Oil burners in our future?

With all due respect to the many loyal Prius diehards....

There are a lot of reasons I won't keep this Prius for more than 100K, or 10 years, whichever comes first. And even that's a huge stretch... will probably sell it way before that. I'm not a guy to keep shelling out money for parts failures & repairs.

Seems to be too many darn problems with these cars as they age. Just one look at all the Priuschat threads, and it's very depressing. I drove 2 Camrys for a total of 22 years, and didn't even have so much as a rattle! It was nice while it lasted. Will never see that again, with any car.

In the meantime, for the Prius I switched over to 5W-30 oil. Only time will tell if that helps, or not. I probably won't live long enough (or drive enough) to find out!

 

My old Gen 2 hit about 120k before I had to replace the battery and there was no signs of oil burning. Only time will well for the Gen 4.

Personally I plan on keeping her for as long as possible.

 

California is a "gender neutral" state. From now on, all cars are it.

 

gen 2 wasn't a problem. the egr was added in gen 3, and that is the problem.

i understand that gen 4 was changed, but no one knows what other problems might or might not crop up until a significant number of cars hit high mileage.

gen 3 oil burning/blown head gasket took 5 or 6 years to be recognized as a major problem, but the cold start knock was there from the get go.

 

Not certain, my crystal ball is broken - but I don't plan to keep her that long - 3 or 4 years, and that'll be only 60,000km. Cars have a life. They start as a "new" car - and some people keep them a long time, I've done that a few times, but mainly due to fiscal constraints when I had children and a mortgage to "feed". And, the older the car, the more likely for something to go wrong.

I tried to find the average age of a new car when the first owner sells it - somewhere I read it was about 60-80,000km, but that's from memory. It then becomes a good used car for someone else - who takes on more risk, but considerable capital expense savings - but that risk can be considerable if something goes wrong.

But the whole scenario has changed in the past few decades.

30 or 40 years ago, you could drive your car for 4-5 years, and buy a new car, and it would be almost no different from the last one - apart from colour and style, almost no new features, probably a bigger engine.

Today, with advances in technology coming thick and fast, next year's cars will have substantial new features - to the extent that the styling changes far less than in the '50s, but over the 4 or 6 years of a model's life now, it will barely be recognisable as the same when you drive it - despite it looking the same except for the grille or tail-lights.

Today (same as 2011): 2007-2011 - yes the headlights changed


1958 Chev 1951 chev - hmmm - quite a few style changes


I was actually hoping for a Plug-In Hybrid when I bought Samantha - but almost none available at the time - hopefully in 12-18 months I'll have a bit of choice.

Personally, I wouldn't ve concerned about whether your PRIUS is going to use oil, even if you keep it a long time - the savings in fuel will make it worth either 1) dispose of it then; or 2) pay to get it fixed. When I bought my PRIUS, I checked out a few others on my shortlist - some like AUDI, VW & Subaru, I scrubbed because of extensive internet discussions about oil usage, head gaskets etc. Found nothing much to deter me from buying a PRIUS, just a few isolated mentions.

This is an older article - Gen 2 though:
Toyota Prius the Taxi champion | CarAdvice

 

You are overthinking this. Just change the oil with the correct type and you can go forever. Toyota Prius Taxi Running Strong With 600,000 Miles And Original Battery

 

We have never had any cars with lower maintenance costs -- I have been moving the fleet over to them since I bought the first 2011 in 1/12. Having to replace the EGR valve and cooler at 200k miles is not a huge deal in my opinion .... although I hope the design change eliminates this in the 4's

 

I feel pretty confident that is something Toyota would have fixed as part of a generational upgrade. They made extensive changes to the engine when going from Gen 3 to Gen 4, and fixing a small thing that is causing oil usage is a no-brainer. (bad head gasket, bad piston rings, etc.)

Starship: Holy smokes are you cynical! Don't over-react or say 'never'. Who is to say you can't drive your Prius for 11 years without a rattle? My 2012 Accord also had almost zero problems over the 106k miles I had it. One of the TPMS sensors failed, causing a slow leak; that was it. I expect the same sort of long-term reliability out of my Prius. Also, consider that a typical car payment for a 5 year loan on a new Prius is probably $400-500. By the time you get to the point where you're spending anything approaching that much to keep the car going, you'll KNOW you're ready for a new car.

Back to RoadNoise, the original poster: Alabama miles will generally be pretty easy on a car, compared to Chicago miles, since you don't have salt/rusting to deal with. I think you'll EASILY get 180k out of your Prius. Remember too that the most expensive consumable component of the car (battery pack) is going to keep getting cheaper as the hybrid and electric car industries really gear up for wide spread mass production. I remember thinking about a Prius when the Gen 1 came out. Knowing the battery was consumable, I looked at the price and it was north of $5k. Now a new OEM one is more like $3500. In another 10 years, maybe $2k?

For my part, I've been going 100k-200k miles on my Hondas, and when I trade them, they are still mechanically excellent. The ones that are closer to 200k are starting to show some body rust. The ones closer to 100k have rust on the under-hood and undercarriage fasteners only.

The 600k mile taxi seems to support this. (although I would only count on maybe half that amount)

Last thing: Toyota probably puts more engineering talent into the Prius and electrics as all their conventional internal combustion cars combined. This is the way of the future and their reputation depends on it.

 

Even though our 2010 liftback 'consumes' oil...I have learned to just accept it and just top up as necessary. I'll admit that I wasn't too happy about it at first though! The world doesn't end just because you have a small amount of oil being consumed. Heck, we have even went on a couple of 4,000ish mile road trips without issue.

Did you see what I did there? using the word 'consumes' makes it sound much, much better.

 

"Starship: Holy smokes are you cynical! Don't over-react or say 'never'. Who is to say you can't drive your Prius for 11 years without a rattle? Also, consider that a typical car payment for a 5 year loan on a new Prius is probably $400-500. By the time you get to the point where you're spending anything approaching that much to keep the car going, you'll KNOW you're ready for a new car."

Yeah, you're probably right. "Old man grumpiness" is starting. I might keep the Disneyland Prius Car
longer... but I don't know, this big Ford is looking pretty good. I don't think anyone will tailgate me or cut me off while driving that! And fortunately, I don't do car payments, I walk in there with CASH, like bisco!

 

That’s just the F-150.

You need to get the F-350 then put it up on a lift kit.

I bet you’ll be noticed and not messed with .

 

Engines are designed so that they do consume oil, they can't lubricate the bores without it happening - there are none which don't - with many, it's barely noticeable. In the '70s VW actually quoted oil consumption rate in the handbook (I had 2), and, no matter the brand of car, if you complain to the dealer, they'll quote you the acceptable oil consumption. It's not a fault unless it's leaking, or consuming too much.

My wife's FORD FOCUS Manual states:

implying that there WILL be oil consumption.

 

My car just did 100.000 miles, is 9 years old and consumes 0 oil between the oil changes. Just checked a couple of days ago with 9.000 miles on the oil and stil on the full mark.

I hesitated if I should sell the car at around 8 years, where I could get a buyer quickly and a decent price for it, but now I'm thinking in keeping it till the wheels fall off

I'm not that concerned about oil burning, currently I seem to notice more sound from the brake booster, more rattle when engine is on and car is stationary (engine mount?) and noticeable (at least to me) battery degradation.

 

Toyota made changes to the piston and ring assembly in 2015 to minimize oil consumption, based on T-SB-0168-16 (below).

Even so, pre-2015 Gen 3s are not necessarily all oil burners. People with problems are more likely to speak up than those without problems, so perceptions of the frequency of problems in forums tend to be exaggerated. My 2010 with 173K miles doesn't need oil between 10,000 mile interval oil changes. I do check fluid levels every gas fill up as a habit and insurance though.

https://attachments.priuschat.com/attachment-files/2018/08/151699_TSB-2.pdf

 

I never pay cash for cars .. and when they give me 0% like Toyota ..or subsidized leases like Lexus .... I take them for as long as they give me. If you ever have a newish car totaled (or stolen) -- you will have wished it financed or leased ...both with GAP.

The taxes alone can make leasing work with a luxury car.

 

On some issues, like Oil Burning...
I think you just cross that bridge, when and if you ever reach it.

Given some posts and threads, it appears it can become a problem. But keep in mind, people post problems, you don't get the converse of people posting just to say...everything is still good.

Plus as some people have pointed out, nearly all vehicles as they age, start at some point to burn some amount of oil. It's a problem that I think sometimes can be monitored, and dealt with for a long time, simply by adding oil. It kind of comes down to the rate of Oil Burning, and any peripheral engine/sensor failures that result.

But for the OP?
You've got a 2016 Prius. I suspect you have many, many years before it may or may not become a legitimate problem. -And it may never.

Years ago, I actually owned a great older Honda Accord. It burned about a 1/2 a quart or so of oil every 3-6 weeks. I'd monitor and add when needed. It never really registered with me as anything but the cost of driving an older vehicle.

If the plan is to go 180,000 miles before considering replacement? I think that's possible with a Prius.
Is it guaranteed Oil usage won't increase in that time frame? No, it can't be.
But it's probably more likely you'd be facing the Hybrid Battery replacement question before worrying about any potential oil burning issue.

 

Driving style has some bearing on whether or not you end up burning oil. Driving gently all the time is generally not good for an engine. That doesn't mean you need to beat on it, or drive it hard all the time. But the weekly spirited getting on the highway run loads the piston rings and helps to keep the oil rings from sticking due to varnish buildup. The biggest reason an engine burns oil is oil control rings that are stuck. Sometimes this is caused by poor ring design, but often it is caused by never loading the engine up and giving it a good workout. Change the oil when recommended, and drive it normally, except maybe once a week, get that engine up to speed and under some load. I have done this with every car I have every owned and never once had an oil burner.

 

My 2013 Prius is approaching 200k miles with zero oil burning and zero issues - only replaced oil, air filters, plugs, tires, coolant, trans fluid. Runs and drives like it did the day I purchased it new. Amazing ROI on this vehicle.

PS: My kids and wife say I drive like a "grandpa" and I'm not one yet - I do drive conservatively for sure, at or slightly under the speed limit. My days of measuring success in how many minutes faster I completed a trip are over. My new KPI is MPG per trip. I smile each time I fill the gas tank.