What would you tell someone who is intimately familiar with Gen2 about the Gen3 to "catch them up"?

Just squeeze enough sap out of the leaves that stick to your Prius .

You’ll get enough for the next fluid change .

 

We've got an asian birch (grown from a seed packet our kids got at 7-11, decades back), and an oak, and both pump out some amount of sweet sap. The birch isn't doing that good though: some sorta woodpecker took a liking to it, ringed the trunk unmercifully, it's in decline now. And the oak was basically a weed we let go. But yeah, sometimes of the year as you're walking the concrete path under the two of them, your shoes are sticking to the pavement with each step, lol.

Another "weed" is an apple tree: we were using kitchen scrap compost for mulch for a few years, and I guess some apple seeds took off. It grew sort of within another tree that we'd "officially" planted (a Japanese Snowbell), and one year we started noticing: hey this is another tree, with apples no less. Now we've got apples for 2~3 months every fall.

We're VERY disorganized, it's all happenstance.

 

That's true too, but I wasn't recommending to change at 5000 miles because nothing is wrong with it; rather, I'd recommend each owner look in the maintenance guide for the two different maintenance schedules Toyota specifies, and follow the one that goes with how the car will be used.

My only reason for using the Toyota-branded 0W20 is that (at least the last time I comparison shopped) nothing else in my town was as affordable.

 

Just north of the 49th parallel, Toyota Canada advocates to change (3rd gen Prius) oil every 6 months or 8000 kms; that the regular interval, and the severe service halves that again.

US owners seem to rationalize that as being the Great White North factor, but really most of the Canadian population is within 100 miles of the northern US border. My wet-coast winters are nothing like North Dakota. Or Alaska...

FWIW, for 4th gen Toyo CDN has aligned with with the US: it's 16K kms or 12 months. Still, this is just policy, you can do what you like with your car.

 

In my experience the window for gliding/coasting is much, much smaller, if not impossible until you get the hang of it.

My gen3 more accurately and consistently measure my gas tank.

My gen3 rarely gets better mileage than my gen3, but also have 18 in wheels and this chat has people who agree that lowers mpg.

I too find the EV mode to be basically useless.

 

I've heard that the regeneration system is better on the 3rd gen Prius than the 2nd gen, but I may be wrong on that.

 

The maintenance manual says 10k miles for oil changes unless non-synthetic is used, in which case changes are called for at 5k miles.

Nobody mentioned head gaskets on the Gen3? My 2010 had the noticeable cold-start knocking before someone totaled it for me. Went to look for used 2010's as a replacement and the shop I took two for pre-purchase inspections noticed the start of "head gasket seepage" - wetness between the head and block, seen when on a lift, but bone dry above and below. I put a down payment on a 2012 with fingers crossed. Found a bunch of stuff on PC. Will clean out the whole EGR system and put an oil catch can by the PCV valve (were those mentioned?) when I get it. May do a preventive head gasket change as a project with my son.

---mike...

 

I think there's more to the story in the maintenance manual than that.

I have a 2010 in Indiana, I'm guessing the specs don't change much in the US. Mine recommends 0W-20 oil, which as far as I can tell you can't get in any form but synthetic. But the manual divides the oil change interval requirements by driving conditions: how many short trips, what temperatures, dust, etc.

My driving conditions fall squarely in the 5,000-mile category in the manual, even though I'm using Toyota's full-synthetic 0W-20 oil.

 

I have owned a 2004-2006-2007-2008-2010-2012. I usually buy them with over a 100,000 miles run that walmart syn oil and change it religously at 20000 miles and they all have gone over 200,000 except for the 2012 it has 130,000 because I just got it.Now you have to drive them on only gravel crushed rock and dirt roads to get extreme condition , and my cars are on those roads 50% of the time. Only thing wrong with the Prii is hitting any thing bigger than a baby bunnie is going to take the front end off. My advice if you get the gen 3 is go to the 14 or 15 models. They have had some trouble with engine rings not seating real good on early ones.

 

Walmart SuperTech is produced by Warren Distribution and has a fantastic additive pack and with the oil burn issues on the 2010 to 2014 in the GenIII Prii it's a fantastic oil for the price.

 

I repeat: "walfart brand is not a good choice."
If you choice to use it, go for it.
It is cheap crap. But it's your engine. If you are happy with it, fine.

If it were the ONLY oil I could get, and NEEDED, I probably would us it.
But first chance I got to put good oil in MY engine, I would.

 

You do have the option to choose whatever motor oil floats your boat, but I would like to point out, this oil that is "crap" meets or exceeds dexos 2 standards. Standards set forth by chemical engineers, etc.

 

That doesn't mean it's good. Meeting the BARE standards, is crap...
YOU are free to use crap is you'd like...

 

Are you a chemical engineer that can independently test and verify the specifications and wear characteristics on any given oil? Probably not... You probably only have anecdotal evidence to make your claims. Stop being so confrontational.

You should check out this video

 

YOU Stop being so confrontational.......
I have better things to do than waste my time with crap oil.
You don't need 20 year college degree to know crap...
Use it! I don't care!

 

Right! It's crap oil! And generic drugs are crap too because they don't carry a brand name!
Dog man has no idea what he's talking about. He only "knows" it's crap because he thinks it is. I use Supertech in my Prius and in my old pickup that has 180k miles and it runs great. This is the same one who told me if I'm on a 2 lane road doing the speed limit and a car is behind me I have to pull over off the road and let him get by me.
Does this site have an ignore feature?

 

Will you be doing the maintenance for her? If not, consider recommending a Gen-4 or another Toyota product.

One thing all Gen-3's need is for the EGR cooler to be cleaned. You won't find a dealer who'll do it, and an indi shop won't know what you're talking about. It needs to be done DIY.

Then there's the potential for head gasket failure. There are theories of a link between EGR clogging and head gasket failure, but I think most everyone would agree that theory hasn't been scientifically vetted -- it is indeed a solid theory with sound logic behind it. (personally, I lean toward believing it) Certainly a HG failure is not imminent, but it does seem to be happening with more frequency as mileage gets higher on the fleet of Gen-3's. If your sister's car were to experience a HG failure, would you be up to the task of repairing it?

I'd also be concerned about oil consumption. To be fair, MOST Gen-3's don't consume oil. But there are a number of them on this forum (mine included) that burn significant oil even though they have excellent service histories. We know what's causing it based on Toyota's TSB and past history with Toyota's other 1.8 ltr engines: stuck/coked rings. But we don't know why some cars develop the problem while most don't. That's what makes it such a wildcard. If there were some reasonable theory about what leads to the problem, you could possibly weed-out the bad cars in your search... but you can't. So the only way to know if an engine burns oil is to ask the owner. Will the owner be honest? Are they conscientious enough to even know? If it's a trade-in at a dealer, they won't have a history to be able to know.

Adding an oil catch can is also highly recommended. Again, dealership and indi shop won't touch it -- has to be DIY. They also won't check the level on it. Will your sister keep up on that?

My daughter will be graduating college next year, and assuming she procures gainful employment, will be looking to replace her 2004 Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix). She loves my wife's 2013 Prius, and has hinted at wanting a Prius when the time comes. To be honest, I don't think I would feel comfortable recommending she get a Gen-3. A low mileage Gen-2 with a new battery (or a low enough purchase price to allow for the cost of a new battery in the near future) I could get behind. Or if her budget allows -- a Gen-4. But a Gen-3? Sorry, I just couldn't do it.

And I'm a Toyota guy. Last several vehicles in our family: 2003 Sienna, 2002 4Runner, 2008 Prius. Currently: 2000 Tundra, 2004 Pontiac Vibe (Toyota Matrix) 2013 Prius V Wagon. All of these vehicles purchased with more than 100K miles, none of them burns a drop of oil over 10K mile oil change interval except the V. None has had a single engine problem.

Just my 2-cents. After adjusting for inflation, arguably worth that.

 

So, I have done a little experiment. I have run 4 tanks of premium fuel with PEA injector cleaner (Lucas Deep Clean Fuel system cleaner (3 tanks), Gumout Regane (1 tank), etc.) through the car at this point and our oil burn is down to ~0.5 qts in almost 2000 miles. It was previously as high as 0.75 to 0.85 qts/1000 miles (latter under heavy highway driving) The odometer was at just about 1900 mi yesterday on the latest oil change and the dipstick is flashing just above full after I had added 0.5 qts a few weeks ago. It may be anecdotal, but it's worth a shot. I just went and bought 2 bottles of 20 oz Techron at Advance Auto using their BOGO deal for $13.99+tax.

I should also add that I added a bottle of STP Conventional Oil Treatment to 5 qts to SuperTech 5W-20 HM Full Syn before changing the oil this go around. This stuff has a high film strength and is a non-dilutive additive that has high ZDDP and is touted on Bobistheoilguy (BITGO). I have used the synthetic STP additive before on the car, but I can't remember if this was as successful as this go around and that is why I am leaning toward the PEA cleaner.

Since I have changed 2 variables, I can't say for sure that the PEA injector cleaner is what is cleaning the rings to reduce the oil burn; however, others have reported similar findings on Priuschat.

 

Also, I would argue that most people don't know if their GenIII Prii burn oil because they don't change their own oil or even know how to check their dipstick. If they go to a shop, that shop won't measure the oil out of the crankcase. It just goes into their collector and the dude that is changing the oil is a general tech, with little to no experience. He doesn't get paid enough to care.

The ONLY way they would know is if their oil pressure light came on and you would be at ≥1qt burning/1000 miles

We know that the issue is caused by a design flaw on the oil piston rings due to the small size of the channel and oil drainage holes. This design was implemented on the mid-2000's Toyotas and wasn't changed until 2013 through 2015 on the 2ZR-FE and 2ZR-FXE blocks.

I should add that I find it hard to believe that they were manufacturing pistons in two different factories by two different specs and thats why people are claiming that not everyone has the oil burn issue (I have not found any data to suggest this). Manufacturer's typically pick one design and one factory to mitigate overhead costs. So I would say ALL GenIII Prii (2010 to 2014) are already burning oil or have the ability to be affected by this issue.

In addition, our Prius had the oil changed within 5000 miles since 70000 miles and every 10k before that. I think the key may be using Top Tier gasoline only (we have used whatever is cheapest and not everything that is Top Tier) and using PEA injector cleaner every 3000 miles.

 

Gen 3 looks better