Oil marks on dipstick

It isn't necessary to use such an elaborate system to do that. My ~$25 12-v pump gets the job done, and as far as I can tell, gets out at least as much as opening the plug. Not having to raise the car and conspicously crawl under it is a big improvement where car maintanance is banned. It also saves a lot of time and mess.

 

And how do you change the oil filter???

 

Fun?
Many engines have the oil filter up top. Which is where it should be.

Now YOU have a project. Design a replacement for the oil filter housing next to the crank pulley,
and design a new oil filter housing combining the oil dipstick and oil filter.
mass produce it and sell it for under $30.

 

The way to do it with off the shelf parts is to first convert your gen3 to a standard spin on filter using 2018 gen4 oil filter housing parts



and then use a universal remote mount kit for the 3/4"-16 filter thread

 

I did the oil filter conversion to spin-on, but can't get my head about why you'd want to shift the filter location: at least if you're under there, doing a conventional oil change, it's right there, and not going to drip on anything. If you're thinking to vacuum the oil out through dipstick it'd make more sense, but...

 

Because you can do the whole change from above as discussed in posts 39 and 41. No mess; no danger.

 

Regarding danger, I make a point to always push a robust tree trunk section under first, a little aft of the engine bay, under a solid beam. Roughly the same height/diameter, uncompressible, and significantly thicker than me.

 

It, definitely, sounds like the head gasket needs replacing but you could know for sure with a pretty inexpensive test kit.

I saw a video on it a while back....

 

From the video: "the basic principal here, is you pull coolant from your radiator, and if it stays blue, you don't have a head gasket leak". That's only applicable IF the leak is carbon monoxide (from the exhaust) into coolant, which is NOT the typical 3rd gen Prius leak type, it's usually coolant leaking into cylnders.

 

That test doesn't work for the Prius. It's extremely rare coolant gets into the oil.
By that time, the engine has already blown....
Coolant system under pressure, and using a bore scope down the spark plug holes to see
coolant leaking through the damaged head gasket into the cylinders... and looking for steam
cleaned piston tops...

 

Conventionally, but less often.

 

You should be changing the filter when you change the oil.
And since you have to get under the car to change the filter, it's just one more bolt....