300K Miles, One Prius/One Owner

Ema rolled 300,000 a couple of weeks ago. She is currently at 302,636 and counting. The delay in posting is because I wanted to add all the 300K service costs into my lifetime upgrades and maintenance cost before posting.

Lifetime MPG = 46.97 (As of 1/1/12 from 591 fills since purchase, sorry haven't updated this yet this year. Really only doing it once a year now.)
- Purchased on March 28, 2006
Lifetime Upgrades and Maintenance = $12,523 (Yes this is high but includes everything.)

I am only going to update this thread with upgrades and maintence from 200K on. If you want to see everything that was done before 200K and my write up for getting there it is at:
200K Miles, ONE Prius & ONE Owner | PriusChat

At 205K - Replaced inverter pump, heat storage pump, SLLC, serpentine belt, ATF, plugs and battery with a new yellow top. Plus all the regular throttle body cleanings, EFI and stuff. ($1,200)
At 208K - I had my first and ONLY part failure, knock on wood, the water pump took a dive and was leaking. Level was low and giving a high temp on my scangauge along with the triangle of death. Yeah Yeah Yeah, big oopppsssyyy on my part. Since I just replaced the other pumps why in the hell didn't I do this one, LOL. ($500)
At 210K - I purchased a new Nav DVD, Version 10.1 ($220)
At 253K - I did the ATF again along with other "regular" maintenance. ($154)
At 255K - Suspension upgrade to Touring Edition components including stabilizer bars, new shocks, struts, etc... Also put 4 new Michelin Harmonies 185/65 R15 on her and completed mount, balance, alignment, etc... More on the Harmonies later. ($2,200)
At 302K - Oil & Filter change, new PCV, Induction & EFI service, new brake fluid, tire rotation, alignment and had the dealer restore the headlights, new HID's as well. ($850)

I didn't put all the oil changes and alignments in the list along with any other "routine" maintenance such as wipers, air filters and stuff like that.

NOTE: She is burning about a quart of oil every 2,000 - 2,500 miles which is actually phenomenal for a car with 300K miles. I did switch to high mileage motor oil this last oil change and plan on putting in a can of restore the next time she needs "topped off". I will certainly report back as to how the high mileage oil and restore works out.

I am still on the original hybrid battery, knock on wood, and plan on pushing it until the wheels fall off. I have inquired to Re-Involt about the lithium upgrade but have also talked with my local service manager and he thinks they may split the cost of a new battery with me. They kind of want to see how long everything lasts like I do, LOL.

I plan on replacing ALL the pumps, this time, at about thee 350K mark along with completing all regularly scheduled maintenance. With Ema doing mostly highway driving I think 400K should be achieveable on original components and would really like to make 500K. Problem with that is I really want a new one with adaptive cruise. That would be really useful with all the highway driving I do.

Favorite Upgrades:
1. #1 with a bullet - Michelin Harmony 195/60 R15 tires.
- I didn't realize how much of a difference the larger tires make until I put stock 185/65's back on. It is a HUGE difference and I strongly recommend upgrading to the larger tire. I thought with the suspension upgrade, tower strut brace, BT stiffening plate, etc... that the stock tires would be ok. Wrong, lol.
2. Tower Strut Brace - The better handling makes a huge difference.
3. Dynamat Extreme - Sound deadening really helps muffle the road noise and even though Ema doesn't have any real rattles I would like to think the Dynamat would help there as well.
4. Dice - All the long highway miles and hours makes a Dice mandatory.
5. Et all - The rest of the upgrades I would do again but big things like the suspension and BT skid plate would only been done because they are needed. Why not upgrade to the Touring suspension if you are replacing the shocks, struts, etc... It makes a difference and really doesn't cost that much more.

Favorite Standard Features:
- All of these are still the same as listed in my 200K write-up.

Least Favorite Features:
1. Gas Tank Bladder - This has been discussed at length all over this site, lol.
2. 106 Nav Points - Same as in 200K report. I really would like more points to register.
3. Loss of Braking over bumps, potholes, train tracks, etc... - Again something that has been discussed, debated, analyzed, etc...

All and all just as in 2010 I can easily say this is the best car I have ever owned and I plan on keeping her as long as I can. Hopefully that will be at least until a 400K write-up can be completed and maybe beyond.

I hope everyone enjoyed this little write-up and if anyone has any questions just let me know.

Happy Driving,
Chris
08/17/2012

 

Thanks for the recommendation on Restore and sharing your experience. I have a couple of questions. How many miles did you have on the other car when you used Restore? Had this car been running synthetic or standard dino oil its entire life? Did you have noticeable smoke from the exhaust or just internal burning before/after use?

I have put about 3,000 miles on Ema since the change to Pennzoil High Mileage and she might be doing a little better with the high mileage oil. She seems to be buring a quart every 2,500 - 3,000 miles. Which is either slighlty better or the same because I wasn't really monitoring as close as I should have until just recently.

As for Restore, I have not put any in the car yet so I might see how a couple of oil changes go with the high mileage oil before adding it. The best I can tell it simply has higher concentrations of the seal conditioners, cylinder wall conditioner and other ingredients that are added to high mileage oil. If that's the case I can't see it making things any worse than running high mileage oil in her for the next 100,000 miles. Restore was recommended by a couple of different people here and since some of them are building cars for Sunday drives with a lot of left turns I think its probably ok. Still like to hear about everyone's experience though.

Thanks again for responding and as always happy driving!!!!

Chris

 

Update time on Ema and the results of Restore. I used the restore an oil change or two ago and haven't seen any noticeable improvement in the oil buring rate. Now that I am monitoring it more closely she is burning a quart every 2,000 - 2,500 miles. This is a little lower than my guess a couple of posts ago but that was more of a guess because I hadn't really been watching the oil consumption any and now I am.

I use the "Engine Oil" setting under Info-Maintenance and set this to 2,000. When it comes on I check the oil, top off and reset it. Do it again the next time it comes on and then when I get the maintenance reqd light on the dash, or there abouts, I take her in for her 5,000 mile oil and filter change and free tire rotation. This system seems to be doing fine and will hopefully get me to 400,000 miles. Ema is currently around 313,000 miles. The next big maintenance issue is I will be replacing all the pumps around 350,000. This hasn't been done since the 200,000 mile mark.

One thing interesting about the restore is about 10 miles after the oil change when it was added I got an error code, forget which one sorry, for the little mesh filter in the engine housing compartment. I think this is the little mesh filter protecting the cam shaft position sensor or in that area. Code may have been P011? Anyway I had Toyota reset it and it hasn't come back. It probably occurred because all the metal fines and additives in the restore temporarily blinded off the little mesh sensor but after the oil circulated through a few times and was nice and hot the fines/additives went away from the sensor and either to the piston scarring like is supposed to happen or out through the catlytic converter which probably happened, LOL.

Anyway, that's the update. Basically no real issue with Restore but it hasn't seemed to make the oil consumption any better or worse either way. My take on the product is ... give it a shot if you want to try it or don't if you aren't comfortable with it. I'm not going to condemn it like some or endorse it like others.

Happy driving,
Chris