Newb with a 2003

Got new tires put on the front. went with these 195/70r14 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Douglas-All-Season-VSB-Tire-195-70R14-91S-SL/49021603 on all four corners. Now it has new tires all around. Rides so smooth with the larger sidewall tires and new shocks and struts. According to my phones GPS, the radar speed sign, and the gps in my radar detector the speedometer is off by about 6mph. The only issue I've noted with these larger tires is rubbing at full lock. Might see if trimming the inner fender liner is possible. I kept one of the best old tires, gonna see about finding a stock rim so i can I have a full size spare. The car will be sitting for the next 3 weeks at an airport car lot. I'm crossing my fingers that I wont have any problems with it when i get back. I pulled the traction battery disconnect and disconnected the 12v battery.

Ordered some aftermarket parts off of ebay today. Going to be adding two extra Cigarette Lighter outlets, two usb charging outlets, and a digital voltage monitor. Plan to wire it all directly to the 12v battery and have cut off switches for everything. Everything will be wired up with 14/2 wire and 15amp fuses through a fuse block.

 

Ordered parts to add cruise control to my Prius. Using this as my guide 2001 Prius Cruise Control -- Intro Didnt order the EXACT parts they listed. Hoping it all works. Using a
001 Toyota Celica GT OEM Factory Brake Light Indicator Pedal Switch and a
1992-2003 Toyota Steering Column Cruise Control Switch Stalk New OEM 8463006010 Less than 40 bucks for the parts. Should make the 180 mile trip i make every other week more enjoyable. Should save me some fuel too, just set it to 70mph and cruise.

 

Dabard051, I had to take the wheels off the car myself and take them to them as they would only put OEM sizes if they did it themselves. I reconnect the 12v battery and put the disconnect back in for the traction pack and the car started up and drove without a hickup after sitting 3 weeks. Reprogramming the radio and clock isn't a big deal. Haven't had a chance to add all the electronic accessories yet, think I'm gonna hard wire my radar detector while I'm at it.

 

Anyone see any reason the parts I listed wont work to add cruise control?


Brian, I saved two of the tires I took off as they had some tread left. I plan to go to the junk yard soon and see if i can find a oem steel wheel to mount one on. The Douglas tires ride great, smooth and quiet. The huge sidewall soak up the bumps and the new rear bearings, and shocks/struts all around make for a nice ride.

Next on the list is adding a aftermarket single DIN radio to the CD changer area. Anyone have a toyota part number for the cd changer mounting rails/kit?

 

08/04/2017 Update: Well I think my battery back or some modules in it are dieing. My MPG has dropped dramatically all the sudden and the car struggles to keep the pack at 3/4 full. It gets deplinished quickly and takes a long time to go from one bar to two and doesn't stay in 3 bars much anymore. Ive also noticed the car seems sluggish and definitely lost some acceleration. Im thinking the fact that my prius sits 4-6 weeks at a time in a long term storage lot at the airport in south Florida with no shade while I go to work overseas may be accelerating the problem. On that note ive been looking into trying to recondition the battery. Well today I was the high bidder on a used Hybrid Automotive Prolong reconditioning package on ebay. All I need is to get the harness. I'm hoping this can restore my battery and extend its life.

Still haven't gotten around to installing the cruise control or new radio. Its just been to damn hot and humid out. The heat along with it being the rainy season in Florida has kept me from doing much with the car when im off work. I don't have a covered place to work on the car. Im going to be investing in a portable collapsible canopy asap.

On a positive note, the extra cigarette lighter ports and USB charging ports have definitely come in handy. Can now leave stuff charging in the car while inside stores or at the park. Dont have to take turns charging devices anymore, every passenger can plug in at once. I also installed a permanent mount for my radar detector and wired it into the map lights. No more wires hanging down.

I'm brain storming here, Ive been wanting to get one of those large solar panels you stick on the roof or in the dash of your car to keep the battery topped off. Well since the battery blower fan runs off of 12v I was thinking of tieing it into one of those panels with either a deepcell battery or maybe even a capacitor to help keep the battery cooled while it sits in storage. Thoughts?

 

I wanna get the smart discharger, Ill be on the look out for a used one. For now ill be using the light bulb method for discharging it. Anyone used a 12v resistance type heater for discharging?

Ive thought about the heat issue. Unfortunately, I don't have a garage. Plan to only do it in the shade, with battery cover removed, rear seats out, and a box fan placed on the rear seat bench blowing back through the trunk.

No shore power available. Not even a light pole in our parking lot I could see about "appropriating" some power from. I wonder what wattage that battery cooling fan pulls and if it would run at all or be happy running at say 15 watts of 12v?

 

When im at work im a few hundred mile plane ride from my car... The only time I get to work on it, is my time off which is usually about every 4-6 weeks for between 6-20 days.

 

I got used to having one when I drove a Mustang. Now I feel "naked" driving without one. I typically drive 10-15mph over even in the Prius...

 

They definitely don't like high winds or even the wind from passing semi's! That took some getting used to. I can get ethanol free 93 octane near my house, but its really expensive. I typically only see boaters and people with lawn equipment using it. For it to be worth it id have to be able to travel an extra 100 miles on a tank or pick up an additional 10mpg to make up for the extra cost. Otherwise its just throwing money away.

 

Well got evacuated from my job in the Bahamas last minute. Flew into west palm beach yesterday. Even after sitting over a month the car started up no problem. Traction battery was at 2 bars but quickly went to 3 bars. Had to about an hour in line for gas once I found some! Took me almost 5 hours to go 180 miles to where I live. Doing 20-40 on the turnpike which has a speed limit of 70mph. Most of the traffic slow down was all caused by people just driving slow! Hardly any accidents, just people holding up traffic and sitting in the left hand lane doing 20-30mph under!

Well I just ordered overnight a 3000watt inverter to install in my Prius. if the power goes out I should be able to run a window ac unit and my mini fridge. Im not sure whats the biggest inverter anyone has installed. According to my calculations the most I should ever draw even peak will be right around 1800 watts. The inverter I ordered will do 3000watt continuous and 6000 peak. Im near Orlando so im hoping we dont get the worst of it. My thoughts and prayers to everyone in its path.

 

I wont be able to pull that much from the prius. The most I plan to pull is 1000 watts.