Warning light when turning left?

I doubt it's LSC A0N - HV (Inverter) Water Pump; Dealer Letter and Technical Instructions | PriusChat, but did you ever get that done?

Have you checked your oil level?

I only have wild guesses at this point.

 

I second this, sounds like it might be low. Many posts about older Prii having sudden increases in oil consumption.

 

Yes, its definitely low on some fluid. Check the oil, brake, inverter coolant etc. I'm betting its brake fluid.

 

Glad that we could help.

Unfortunately, damage may have been done already. I wouldn't be surprised if you start seeing high oil consumption from now on.

 

Read this forum chat yesterday because I had the same issue. Checked my oil and I was also 3 quarts low. I use the 10,000 mile synthetic oil and still had 4000 miles before my oil change. Have never had this happen before. Sure hope it isn't a trend. I only have 117,000 miles on it.

 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it is possible that your Prius has started to consume more oil. It's surprising that yours is consuming at an average rate of 1 qt per 2000 miles, however. That is an elevated amount for only 117K miles. Read the following - if you dare.

Not all engines are created equal. Some will consume more oil. Toyota produces hundreds of thousands of 1.8L engines for its small vehicles (Prius, Corolla, Matrix, etc). Statistical variation among the many parts that make up an engine adds up and this could be the root cause for your elevated oil consumption.

All internal combustion engines contain a large number of components which directly affect oil consumption. Each component (piston, ring, cylinder bore, valve seal, etc.) has several features/characteristics (critical dimensions, material strength, surface finish, etc) that also affect oil consumption. These parameters are manufactured to fall within tolerance bands. Ideally, all component parameters should be identical (a piston top ring groove height of 1.000 mm for example). In reality, some ring groove heights could be (and are) at the upper tolerance limit (1.020 mm) but are within the tolerance band. It's inevitable since no manufacturing process is immune to variation.

All of these variations from the nominal (or ideal) parameters add up. So some engines (usually a small number - 1 to 2 percent) will have a greater number of marginal features/characteristics overall compared to the "average" engine. And these "marginal" engines will consume more oil from day one and will "age" more rapidly than their peers and use more oil over their lifetimes.

On the other hand, the oil consumption of your engine could be specifically related to how you drive your Prius.

High speed driving (80+ MPH) increases oil (and gasoline) consumption mainly because aerodynamic drag increases as well. The engine must work harder to overcome this "wind" resistance. And the way it works harder is by running faster, i.e. higher RPM to produce more horsepower (or kilowatts). And this higher power output stresses the engine components "warping" them slightly (elastic deformation). Consequently, more oil "leaks" past these internal components per minute under these conditions. I don't know what the engine RPM is for a Gen III at high speed (4000 RPM ?) It might not be unusual for a Gen III with 100K+ miles to consume 1 qt of 0W20 oil in 2000 miles if driven daily on a rural Texas interstate at 85 MPH in the good old summertime.

All car owners should check the oil periodically on their vehicles for the two reasons I've given above - if you've made it this far.

 

I check the oil in all of my vehicles once a week. No matter if its new, old, big or small... the fluids get checked. Sometimes more than once a week if I get bored!

 

This is why having dealer do all the routine maintenance on your car is bad. It seems to eliminate all personal interaction between you and under the hood. Hey the dealer maintains my car why should I check it?

Look at Mr Smaltzburger here. He went to the trouble to post about it before he even checked under the hood. This is quite common here on this forum. Maybe its the car or maybe generational. I don't know. But its very odd.

Get to know under the hood. Its really really easy. Because things wear out and change. Just like your body.

And the worst part about dealer maintenance is the guy at the dealer who's changing your oil may never mention hey btw, your car was real low on oil when it came in for an oil change.
You need to watch it closely now. Leak or your burning oil. Because they never check the dipstick before an oil change.

Why should they? Not my car. So under dealer routine maintenance you could be running really low between every change and never even know. Until 5,000 miles later one day your almost empty and then it throws a check engine light. Too late. Damage long time done.

Takes 40 seconds from getting out of the car seat to checking all the fluids and oil and back in the seat.

Check every fill up. Run oil real low once and it will damage the oil rings on the piston. It will then start to consume oil.

Good Luck!

 

Real Priuschat words of wisdom

 

Just because the oil is rated for a 10,000 miles change interval does not mean that you don't have to check it for 10,000 miles.

You should watch that dipstick more closely now, because after you've driven until the oil pressure has gone then you're certain to have accelerated the wear and future oil consumption.

 

Great quote of the day!

 

The Prius I bought shows the same issue.

The previous owner complained of the red warning light when making turns and the dealership found only 1.5 Quarts of oil!!!

It's a 2009 with 128,000 miles.

So, obviously step 1 is to keep a close eye on it, which I do anyway because I have only owned junkers most of my life. If it's low I will put oil in it.

A bigger question for you guys out there is can the issue be fixed? (and if so would it be worth the cost)? Or is it just in the 1-2% of engines mentioned by Jadziasman and all I can really do is make sure it has oil and hope for the longest life possible?

 

You can rebuild the engine or buy a low mileage used engine....

 

My Prius showing red triangle light for last few days when turning left on a specific curve in neighborhood street. I will check oil level as well.

 

On a Prius, by the time the oil light comes on, the oil is dangerously low and has already caused some engine damage. Be sure to keep a close check on the oil level.

 

Good to know. my Prius didn't get low oil light instead red triangle on s specific left turn curve. Yes, it was low on oil. I just added oil and it seems to be ok now.

 

I am 500 miles away from oil change so just decided to add some oil till oil change time.

 

Check the oil first thing in the am before starting the car. That will give you the true level of the oil as the VVT oil vane and filter and galleys holds alot of oil and takes a long time for all that oil to drain back. if you stop at gas staion and check it may show half a quart low otr maybe more. So then you end up overfilling it.

I check the oil on my cars every Saturday. keep the oil at the full line. if you car has run so low on oil it throws a red triangle that's the oil pump sucking air and most likely based on what we see here the piston oil scavenge ring becomes damaged. It then allows oil to sneak by. And you car will really start to eat oil. Just keep putting oil in.

I notice alot people on long trips discover this by seeing the triangle. If I am on a long trip I check the oil every morning. Running 75 miles and hour all day is tough on an engine.