I have a warm engine (>150 f), the heat turned off, battery at max full, and a 10 mile coast downhill at 30 mph max, but the stupid ICE keeps turning itself on (SG says 5 - 10 hp doing nothing) and wasting gas. The only way I can find to shut the stupid thing off is to come to a full stop, wait a few seconds, the ICE shuts down, then I can coast a while more till it comes back on , repeat etc. That is ridiculous. Anyone here found a way to defeat this problem. Maybe a switch that tells the engine the car is stopped? Maybe an ICE override. Must be a way to defeat this. It can't be doing anything useful , or am I missing something? Thanks.
The ICE is spinning to use the regenerated power caused by the full battery. The ICE is not using any fuel; it is just acting as a load on the system. It's designed that way to prevent overcharging of the traction battery. It's normal and nothing to be concerned about.
I do not think so. because it runs and generates horsepower according to the Scan Guage and continues to do so even if I neutralize the regen by using the gas pedal to not allow any regen, and even if I use some elec power to raise the speed a bit, it still registers rpm and HP generated,
i started taking anew route to work a few months ago. when i get off the highway, instead of taking a 2 lane 40 mph road, i sneak behind a new mall they built and take all back roads. i thought i would be able to go all electric that way. when i get off the highway i'm fully charged. all green. but everytime i give it a little gas (it's only 10 mph and flat) the engine comes on. it happens every night on the way to work. other times when soc is blue, i can go quite a while without the engine coming on.
To me this sounds like SOC management, regardless of what ScanGauge shows. My guess is that ScanGauge is slightly mis-representing the real action, and all that is happening is that your Prius is trying to prevent an overcharge situation. Have you tried pressing slightly on the accelerator as you coast downhill? If the ICE slows or stops when you do that, it is a sure sign of SOC control. Tom
Use "B" mode. It will help to reduce the amount of electricity being recapture, which is the cause of the engine bleed-off spinning. That mode tells the system to use the engine for slowing, off-setting some of the load usually directed to the motors & brakes. .
Yes, I have tried running with no regen, and running with slight drain on the electric, and the engine will keep going. Maybe I am being too fussy here. Been trying to keep my 60 mpg average as the temps cool down, but hard to do when the temperature seems to be affecting the ICE, even with a hot engine, and heat turned off, the ICE keeps kicking on, when it is not needed.
Uhh... how do you know its wasting gas? Your battery is too full, so its spinning up the engine to ditch the extra charge. No gas is being used to spin the engine.
During the slight drain on the electric, have you reduced your SOC to less than full bars? If not, your test is not valid, as the system will continue to burn charge by spinning the engine. Drop the SOC by a bar and see what happens. Tom
Scan Gauge is showing HP being delivered, MPG drops from full scale high. Wow How do you get those mileages? I barely get 60 in warm weather driving with all the tricks listed here. My lifetime mpg will be about 57 or so, and I thought I was doing pretty well. What is the avg mph for your your tanks mine runs around 40 mph every tank? Thanks. Ted
