2008 Prius - burning oil at 135,000 miles

I put 5oz. of Seafoam in one and got a report back that the oil level held for 4K miles. I then started to give all the oil burners a dose. I started doing that about a month ago and have not seen the results yet. I have however been seeing more and more oil burning Prii so I hope this turns out to be a good solution.


Avi

 

145,000 miles on mine and the only time I experienced any oil loss was when I used 5w20 at an oil change.
I wouldn't use any weight thinner then a 5w30, but if you are experiencing significant loss I would use a high mileage "synthetic" name brand with a 10w40 weight and forget any "mystery oils". (unless you live in a subarctic and arctic area). Castrol Syntec and Mobil 1 also have a 5w40 and 0w40 that they market as (European Formula) that would be great, but they don't have the high mileage additives.

 

I wouldnt say Ive experienced any higher oil burn with using Mobil 1 0w-20 oil this oil change. Ive had to add maybe 1/2 quart and Im at 6500 miles now on this oil. Was about the same during my last fill, which was Mobil 1 5w-30.

During both oil changes, I did a lot of high speed highway driving and Im generally an all around, incorrigible lead foot. Still averaging 47mpg though

 

How much oil does it burn Tideland?

Mine is at 180,000 km (115 kmiles) and burns about a quart per 15000 km, which is close enough to nothing as far as I'm concerned.

 

Avi,

Thanks for the update. Let us all know if it works as well on the other cars you have tried it in as well as it did on that first one. It will be interesting to know. I take it the Marvel Mystery Oil didn't have any positive results?

I have a bottle of Marvel to try the next time my oil gets low in Ema but after that I will give the 5 oz. of SeaFoam a shot and let everyone know how it works. I was hoping to get her to 400K but with the Burn I am not sure I can make it. With it warming up my next oil change is going to be 10w40 I believe, which may also help although it will hurt MPG. I will certainly try and keep everyone update on this.

Happy Driving,
Chris

 

You know, a used Prius engine is fairly cheap, and there seems to be a dime a dozen of them on ebay.

 

Do any of those come with free installation?

 

Update 2

That car came in on Friday with it's oil level just below the lower dipstick mark. It had been driven 6ooo miles since I put 3.5 quarts of 5W-30 and 5 ounces of Seafoam in it. NO OIL WAS ADDED. On the interval before two or three quarts were added.

I understand this may not happen with other cars. I'm just reporting on this one case for now.

Avi

 

Thanks for the update Avi. I suppose this means that at least some of the oil consumption issues are due to gummed up oil control rings then, I can't see any other oil consumption issue that the seafoam would be addressing.

Recently in another thread member Sielerts mentioned that he'd pulled down some oil burning Gen2 engines and noticed that they also had worn main bearings. This may be a second type of problem, possibly caused by poor lubrication (eg lack of oil) at some time. Or perhaps simply due to very high mileage.

I don't think all possible causes of oil burning will necessarily respond to seafoam, but it's certainly worth a try.

BTW. You probably should get that customer to bring it in a bit before 6000 miles. That sounds like it was getting pretty close to a low oil situation.

 

Could it be that the Seafoam is cleaning up sticky rings. I've heard that if rings stick then they will not do an efficient job of keeping the oil out of the cylinders. The Seafoam is suppose to help with sticky cylinder rings. MMO is suppose to help in a similar way, though maybe it takes longer and you're suppose to add up to 20% MMO to a crankcase.

 

The definition of problem oil consumption has changed much over the years. Thirty years ago I was very happy see my VW Rabbit burn only a quart in 4,000 miles when new.
At the rate that the OP is describing it's not an emissions issue or anything. Just check the oil every month and move on.

 

Update on Ema's oil burning.

I tried 5 oz. of seafoam since Avi had such success with it in one of the burners that he services. It did not help and actually appears to have made the burn worse. I had to add 1 qt. at about the 1000 mile mark or a little sooner. Now there may have been some other factors involved because my drive for that 1000 miles was from Charlotte, NC to Erie, PA up I-77, US-19 and I-79. For those of you not familiar that takes you through the hills of West Virginia. As I have noted before high RPM's, which always accompanies hills unless you crawl up them, exacerbates Ema's oil usage. So it may have been that and it may actually be the seafoam did some cleaning as well.

Instead of topping off with my normal Pennzoil high mileage 5W-30 oil I put a quart of Marvel Mystery Oil in her for the trip back down to NC. Again I used about 1 qt. in than 1000 miles or less but again there were a lot of hills involved in the trip. Also worth noting is MMO is a lot thinner than 5W-30 and seafoam is water-like in its conistency so both diluted the original oil so that may increase burn as well. And again these are cleaners so any cleaning they did that may be good for the engine overall may have added to some short term burn. Just a theory.

I filled Ema's oil up with Pennzoil high mileage 5W-30 this morning so I am hoping that any dilution issues will be eliminated with this fill and I will go back to burning 1 qt. every 1500 - 2000 miles as I have before.

I think my experimentation with oil/engine "treatments" has concluded. I have tried Restore, Seafoam and Marvel Mystery Oil with no positive and possibly some negative changes. I plan on switching to Pennzoil high mileage 10W-40 at my next oil change and hope that helps with the burn. Hopefully that will get me to at least 350K before I need to think about doing anything else and as long as the burn stays about 1 qt. every 1000 miles or better I plan to just keep feeding Ema oil until it goes below that. Then I will have to decide if it is worth a new engine or look at replacing her

I have looked at engines and as noted on PriusChat before you can get a fairly low mileage engine for round $500 or so. I also talked with my local Toyota dealer and they will install for about $1,800. That's not really a good deal and I will probably look for someone else around that might be cheaper but then again having Toyota do it should mean everything is done safely and correctly. At least that is the theory, lol.

I hope this info is useful to someone else out there. I will post back how my latest 5W-30 fill ends up and how the 10W-40 change affects the burn as well.

Happy Driving,
Chris

 

Chris, I think it's to be expected that not all oil consumption issues have the same origin. In the lower mileage unit that Avi treated with Seafoam it was most like due to a stuck oil control ring that the treament freed up. In your case however it's more likely that your engine is just plain worn out (well not completely, but you know what I mean).

Trying a high mileage 10W40 sounds like a good plan to me. You've got nothing to lose.

 

Chris, have you had the PCV valve replaced or cleaned? I've heard that a stuck PCV can contribute to oil loss....


I wonder if this stuff might help? It's suppose to help especially in the case of poor seals. Liqui Molly is quite a reputable company and I've heard at least one positive result from it....

Motor Oil Saver

- reduces oil consumption via the piston rings and valve guides
- prevents blue, smoky exhaust fumes
- prevents leaks due to leaks at elastomeric seals
- regenerates engine seals made of plastic and rubber - reduces engine noises
- prevents pollution of the environment due to oil dripping from the engine

LIQUI MOLY - Motor Oils, Additives, Car Care - Products - Motor Oil Saver


Lubro/Liqui Moly Oil Saver Additive with MoS2 Oil - Bob Is The Oil Guy

 

Some people have had success with this product.

Auto-Rx Plus Non-Toxic Sludge Remover and Cleaner for Engines and Transmissions

I have used it and cut open the filter after the rinse phase and found some chunks in there.

 

Dino,

Thanks for the links. I looked at those and they appear to have similar qualities and characteristics as Restore. I didn't have any luck with that so I think I am done trying "additives". Since I topped off with 5W-30 high mileage after running the SeaFoam and MMO through The Burn appears to have stabilized again. I am going to try 10W-40 at the next oil change like I stated earlier and see how that does.

I will be sure to report back my findings here so everyone can benefit from the knowledge. Ohhh by the way yes the PCV was replaced and The Burn did not improve. Emas engine is tired and worn, lol.

Chris

 

Ok everyone, it has been awhile since I posted and Ema has been running Pennzoil High Mileage 10w-40 for the last 5000 miles or so. At first it appeared that the 10w-40 helped with the burn quite a bit. I actually went 2,000 miles before needing to add a quart. That is at least a 500 mile improvement over what she had been burning.

On a trip to PA up I-77, US-19 and I-79 through the hills of West Virginia The Burn returned to 1 quart/1000 miles. Since getting back into flatter land it seems to have stabilized again around 1 quart/1500 miles or so. The most logical conclusion I can draw from this is that Ema's engine is just flat out worn out and high RPM's makes her burn oil more rapidly. I have also noticed that the burn is less right after an oil change with all new/fresh oil. I may change to 3000 mile oil changes but don't really see the point because she will still need oil regularly.

All and all this has been an interesting exercise in oil burning. I hope the information here helps someone somewhere down the road. Don't think for a second I am complaining about Ema's Burn at all because she has done remarkable over her 343,000 miles. I plan to keep feeding her oil until it becomes ridiculous or something major fails then get a new Prius. My guess on the next major failure is catalytic converter. I think the battery will last a long long time still because of all the highway miles she has.

Thanks for reading and if anyone wants a high mileage Prius for study or to repair and drive yourself keep Ema in mind, LOL.

Happy Driving,
Chris

 

Long Live Emma! Thanks for the update Chris. I find this oil loss issue on some Prii quite interesting. It seems to happen to some cars even when high quality synthetic oil is used regularly. It would be interesting to find out some common denominator to these vehicles as to oil loss. I've heard of some Prii drivers with close to two hundred k and using relatively small amounts of oil.

This week I'll be performing my second oil change. Puting in some Amsoil 5w30 signature series. I will also be trying a nano ceramic product for the first time. I've done some research and the reviews and tests seem fairly impressive. Liqui Molly Ceratec is going in. Suppose to be good for 30 k miles. It's said to bring up compression, reduce friction, decrease wear, and fill in microscopic wear spots by creating a ceramic coating throughout the engine. We'll see how it goes, it sounds good anyways. At around $20-$30 it's not cheap. Btw, I tried this stuff in a '91 Previa recently and it seems to respond nicely. Engine is a little quieter and has a little more pickup. Not sure about fuel economy yet.

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/mediendb.nsf/gfx2/3721%20Cera%20Tec_EN.pdf/$file/3721%20Cera%20Tec_EN.pdf

There's also another ceramic additive by RVS from Sweden that looks interesting. On their site they have an example of a Dodge Caravan being 'cured' of oil loss and tail pipe smoke. They say they increased the compression from about 120 on most of the cylinders up to 140. Here is their site:

RVS Technology home page homepage