Another oil burning Prius :(

Some who have ignored it later either replace head gasket or engine. @danlatu (our OCC evangelist LOL) has pretty convincing proof on how to extend the engine life.

 

I'll have to wait and see. With an oil catch can in place. A whole lot less oil will be burned from the pcv system. If that oil is not being burned. Your engines pistons, rings, valves, egr cooler, egr pipe and intake plenum will be cleaner. If the piston rings are clogged with carbon it will increase compression, have less oil lubrication on the cylinder walls, more engine wear and more blow-by. I have to say, our 2010 prius does not seem to burn as much oil as it did at 80k. It has 115k on it now. Proof is in the pudding. Here are some of the posts in the oil catch can thread.

 

You accept the title? danlatu the OCC man

 

Neat. I might have to try this at some point. Possibly summer, 2018.

BTW - I like the Thingverse catch can bracket!

 

Then there's his little side hobby: complete engine tear-down and rebuild.

 

Does appear to be a design flaw with the pistons and rings.

Anyone using Chevron Fuel System Cleaner on a regular basis have excessive oil burning? I tend to use it on a full tank prior to every oil change. Some Prius owners have no oil burning even over 200k miles.

"Some 2010 – 2014 model year Prius PHV, Prius V, and Prius vehicles equipped with the 2ZZ-FXE engine may exhibit engine oil consumption. The piston and piston ring assembly have been changed to reduce the potential for oil consumption."

 

A member here has been doing full synthetic 0w20 mobil one 5k oci and has reported no engine oil burning with 185k+
10k oci may be the culprit for excessive engine wear and oil burning. Oil is cheaper than engines!

 

Anyone with excessive oil burning.. it doesn't hurt to open up a ticket with Toyota.com. Who knows, they might decide to grant a warranty extension or work something out to change to the new pistons/rings on a case by case basis. At least it's logged on their system. Unfortunately oil burning is a manufacture wide problem and is considered part of the long term maintenance. But for a Toyota hybrid, Toyota should reconsider extending the warranty if they found a long term fix to the problem.

 

Toyota's idea of excessive oil burning is one quart every 600 miles. And to sting you a little bit more they'll be happy to charge you a few hundred dollars that do a oil consumption test. Then tell you everything's normal when your car is burning 1 quart every 1000 miles.

 

Why pay the money. You can do your own test.

 

They won’t believe your results and want you to agree to their conditions.

Definitely not worth the price of admission.

 

But why pay for testing when you can figure out if it's within their limits.

 

I don't understand the test, most people that have this oil burning issue is already out of warranty. So the dealer charges you to confirm what you're telling them, then they give you the option to buy another engine. You lose with whatever option they give you.....

 

Fully agree.

I was at 120 k miles when I asked about this issue as we were going through a quart every 4500 miles.

The local dealer said they have been getting a lot of corollas and scions in with similar claims (had an immediate answer to my question when I asked).

They put “tamper evident” seals on the openings. They’ll fill it up and mark the level. Then tell you to drive for ~1000 to 1200 miles then come back.

While something you could confirm, those that believe in the dealership and have a “closed hood” maintenance policy for their cars, this seems like an out.

Best solution is monitoring .

 

126k mile gen II consuming oil | Page 2 | PriusChat

My own post and answer I found on wikimotors.

 

Aaron
Can you report on whether the new pcv valve decreased you oil consumption so we can learn something from this?

 

I get the impression the PCV valve is rarely if ever not working. Not sure though.

 

I had the oil consumption test done at the dealer at about 120k miles -- they didn't charge me for the test which included adding almost 2 quarts of oil. The service manager even gave me the TSB info in case I wanted to pursue it with Toyota . I wanted the consumption test on record before the 150k mile mark because that was the cutoff point when they had this exact same problem on RAV4, Camry, Matrix, and Corollas, etc.

Here's how it went down a decade ago: Toyota recognized there was a problem and issued a TSB for the oil consumption test and the fix for the problem if the test was positive (more than 1 quart/ 1100-1300 miles). This was fully covered under the 60k mile power train warrantee. The number of cases kept mounting with cars that were outside of warrantee, and it lead to a class action lawsuit. I don't know if it was a settlement or a judgement, but Toyota agreed to extend the mileage to 150k.

Here's where we are with the Prius: Toyota recognized there was a problem and issued a TSB for the oil consumption test and the fix for the problem if the test was positive (more than 1 quart/ 1100-1300 miles). This was fully covered under the 60k mile power train warrantee.
This is the exact same TSB and the exact same fix. No surprise, since this is the exact same engine using the exact same pistons & rings that created the problem in the earlier cars.

I've been meaning to try to get off my butt and get the ball rolling on this. I guess I'd better do it!

More info on the original lawsuit: Toyota Oil Consumption Defect Lawsuit - Car Attorney

More info on the problem with the Prius: 2010-2014 Prius Excessive Oil Consumption on 2ZR-FXE Engine | TOYO Headquarters

 

This makes sense. Have heard stuff like "Prius engines last a lot longer because the electric motor takes a lot of the load off, so they last twice as long as non-hybrid engines," but everything I read are people experiencing high oil consumption at 100k. In other words, they're just like any other engine, if not worse!