Excessive oil consumption. Issue resolved by Toyota.

Use 0W-30 and forget this was ever an issue. In summer when pulling a trailer upgrade to 0W-40. Car burns nothing but gas with this solution. I'm at 180k and doing this since 120k with no issues.

 

One qt every 3333 miles while higher than normal wouldn't be considered excessive. I'm sure your 2010 is worth more than $5K so yeah, change the oil every 10K, add the oil as needed and change the plugs by 150K miles. Or you could donate it to a local charity, they'd love to sell it for you.

 

So will the new one start burning oil in 50,000 miles?

 

I see alot of people complaining about the oil consumption issue on 2010`s and 2011, my vw golf V TDI consumes 4-5 liters of oil at 10k km when drived (70%) on the highway ( +140km/h) . If drived like a granny no oil consumption. In the book it says 1L at 1000 km.

Just ordered a Gen3-based Corrolla (2017) hope they fixed the issue.

 

I changed my PCV valve and it completely stopped my oil consumption.

PCV change is easy but not fun since they use a thread sealer it is wrench all the way out, then back in. But worth it!

 

How many miles when you did this?

 

I think it was about 124k mi. I am at 127k mi. now.

 

What was your oil consumption level?

 

Yeah, come back at 134k.

 

Basically, the crankcase HAS to vent, with all those pistons going up and down. In the old days they just ran a tube (or tubes) out and down, vent to atmosphere, and maybe drip a bit at every bump in the road.

Then someone realized those gases were polluting, came up with a check valve, with an internal spring and ball bearing, and instead of venting to atmosphere, ran the gases back to the intake manifold.

But, if that valve sticks/clogs in the closed position: positive pressure in the crankcase starts to force oil up past the piston rings.

What happens if the valve clogs in the open position? Or does that not happen?

 

If the PCV valve was stuck open, then the engine would run lean due to excess unmetered air entering the intake manifold.

 

New guy here. Had to join when I read the post.

The OP paid $1600 for a USED engine? Why? The OP never checked his engine oil, and was only notified of a problem when the idiot light came on. Now I'm not saying that a modern engine should use a quart of oil every 1000 miles, but if it does, SO WHAT!! Pull out the dipstick every 1000 miles, check the oil. If its low, add a quart. How hard is that? There are thousands of reports all over the net of Toyota engines using an abnormally high amount of oil. This is due to a defective piston design. Your options are A)spend $8000 for a new engine b) pay $1600 for a USED (unknown maintenance history) engine (that will have the same defective pistons) or C) Check the oil regularly and keep it topped up. If the engine consumes a bit of oil, live with it.

$1600 will buy an awful lot of motor oil. That's about 400 quarts worth of motor oil. If your car burns a quart every 1000 miles, thats 400K miles worth of top up oil. I cannot wrap my head around the idea that replacing a perfectly running engine (albeit one that consumes a quart of oil every 1K miles) is even an option.

Every single person on this board, and in fact, every single person that drives a car, SHOULD ABSOLUTELY check their oil at least once a month. Have we devolved so much as a race where we cant even pull out the cars dipstick to make sure our expensive automobiles dont blow up an engine?

I'm not trying to be rude here. I'm just absolutely flabbergasted, and kind of disgusted, that a person would rather put an USED engine, with unknown maintenance history in their car instead of just checking the oil every now and then. Its a USED engine! That engine might not have ever had an oil change. It could have 100K miles on the factory oil!

In conclusion, people, if your Toyota product has excessive consumption, see if Toyota will take care of it. They were replacing engines and pistons on some models. If Toyota "advice" to you is to drop a used engine in, I'd go with option 2. Which is to act like an adult, check your oil, and keep it topped up. Its not rocket science to dump a quart of oil into your engine when it gets low. Live with the excessive consumption until you trade it in.

 

99% of people just drive their cars and fill with gas. even back in the day, we relied on the gas station attendant to check the oil for us. it is what it is, welcome to priuschat.

 

Welcome. I tried to teach my wife and kids "to act like and adult" and failed miserably. I end up checking oil for the entire family. there is a culture of anti-technology (and now anti-science too) in USA and everyone treats cars like appliance unless you are a rare car enthusiast. and indeed, how often do you check compressor oil in your refrigerator?

 

That's the best post I ever read! Half the drivers on the road, shouldn't even be allowed to sit behind the wheel of a car due to ignorance. Low oil, no oil, flat tires, no knowledge of the rules of the road, you name it. They just get in it, turn the key, and drive.

Very few take the time to learn the basics of vehicle maintenance. And hardly anybody reads the owner's manual anymore. With so much information on the Internet, there is no excuse for not knowing at least the basics of maintaining and checking a vehicle.

And that reminds me… I better go out and check my dipstick.

 

Or dust out the refrigerator radiator. It's not so bad if it's readily accessible: our is a coil, hidden inside behind the back cover, requiring removal of a fan motor to clean properly. Turns into a small furry animal, by the 2~3 year mark.

Yeah, I'm pretty much THE oil checker, with our two kids that have cars. Both are semi-willing to adapt I think, but I suspect if I was abducted by aliens or whatever, things would go back to total neglect pretty fast.

 

You do realize that if you replace your engine with a 50,000 mile one the same problem will occur after another 50,000 + miles. I'm at the point now I'd rather trade it in on a non hybrid vehicle. Feed up between the oil loss and the carbon build up in the intake manifold which causes it to misfire. $1200 repair between tow and repairs. If my mechanic hadn't researched the Toyota Service Bulletins he wouldn't have found the issue. It occurs in Prius 's between 2010 and 2015.

 

That's why I do all my own service. And check oil every fillup.

 

Thanks for reminding I neglected the fridge. I guess fridges make people lazy as they run forever with little maintenance. Mine is 17 years old and strong, but I did fix ice maker and water valve a few times. Looks like yours was designed as dust filter.

 

I bought a 2013 Prius 11 new and had it serviced each time. The last service, 112k miles, I noticed on the comment page
it noted NO OIL ON DIPSTICK. I use synthetic oil.
i was of course concerned and looked at my old records. There was nothing mentioned a few oil changes back then there
was one where it said only shows 1/2 court on dipstick. I found another comment on the multi-point inspection where it said NO
NO OIL ON DIPSTICK, BURNING OIL.
Well, of course this sucks on a car I was hoping to get 300k or more miles on. i called the service tech and he said there
no external leaks - so it was burning it.
What upsets me is that I was not told when this first started. Also the tech seemed the most interested in me bringing in
car so the oil consumption could be documented - to lower the trade in value i suppose.
Never had an oil light come on. Never thought to check it. I normally would have with any other vehicle.
They are sure quick with the cabin filter needs .... but burning oil - no mention.