice was that the end of life is near or I can replace the engine for a few grand.. I'm going thru about 2 quarts every 1000 miles and also the gas gauge is off as it shows empty now at around 220 miles vs 360 even tho the gas pump will only fill to 5-6 (so still at the 40mpg) gallons vs 9 at empty... advice? hope that made sense as I'm not super car tech savvy thanks
Wow that's a lot of oil burning! If it has the original HV battery pack then yes it's time to put it down since the immediate cost of the engine and the ensuing cost of the HV pack will be too much to bear. Sell it now while you still can.
There are some thing you could try first before you et rid of it. I have good experience with engine flush. Put new regular oil in and the bottle engine flush, let it run for 45 minutes and then take the oil out. The oil is like black paint. Maybe repeat it. Put new fresh oil in. May you have luck and the piston rings come loose and work again. Maybe you dont ant they are just worn out. Or the rest of the engine is worn out.
Seems to me like you've got a lot of usage out of it and it's time to let it go. At your mileage, there are a lot of parts that could be getting worn out, and the engine is going to cost a ton to replace on its own. It doesn't seem worth keeping unless you want to use it as a project car.
Have it inspected for leaks. Change the oil and put a "high mileage" type thicker grade back in. Start shopping for a replacement. Highly likely that NOTHING you do will help much.
What weight oil are you using? If you're using 0W-30 or 0W-20, you could likely reduce your oil consumption by switching to a heavier weight -- like 10W-30 or 10W-40.
You could try donating it to a VoTec school and take a tax deduction. They would probably love to have a car like that for the students to get experience on.
Agreed with everyone above. If you had a new HV battery I would consider replacing the engine. But if your HV is original I would just keep running it until it finally gives way and call it good.
I would keep it driving till it gets to point where is no more reason to fix...... With that type of miles .....there is not much value on trade in.... Keep it and smile for every + mile you make......
