$875 Auction Prius - Drove it home!!

2nd gen inverter radiator is on the bottom. Accordingly, I would only grill block up to 50% on bottom. You could grill block 100 % on top, especially if temps are steadily below freezing.

I just did a block heater install: dealership put it in 9 years ago, when the car was new, and it finally fritzed, the cord shorted right at the block heater. It is NOT a lot of fun, for sure, on third gen, and I'm guess 2nd gen is similar. The confounding issue on our 3rd gen was getting all the #*##*@! cables and bracket sufficiently shoved out of the way to get the damn thing in. If you do decide to DIY, I would recommend to put the heat-transfer lube on as late as possible, even get it started going in, then pull it back and apply the lube. You don't want to be wrestling with that thing in confined space with the lube rubbing off on everything.

I did it mostly from below, unbolted a bracket from above, and pulled stuff out of the way as best I could. Then fought some more from below. It helps to be a contortionist and a masochist. Don't expect to be able to have your arms in there AND see what you're doing, you can't have everything.

The block heater part is $90 CDN up here. Installed it's around $300~350? It might be hard to find in the States. I'm not sure why: I think folks in Fargo, North Dakota could use it a lot more than us in Hollywood North.

The Toyota fog lights are useless, fwiw. If you want them for looks go for it, but don't expect them to be any sort of help illuminating. Yes we have them, the OEM's, on our 3rd gen.

 

Another place to "grill" block is between the hood and fenders, you can just see on right side of this pic:

 

(photo is a link)

 

@hyp3rmil3r, one thing I would like to point out from reading your previous comments about driving the Prius and such. Do not worry about the green bars or blue bars on the battery. That is not an indicator of how much power there is in the battery. It is an indicator of how much charge there is and is kind of irrelevant to how the car drives. I would say don't think about this car as electric, but rather think about the battery as a place to temporarily store waste energy of the ICE (and braking) so that it can be used later in the short term. This is why this car is not as efficient in the winter. There is less waste energy (heat) in the winter as you are using it to keep the engine and yourself warm. So don't think too much about the video game in the MFD and just drive the car normally. You will average in mid-40's year round. Winter being low 40's and summer low 50's. The car's software will do all the thinking for you and you do not need to do anything special as far as driving it. Do not install the EV button on this car. It is a mistake. This car is not designed to run on pure electric power the way it is. It can be modded to be a PHEV, which has been done, but many of those folks have since realized that it is just not worth the effort and $$ to do so. Just drive it and enjoy it. It will give you great fuel economy (provided everything is in order with it) as is without any special effort. That is the way it was designed and trying to hyper-mile will only annoy the drivers behind you and further the stereotype of a "Prius Driver". The gains to be had in the best case scenario are 5% improvement over just driving the thing normally. Do keep your tire pressure around 40psi, that helps and causes no grief to the fellow drivers around you. That's pretty much all I can say about driving a Prius. I am also a first time hybrid owner (2007 Prius bought in 2017) and have gone through all the stages of the paradigm shift and now I am back to driving normally as I need to according to the traffic situations vs. video game in the MFD. It is much safer, gives me very good economy anyway and I do not endanger or anger anyone around me.

Best of luck and enjoy!

 

@VFerdman nice write up!
I can only add that you should also not slam on gas, slam on brake like a normal driver. Take it easy bro! lol

As for the engine block heater.... Gen3 install. would NEVER do it again, and would not wish that on my worse enemy.
My "c" version has a Gen2 engine in it, and I could do it with my eyes closed in 5 -10 minutes.
But seeing before and after, ehh not sure if it is totally necessary but I would still like to have it.
I use with my amazon/alexa plug so I can turn on/off from my phone etc.

For rad blocking I use the old tried and true pipe insulation for the Gen3 and "c".
I am not sure what the grill looks like for Gen2 so not sure if can use that.
After few years of using the same ones, I had to use 2 zipties to keep the bottom in place this year on Gen3
My "c" as shown in photo is showing signs of age, but still stays put w/o ziptie
Yeah had to even notice it is there
quickest and most easy way for blocking!

 

Yeah, well, it's a Prius, not a Tesla. Slamming the gas will not produce much joy Having said that, I do occasionally slam the gas if I need to. My gen 2 Prius is not a total dog, it will accelerate when asked to. Just has its limits and I know full well where those limits are because I have explored them. I have driven over a 100 MPH (105 indicated on my speedo) on the highway just to see if it's possible. Not only is it possible, but the car feels sure footed and secure at those speeds and the handling is not scary at all. Good to know, though I do not do this day to day. Also getting from 75 MPH to just above 100 MPH was not all that difficult or did it take too long. This car is a fully fledged highway going vessel and I do not hesitate to pass in it. My fuel economy didn't even suffer all that much from that experiment. No, I didn't continuously drive over a 100, I just did it for a short duration (maybe 10-15 miles), but I often travel on the highway and keep my cruise control at 73(ish) and my economy is okay.

As for brakes, they are really good! You can slam them if needed and not think about it. Again, not on the daily, but if need arises, they are definitely very serviceable brakes.

All in all Gen 2 Prius is a very good all around car that is capable of more than what's allowed and legal out there and provides great fuel economy doing it. If I need to loose a tailgater, I can and getting onto the highways from the on-ramps is no problem. I nail that throttle as needed to properly merge and it's all good.

 

Since when is that a normal driver?

I did have a classmate who drove as if the go pedal had only two positions. Averaged out, she'd be doing the same speed as everybody else, and I don't think she ever even noticed the inertial forces because she was the one causing them so they weren't surprising. But being a passenger in her car was just constantly being jerked forward and back in the seat....

 

It is ridiculously difficult to make enough space in that morass of conduits, to get the block heater in.

It's largely due to don't-give-a-shyte engineering, by the same folks who made so to get your spark plugs out you need remove the wiipers, windshield trim, wiper motor/linkage and the metal cowl under.

 

I neglected to note, the disassembly for spark plug access is on 3rd gen: 2nd gen maybe you don't need to do all that??

 

Didn't need to take wiper assm off for my 2006, but will for my 2010. I like your clean engine compartment. You could eat off it.

 

I was referring to every other driver out there.
I cannot be a passenger in a vehicle either.

Full brake on, or full gas on is what I see, hear and witness.
But my quote was trying to be funny, not actually bashing or pointing at @VFerdman or anyone else.

 

Spark plugs on Gen 2 are simple. No need to remove the wipers and the cowl, but it is easier if those items are removed. It takes literally less than 5 minutes to remove them, however, so I do not see it as a big deal. There are things in these cars where removing certain parts makes things easier and to uninitiated it sounds like PIA, but in reality is literally a few more minutes with a screw driver or a wrench. Some cars I have worked on do not have such luxuries and getting certain things done is a REAL nightmare. BTW, changing the light bulbs in the headlights is much easier with the headlight assembly removed. People shriek in horror, but it takes about 3 minutes to remove a headlight on a gen 2 Prius. That includes dropping the bumper cover. Sometimes words make deeds sound horrible, but in deed, those deeds are simple and have been designed for (thank you, Toyota engineers).