Restore Engine Restorer
 

Anybody on here ever use Restore engine restore and see good results? Until here recently I've never really been a high mileage guy besides the $700 civic which I promptly sold when they alternator kept going out. Now that the Prius is up to 165k and is a 2010 consuming 2qts of oil every 10k miles I think it might be interesting to see if it does work.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXIu3oo8z4c)
(https://www.amazon.com/Restore-00009.../dp/B00HJVEWVG)

I'm know I can always just add oil forever but I'm interested to see the effects on the next oil change and would like to keep the pcv and egr cleaner to keep the idle problems away. Planning to keep this Prius until it blows up and it seems like the engine blow by is probably the worst part of the car.
Now I wanna preface this by saying I don't believe in any additives besides this one...possibly. Hit me up with your experiences below!

I’ve used it before and it actually brought compression up some on the engine in question. Not by a massive amount but it helped nonetheless

A quart of oil every 5K miles is nothing to worry about, a lot of new engines burn more than that. I say try it if you want to though, what's the worst that could happen? A lot of people including myself have used it with good results and I have never heard of any problems from using it. I would suggest adding it to relatively clean oil though, so if you are about due for an oil change I would wait until then to add it.

I don't know much about these Prius engines, but bad valve stem seals often cause oil consumption issues and from my experience go bad more than piston rings. The rubber gets hard and cracks with age and no longer seals effectively, allowing oil to get past. The good news is that on a lot of engines replacing the valve stem seals isn't a big deal and can easily be a DIY job depending on the tools you have and your mechanical skills.

True. Technically if this was an american car this oil consumption amount would be pretty normal. I'll have to take some time out of the day and compression test the Prius.

Great minds have similar YouTube profiles... I posted this same thing a few days ago:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/showthre...tml#post626518

My take would be concerns about gaskets. What effect will it have on the gaskets that the oil come in contact with. Stop Leak seemed to alter the texture and quality of all the gaskets. They're fine, but they're gummier in some cases. Looks weird.

It's a known piston ring issue on the 3rd gen Prius. Toyota issued a TSB a few years ago; the fix is replacement of the pistons and rings to the updated MY 2015 version. But it only applies once consumption reaches 1 quart/1,300 miles for vehicles in-warranty.

I didn't realize that, good to know.

I wish I'd known it before I bought a Prius! But mine isn't consuming any oil yet at 90,000 miles. If it starts I'll probably throw in a can of this stuff just to see if it does anything.

If you want to prevent piston ring problems, use a high quality synthetic oil and change it regularly. I wouldn't go over 5K miles, especially since these engines have a known problem with the rings. Oil is cheap compared to rebuilding the engine.

I wonder if there would be any use in throwing in a can pre-emptively? In other words, is it the kind of issue where catching it earlier can prevent the problem from becoming significant? Could pre-emptive use somehow protect the rings from wear?

Regular oil changes (at least every 5K miles) with high quality synthetic oil will be more helpful if you aren't already doing so, but adding Restore may help fill in whatever wear it has and I don't see how it could do any harm.

What's the most mileage an engine could reasonably go before it starts consuming oil? I only change oil once a year(8-9000 miles) & see no loss of oil. The car is 15 years old with 160,000 miles. Just use standard Mobile 1 synthetic oil.

Well, technically, from initial start up it should be consuming or leaking. If it gets discolored you are exchanging consumption for contamination.

My cobalt will hit 300,000 miles in a few months, some oil changes have been 12,000 to 15,000 miles(following car's oil life monitor). I use cheapest Fram filters I can get and what ever 5w-30 mostly synthetic on sale. It had 26,000 miles when I bought it.

The Elantra seems to use some between changes, and the Impala likes to mark it's parking spot. 11 Rogue uses some (185,000 miles), 15 doesn't. Cruze is unknow yet.

I drove an '88 Ford Escort for about 20 years. As best as I remember it starting using some oil at between 250 and 300K miles. I've got an '02 Escort now with 200K miles that uses about 1/2 quart between 5K mile changes. Different engines are different and oil consumption is kind of unpredictable. The first car I ever bought was a 1977 Buick Regal bought new in 1977 it used some oil from day 1. My '16 Versa has about 6500 miles on the oil that's in it now and is still sitting right on the full mark. The Citgo conventional 10w40 is kind of a molasses color not black at all. Unless I see a drastic change in the oil color or the feel of the oil I plan to run it 7.5K before draining it and refilling. I know when my dad bought a new Mercury in '68 the recommended change interval on it was 6K miles. The Buick I bought in '77 had a recommended interval of 7.5K. These were both carburetor V8 engines and before the days of synthetic oil on store shelves. I've never understood why the intervals have dropped over the years with the improvements in engines and oils. I think the Versa should be good for 7.5K and will probably have good life left in the oil when I drain it. Back in the early '90's I had a Chrysler that I used as my work car, it would burn/leak a quart about every 3-400 miles by the time it had 200K miles. At 200K miles I quit changing the oil and used oil that I'd drained out of my better cars at oil change for topping off oil. When I sold the car it had 231K miles and oil consumption was still about a quart every 3-400 miles. I had a friend who needed a cheap car so I sold the Chrysler to him for $250 dollars. He drove it for probably at least a year or two and several more thousand miles before scrapping it because they'd started requiring emissions testing in the area where we lived. The Chrysler wouldn't pass because the catalytic converter had been removed many years before.

In other words, piston ring blowby into oil in the crankcase instead of valve stem seal leakage of oil into the combustion chamber when the car is off, yes? I guess a leaking head gasket could also allow high pressure combustion gasses into the oil passages, too. But the oil would not likely be high pressure enough to cross through the head gasket into the combustion chamber, would it?

So: I am waaay too dyslexic to be on this forum..... the actual intent was to indicate that zero consumption is a myth, the oil is being added to by the things you indicate above. Quick test would be an analysis.

The valve system leaks both ways, oil to cylinder, combustion products back. Unless you are running sealing style rings, there is a huge leak down at the gap, particularly when the gaps align. I have not experienced a sloppy head gasket, never owned an aluminum block motor except for VW.

I will add just for a laugh the civic consumed a quart of oil every 250 miles. Still ran okay and averaged 42 mpg. I just got to the point where i would dump whatever oil in at every gas stop and changed the oil filter when the interval said.
It was basically a two stroke mix car with a total loss oil system in 2000s. Lol
She held steady with whatever power she had left to set me up financially to be where an I today. Rip to that little car.

Yeah so back to the Prius. I think I'm gonna pull the intervals down to 7500 and throw a can of restore in next oil change. I'll compare my last couple oil changes as I think I still have all the used oil bottles still laying around lol

Much of the oil consumption issues with the 3rd gen prius has been traced to the egr. Its an easy fix. Take it out, clean it and put it back in. They get clogged and cause oil burning. While in there add an oil catch can. I do the egr cleaning every 50k on mine. Costs me a can of oven cleaner and two hours. 160k and zero oil loss between oil changes.

How exactly does a clogged EGR valve cause oil consumption? All the EGR does is recirculate exhaust back into the intake manifold to reduce nox emissions and pumping losses. Or do you mean the PCV valve? That certainly can cause oil consumption if it goes bad

He probably means pcv

Blaming the EGR for anything and everything is currently a "thing" on Priuschat.

The only vehicles I've ever seen have pcv problems RELIGIOUSLY are all Chevrolet car profile v8s. Those things need a 1" ID pcv system at minimum to not suck oil. *shakes head*

The EGR recirculates carbon in to the intake. That can be an abrasive.

3D printers that print carbonfiber filament have rapid wear of the nozzle.

Not saying this is a cause, just relevant things that pop in to my mind.

I never thought about that, great point! I blocked off my Civic's EGR because I didn't want my intake manifold getting full of soot and heat soaking from the hot exhaust. I can't really say that I noticed a difference in the way it runs or a difference in gas mileage, but YMMV (no pun intended)

I wish it was more abrasive because I've noticed a lot of people have clogged egr coolers lol

Alright just changed the oil in the Prius. 172k. I put in 5 quarts 9000 miles ago and 2.1 quarts came out. So the car consumed 2.9 quarts. That's similar to 1.6 quarts every 5000 miles. Just changed the oil with a can of 6 cylinder engine restorer and some more 0W-20 oil. So 5 quarts total goes back in and we will see what comes out.
Update:
YUP THE PIG IS SUCKING OIL!
Air filter is clean after 80k miles now. Top side of the throttle body is clean. Back side of the throttle body was oily. Got a screw drive to prop it open... There is literally a reservoir of oil in the intake.
Time to go to Prius Chat and complain.

Update: 3k miles and we have about a 1 quart consumption. Engine Restorer therefore in fact does not help with pcv/blowby related oil consumption on the Prius. (No change in oil consumption)
Next step will be to install the Turbo volvo catch can, and drill a hole in the oil pan for the oil return. I'm feeling pretty hopeful about this one. This should be the solution.

I scanned through the whole thread, but didn't see it...what kind of oil are you running?

0w-20

Switching to a 5W30 may reduce oil consumption, from my experience it doesn't burn nearly as easily as 0W20 in a slightly tired engine.

Brand & type? Not weight.

Gotcha.

Just Super tech Full Synthetic.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Super-Tec...arts/254038905

I use that in all of my vehicles with good results. Price is great too.

If I remember correctly, swapping to a 40W in the old civic reduced oil consumption by about 20%. Have you had good results with yours?

I don't have a Prius, but I do have experience with worn out engines. When my 05 Civic's engine started to fail and burn oil it was eventually using about a quart of 5W20 every 600 miles, but I was able to go nearly 1000 miles on a quart of 5W30 and it ran noticeably quieter and smoother too. I don't know how much it would have used with 0W20, but past experience tells me that it would have been worse than 5W20. Switching to 5W40 reduced consumption even further to about 1 quart every 1200 miles. Now that it has a healthy engine I use 5W30 and it burns about 1/2 quart between oil changes (4000 miles), which I am not at all worried about.

I'd suggest looking into a "High-Milage" oil, to see if the additives help any. It's kept a number of my cars/engines happy over the years.

That includes one that previously kept wearing out or contaminating the oil(fuel perhaps?) so that it got thinner and wound up burning it at a similar rate as yours. It would always come out thin and black at oil changes; that stopped right away with HM oil. Engines also run quieter on it.

YMMV. And you'll want to do your own research to make sure the added metal(s) - zink was it? - aren't "known" to damage your particular emissions equipment. Which means sifting through a lot of opinions and deciding for yourself if it is worth trying or not.

HM oil probably has similar stuff in it as the engine restore you tried. I used one of those to keep an aged engine happy - smooth and quiet (valve train noise mainly) - but would have to put another one in ever 1000 miles or so. The "need" to used it went away with HM oil.

Besides that...since that could all be in my imagination, and some people won't touch that snake oil, has anyone on the Prius forums had any success soaking their cylinders down with ATF? The idea being it will clean carbon off and free up stuck piston rings. It was one of the band-aids the techs I worked with used to breathe some life in to abused or aged engines.

For the most part I've seen zero success besides using a catch can on the Prius Forums. Toyota used low friction piston rings on the 4 cylinder engines from like 08-12 on the models introduced in that time and they were oil burners after about 50k miles. I just wanted to try comp restore as I've seen it help a lot on Chevys with their LQ/LS blow by issues and not a single person mentioned trying it on the Prius forums. 2012+ they fixed the issue but they pretty much ignore you unless you're engine is burning a quart like every 100 miles or whatever the max spec is. Car runs just fine with no loss of power but the pcv squirts oil like a fresh well in Texas.
By american standards burning a quart every 3k is about in line with all american vehicles up to about 2005. lol

Going to attempt to carry this oil change out to 6-7k, then drain the oil and start throwing on the new fancy oil catch can that returns the oil blow by to the sump. Just kinda waiting on moving into the new house so I have a garage to do it in with plenty of space.