1 year old - Got "low 12v battery" warning

Did a little more digging: the US and Canadian Owner's Manuals don't describe electrolyte top up, but the Australian version does:

https://toyotamanuals.com.au/document/landing_page/prius-50-series-owners-manual-nov-15-current

 

Can't see any of those little black dashes in my battery plug holes

 

The Australian manual vs North American has some other notable differences, just reading quickly:

1. Tire rotation is "conventional": straight back, and cross-to-front. (page 391)
2. A much fuller gamut of oil weights is recommended. (page 500)

It's roughly 250 pages briefer, and yet seems more succinct.

 

Do you have the clear fluid level on the side? I did not notice that on mine.
Here is the top of mine.

 

The heat in Australia evaporates the water more than in places like Texas? I can't see the level on the outside of most battery cases, but I can see the meniscus form when the electrolyte touches the two arcs of plastic when I remove the caps (FJ Cruiser Panasonic original battery - 2007). Maybe I'm just blind!

Oh, and I've seen several batteries (different vehicles I've owned over the years) act like they're about to fail, only to recover -fully- once distilled water is added to the proper level. Funny how the end cells seem to loose the water more than the center ones, even though there is no corrosion on the terminals. I wonder if it's greater hydrolysis from the extra metal in those cells (for the terminals)?

Are those terminals JIS or SAE? They look like they're still JIS.

 

SAE equals bigger posts, North American Standard? I think that's what they are, just eyeballing.

I wonder are the case side walls black/opague or translucent. In the past I've found it best to remove the battery, have good backlight, and rock the case a little too, to see the level move.

 

Case is white, I can see the level lines on the case but can't see the electrolyte, it's too clean or the case is not translucent enough.

 

The sides on the US battery are white/translucent. I did not notice the electrolyte level, bit the side of the battery was in the shade.

 

I've found you have to take it out, put a light behind it (the sun or whatever), and rock it a bit. Something to do at battery mid-life, together with cleaning the posts and clamps.

 

My UK dealer confirms...

1. No tyre rotation necessary
2. First service at one year

So much for standardisation.

 

Tire rotation is debatable: if you rotate tires 8x5,000 miles, vs 4x10,000 miles is there going to be that much difference? I suppose the difference is the incidentals done at the same time, visual inspection of the brakes, check for undercarriage damage and so on.

 

Hey, the nice thing about standards is there are so many to choose from!

I didn't rotate the original tyres on Pearl S until I replaced them. They were worn evenly, all four. I only replaced them at 65,000 km because I felt I needed -real- tires, not "rim protectors". I put on Nokian WR3, so I would feel a little safer in winter. The guys at the tire shop wondered why I didn't want the originals back. To quote them, "they are still good". Yeah, right. If you don't mind the "low bidder" crap that slides if the road is even thinking of freezing. We get below freezing temps. here for 7 months of the year. Not all day, but Murphy will tell you, whenever you need to drive.

 

Just got back from Wales at 2:20a.m. BST (no, not bull **** time) - British Summer Time. Drive to 3 hrs, twice the regular time because of road works and associated diversions. Can't help noticing how noisy the stock tyres are on anything other than smoooooth surfaces. I was almost quiet on the latest black top but older open grain surfaces, RRRRRRR! Can't wait to sacrifice a few mpg and get some new shoes on Poppy!

 

Not to be confused with "British Standard Time."

 

Yup, that's UTC now! Don't ya just love all these acronyms????

 

Michelin is hard to beat....they cost and they deliver
Continental are getting good also

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What tires do you have? I know some people said the Toyo tires were especially noisy. The Bridgestone Ecopias are not very quiet either.

 

I have Bridgestone on my Prime and I just hate them

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