I'm curious; if the engine runs out of oil, will it shut off automatically?

I recommend Google's 'inbox' email app to OP.
I have it set to remind me to check oil and tyre pressures once a month.

SO much cheaper and simpler than swapping cars.

 

I'm betting the dealer techs (or dealer oil change guys) tend to add a "standard" fill of oil to a Prius and never touch the stick. Pull the drain plug, swap the filter while it's draining, replace the plug (hopefully with fresh gasket) and dump in 4 qts. - or however many quarts. So yeah, assuming this Prius is doing well regarding consumption for it's mileage is a classic "assumption." I tend to give Toyo techs the benefit of the doubt in that you wouldn't think they're dumping 5 qts. in a Prius...but when letting another work on a vehicle, you never know.

I didn't buy this car. Upon test driving it with mini VCI, I was seeing many instances of .4 - .5 volts min/max, under both load and charge. Since our '07 with 149k miles still only sees around .3 at most, I got spooked about having to add $2,000 to it in short order. Dealer gave him $4800 toward a 2015. We both found this to seem high and I think it's another example of Toyota being generous with customers who do dealer service and repeat trade/purchase.

Mike..

 

great read, thanks! some cars burn oil, some don't, you've been fortunate up until now.

 

When the red triangle shows up due to low oil level (not obvious), some engine damage has already occurred. Engine oil consumption will probably increase.

 

That's certainly possible, maybe likely, but I doubt that it is certain. People should certainly check their oil levels whenever there is a reasonable possibility that it is running low.

 

The damage "is certain" and check your oil regularly regardless whether there is a reason to believe.

 

I presume the same, but I'm curious how you know for certain. It would take

1. Start with a brand new engine
2. Run down to low oil warning
3. Autopsy the engine

Have you done this, or read of others performing this study ? I'll guess that Toyota has but I doubt they publish the results.

 

Let's see...about 35 years professional experience might give me a little bit of credibility. Feel free to get a second opinion though.

 

yawn.

So you have an opinion. That's nice

 

Much like your Medical opinion I presume.

 

i don't want to find out the hard way, that's for young people.

 

I have only seen the red triangle to indicate low oil level for my engine perhaps only once or twice. In my case, oil consumption continued to increase until to the point of more than 2 qt. per gas fill up. The gas mileages initially were actually still pretty good until it certainly dropped to low 40s. At that point in time, my auto mechanic rebuilt my engine with a brand new short block from Toyota. I still have the old engine short block in my garage, and I have uploaded many photos to the Prius Chat.
2008 Prius - burning oil at 135,000 miles | PriusChat

 

Was that a $4K repair bill?

Time to make a glass coffee table using the block as the table support...

 

That was exactly my mechanic has suggested for himself if I did not want to keep the old engine block.

 

It was a little more, since he also replaced few other stuff, such as timing chain, water pump etc. around the 200K engine. And my mechanic only uses OEM parts.

Furthermore, prolonged internal oil leak also eventfully damaged the catalytic converter and its associated sensors, which had to be replaced around 6 months after the engine rebuilt. But I worked on them myself to save on the labor cost.

Now, about 2 years later, everything runs great. Oil level does not move at all between 5K oil changes. And I do check the oil level every few weeks.

 

great mechanic!

 

I may actually have an answer for you .

I ran out of oil due to improperly fitted oil filter.

Triangle displays, beeper sounds, LCD display problem message .. . And nothing more than that even though it was less than 800ml of oil left.... Engine kept running. I was told by the mechanic that I'm a "lucky bustard" that nothing went really wrong.

About the oil burning... Mine takes about 200ml/1000km (would be1/5 quart/600miles) (possibly due to almost running out of oil)and I was told to live with it.
Honestly not much of a hassle to check every now and then assuming "then" is less than every month or so..

 

Correct answer is NO. Jiffy Lube failed to install oil filter properly, car ran out of oil engine and did NOT shut down with low oil level warning.

 

welcome!

please reread the thread title. if your engine didn't shut down, why are you posting?