Engine Oil Burning?

The 1nz motor was over engineered. I had a Yaris that was beat on for 170k miles. Never smoked. Never burned oil. The oil was still brownish yellow even at the end of a cycle. In other words bulletproof. The motor was designed to spin freely even when cold. It broke my heart to part with that car but I outgrown it. Either u had an anomaly or u royally botched the break in period. Which honestly I don’t even think that possible. I’d chalk it up to careless maitinence. Sorry u don’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. Toyota’s make the best power trains hands down. U can’t kill em. This sounds like a personal problem. Live and learn.

 

The 1nz 1.5 ltr motor in your Prius C is the same as in a Gen 2 ('04 - '09) Prius, but not the same as a Gen 3 Prius. the 1.8 ltr motor in the Gen-3 Prius has a reputation for oil burning even with a meticulous maintenance history.

 

"maintenance" equals timely oil and filter changes and never neglecting the level, I'd assume.

 

Well...some of the 2010's consume oil (including mine)..but I'd wager that the vast majority of Gen3's are just fine. Remember that on message forums one often only sees owners that are trying to diagnose problems. Also, there are plenty of postings about Gen2's consuming oil. However, I'll admit that the Gen2's consuming oil generally seem to have very high miles on them.

 

good point -- bad wording on my part. Should have said "some Gen-3's have been known to burn oil regardless of maintenance."

 

We aren't even talking about that engine. That was a fantastic engine. Were talking about the 1.8 in the 2010-2015 Prii

The 1.8 is pretty well known for oil consumption and headgasket issues. I had to replace the damn engine on my sisters 2010, and my 2012 V started drinking oil under my ownership, and I'm very OCD when it comes to maintenance.

My other sister has my old 2005 prius and it drinks oil but it has 310,000 and is a unstoppable beast! The newer prius aren't what they use to be.

Oh did I even mention the EGR system of the third gen (or turd gen as some around here say)

I LOVE Prii and had many people buy then because of ME! I've owned 4, but I also don't keep my head in the sand.

 

As previously stated those who reply to this subject which comes up about once a month have had problems with high oil consumption. Those who have not do not reply, but their case is not a matter of record here. This tends to give the perception that all 2010 vehicles use high amounts of oil. (My take on the subject). Several polls have been done here that clarify the situation somewhat but their results never seem to be repeated when the subject is revisited. Here are the results, unedited, of one of these polls. It covers all 3d gen vehicles.
To date my 2010 has just over 100,000 kilometres and as yet is not consuming any oil.
[POLL] Excessive Oil Usage | Page 3 | PriusChat

 

The third generation commonly starts burning oil around 100,000 miles. Not 62k

 

Yes, some do. And, as the poll indicates, many do not.

 

Key word > commonly. I've been around the block, I've been on Priuschat for over 5 years, owned 4 prii and had many friends and family own them too.

 

If I had Toyota or a 3rd party oil change place do all this, how much extra would it cost to do the engine flush, fuel system cleaner, and BG Products EPR? And do you do this every 5,000 miles/evvery oil change?? How many miles do you wait to change your oil? I don't have the skills, tools, and access to a garage to DIY so is this something Toyota would do? Does doing any of the above mentioned actually reduce oil consumption?

 

Teslas are horribly unreliable.

 

Where in the great state of New York are you located ?

Some members here have the garage or skills and are willing to pass along knowledge .

As for your questions above:

• You could add EPR prior to an oil change, put the car in maintenance mode for 10 minutes, then pull it into the shop you get the oil change done.
• The 44k can be added to a full tank of gas any time (it treats 20 gallons, so you’ll need another full tank of gas to consume it all)
• I did the EPR every oil change (10 k miles)
• I did the 44k treatment once a year (they say every 15k miles on the can)
• While it didn’t stop oil consumption, it kept the consumption at a quart every 5-6k miles

Good luck and keep us posted .

 

I'm in the Lake George region - about an hour north of Albany in the Adirondacks. Lived in the Bay for a few years until I got sick and tired of the commute and cost of living, but miss the nice weather in the winter. I'm looking to buy a 40k miles 2012 Prius Four in a few days.

Few questions if you don't mind answering:

1) Don't think it has any oil burning issue atm, but do you think I should follow these steps now as a pre-emptive move (minus using the high mile synthetic oil)? It seems that with regular maintenance the oil burning issue isn't that bad if you know that it exists & know how to treat it. The problem is more for owners that don't regularly check their oil which is probably 95% of owners.

2) Did it slow down oil consumption or just prevent it from getting any worse? I think you mentioned it slowing down from 32 ounces (quart) to 20 ounces b/w oil changes.

3) Are there any other benefits from adding these additives?

4) Does it add a lot of cost to annual maintenance?

5) The 44k looks easy to add. You didn't mention the "BG Products Extended Life MOA" with new oil. Is that the EPR? And for the EPR how is that added? Do I just pop open the engine oil cap and put it in there?

6) Do you think it's better to stick with changing oil every 5k miles or 10k miles?

7) Does the oil burning problem make the oil dirtier/have more sludge?

8) So I don't need a lift for any of this, or have to go underneath the car (except for oil change) – and it's all in the engine bay under the front hood?

9) "Lose ~ quart every 4500 miles rate" - do you top off the oil when it drops a quart every 4500 miles or do you just wait the 10,000 miles to get the ~2 quarts back in there?

Thanks in advance.

 

You’re in @m.wynn country.

He’s done a lot of the stuff you’d need to do and more with several Prii in his fleet.

If you talk nice to him, I’m sure he would entertain .

 

To answer your questions:

1. I started once the consumption was present. I’ll use the EPR on our 2019 Prime prior to 100 k miles
2. It slowed the oil consumption and prevented it from getting any worse
3. I think it helped remove te deposits and kept the Prius running well
4. I did 2 oil changes a year and since I DIY, it was equivalent to going to the dealer in cost (slightly less depending on what you pay)
5. EPR is the engine flush. Extended Life MOA is the Additive you put with new oil to keep it basic longer as gas leaks by it makes the oil more acidic
6. I went by the book at 10k and synthetic oil lasts more than 10k miles. Look around and you’ll see
7. Oil contaminated makes it dirtier. Burning oil causes the cat to get coated and in a Gen3, it exasperates the egr circuit clogging
8. All of these are either added through the oil cap or gas cap
9. I check the oil dipstick every Saturday and top up as needed before it gets low

Hope that helps.

 

Some info on Maintenance Mode attached. It's a difficult read though, so here's a summary, the "non-Techstream" method to put the car in maintenance mode (my comments in red):

Perform the following steps from (1) through (4) in 60 seconds.

(1) Turn the power switch on (IG). (Depress Power Button twice without foot on Brake)

(2) Fully depress the accelerator pedal twice with park (P) selected.

(3) Fully depress the accelerator pedal twice with neutral (N) selected. (To shift to neutral requires the brake pedal to be depressed)

(4) Fully depress the accelerator pedal twice with park (P) selected.

(5) Check that "MAINTENANCE MODE" is displayed on the multi-information display.

The above from the Repair Manual is kinda cryptic, maybe this is an easier read:

Maintenance Mode (without Techtream)

Do steps 1 through 6 in 60 seconds or less:

1. Push power button twice without foot on brake pedal.
2. Fully depress gas pedal twice.
3. Depress brake pedal and shift to Neutral.
4. Fully depress gas pedal twice.
5. Shift to Park.
6. Fully depress gas pedal twice.
7. Verify: "MAINTENANCE MODE" should be displayed in dash.
8. To then get engine to run: depress brake and press Power button. (Being in Maintenance Mode, it will run continuously.)

Addendum: Above revised, to reflect (IG) to mean double-push of power button without brake. Thanks to @Ed Beaty for the catch.

Addendum #2: After watching @NutzAboutBolts video on engine coolant change (Video #11, around 3:15 min, in 3rd Gen Maintenance mode, added step #8.

 

(Depress Power Button with foot on Brake)

Note: I believe it should be: "with foot OFF Brake".

 

^ Well this is the Repair Manual quote. I'm thinking that's fully on, aka (IG), aka (READY). The object is to have the car running, which make me thing (IG) equals fully on.

Toyota has a real problem expressing this, lol.