What is causing excessive oil consumption on 2001 Chevy Prism?

Answer 1

I sure would love to know! :) I've been putting in tons of oil for the last year, and if I could find a fix I would be grateful. It is not burning it or leaking, just losing it somehow.

These cars do actually burn the oil. The catylitic converter finishes off any oil that is not burned in the cylinders so you don't notice tailpipe smoke. The cause for the oil burning is some wear on the cylinders combined with a very short piston skirt. The very short skirt allows the piston to tilt in the cylinder much sooner than would happen in normal engines. This causes the rings to fail to seat properly much earlier than would happen in an engine with normal skirt lengths. This means that even an engine rebuild is going to be short lived. Sorry but I am dealing with the same problem in my sons car.,2002 prizm using a quart to 50 miles. Oh! By the way, try finding a set of ring for this turkey.

This is a very, very common problem. The cheapest cure in the long run is to check the oil at every fill up and keep a case of oil handy. Most people do not want to do this and sell the car. Oil is cheaper than a monthly car payment. The car will normally last about 215,000 miles if you keep oil in it. The check engine light will come on. As long as it is steady and not blinking, it is probably the oxygen sensors or contamination of the emmission canister. I actually put a piece of black electrical tape over the check engine light to keep it from bugging me. This is my second Prizm. It now has 156,000 miles on it, starts every morning in the coldest weather and gets over 30 miles to the gallon. Engine failure is common because the oil light will NEVER come on and the engine destroys itself with no oil. They do not usually smoke so there is no visible indication that it is going through oil as fast as it does. As bad as this problem is, (and I am not trying to minimize it) these two Prizms have had the lowest total cost of ownership of any car I have owned. Other than spark plugs at 150,000 miles and tires I have not had to repair anything. I just get used to buying a lot of oil. Do not waste money trying to rebuild the engine. If compression drops dramatically in one cylinder, that engine's life is over. My advice is as long as the engine is running strong, keep the car.

ACTUALLY, I bought a two dollar can of Mass airflow sensor cleaner and separated the air intake (no tools needed) and spray it off.