Thought I'd check in and update people on my prius with its poor economy. After posting here I received a PM from a member who said he worked for Toyota Canada. After several attempts to get him to follow up on his offer of assistance, I was put in contact with Toyota and they are now overseeing my problems. They did agree that I should not have been having the issues I have had (leaking, water in tail lights, poor economy) and are doing their best to get to the bottom of it. The car is in at the dealer and it's in their hands. I was a bit disappointed that their "tech" did not understand how to read or interpret the MFD, and could simply not grasp the concept that the engine was always running. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that the graphic display (wheels turning page) showed only the battery in use yet if I toggled to the secondary bar graph display you could clearly see the engine running under almost all given circumstances. The Service Manager appeared to understand what I was showing them (I hope). They've given me a loaner 2010 Prius and the economy is actually slightly better than what my Prius used to deliver, however it does easily substantiate the basic fact that my 2007 Prius gets about 80% worse economy than the Prius I am now driving - same commute, same driver - just different car. After closely examining all of the evidence I can muster, the best theory I can come up with is that (based on this document outlining the 5 "stages" the prius operates in http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/five-stages.txt ) my Prius is stuck 80% of the time in stage 3a - it rarely makes it to stages 3b and stage 4 therefore the engine appears to run continuously. Now, I can't answer why it would do this, but whatever the reason is, it does not appear to trip an error code. There you have it. BTW I'm not in love with the 2010 MFD - prefer the 2007 variant.
Hi Brook Side, that was exactly the problem I was trying pursue when you decided to be such a rude prick to me in the previous thread. The reason I wanted you to to confirm *that* specific issue of the engine continuing to idle *when stopped* was because I was suspecting a problem related to the conditions which are required to make the transition into hybrid stage 4. During that 7 to 10 seconds of idle that the Gen2 does when you're stopped (when it makes the transition to stage 4) it's actually trying to do a calibration of the fuel and oxygen sensors. The theory I was working on was that this implies there might be an unusual problem with a either a sensor or with an ECU that processes the sensor information, and that was preventing it from completing this calibration. This could prevent it from reaching stage4, but even worse i might also prevent it from operating properly in closed loop fuel injection mode (where the exhaust gas is measured an information feed back to the fuel injection system to keep optimum fuel/air ratio). One thing that is puzzling though would be how this could happen without throwing a code. But whatever your problem is it has to be a little unusual, because obviously somethings not working properly and yet we know it isn't throwing a code. Anyway I didn't give you this information before because you were such a rude prick in the previous thread. But now for whatever it's worth you've got the train of thought I was trying to follow though with in that previous thread before you decided to be rude to me for my efforts.
As a side note, I don't know if this is the first place where it was learned, but some of us learned about what the deal was with the s3 -> s4 "idling check ceremony" being sensor calibration in Detroit from the chief engineer of the 3rd gen. This was on the day of the 3rd gen unveiling in January 09, ~5 months before the 3rd gen was available for purchase. Post at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-im-confused-about-s4-mode-2.html#post1005452. I was present at that event but we were split into thirds and I don't believe the above question was asked by my group.
I believe the road goes both ways - just so you know I didnt appreciate your holier than thou attitude then, and I dont now. Regardless, thanks for the theory - and for not asking me about what the voltage of the 12V battery is LOL. PS - dont be so sensitive.
I remember your original thread. Just my opinion - when you are asking someone to give their time and expertise to you for free you really need to work with them and not against them and you also need to cut them some slack and appreciate the help given. If you want the assistance to be completely on your terms that is OK - just go out and pay for that and you can make whatever demands you see fit. Your opinion is perfectly acceptable - your last couple of sentences though (the comment about the battery and the PS) just seem like petty jabs at someone who tried to help you.
Have what? No detail was provided about the MPG observed, the drive time, the temperature, when it changed, total miles, tire info, what you tried... .
The 2010/2011 will get 10% better mileage than your 2007 at any time, any place. By design. I'm betting the dealer finds nothing. In which case it's the way you operate the vehicle that's the problem.
Thanks for coming back with an update despite the mess of the previous thread. I do hope the service manager takes it seriously - I think that's all you ever needed. A qualified person who gives a damn. Is this a different dealer than you'd been to previously? - D
:mod: I think you have finally found something you can both agree on. And with this epiphany, I would like to suggest that we leave the name-calling aside and carry on like adults lest you be treated like children by adults.
Yes no problem Tony, I've had my say now and am fully over it now. I hope you can appreciate that I was very much genuinely trying to help the OP in the previous thread and thought he was quite unnecessarily rude to me.
Different dealer - have to note this is all being taken care of by Toyota - the dealer is secondary. The dealer did jokingly offer to sell me the loaner as it would solve my mileage issue. I suggested it would be a better idea to simply fix the prius I already have. I do feel confident that the service manager is doing a good job - he seems very knowledgable and did suggest there could be an issue with the thermostat (same as Patrick suggested). Hoping my prius will drive like it used to when they are done ! Fingers crossed!
Please clarify this paragraph. If the '10 gets 100 mpg, then your car gets 80 or 20 mpg ? I'll presume your car gets the '80,' and I agree that is a significant difference that is unlikely explained just by the generation difference. A scan gauge reporting engine temp, rpm, and battery SOC would have helped a lot in trying to sort out car from driver causes, and the suggestion that the car's presumed poor fuel economy is from inability to turn off the ICE. I admit I didn't read the original thread because of OP's demeanor, but I presume a bad 12V has been ruled out ?
Hi Sagebush. Brookside is from Canada, so like here in Australia he measures fuel consumption in L/100km. So he means his Prius was using approximately 80% more fuel per 100km compared to the loaner. For example he might be getting 4.5 L/100km (52 MPG) in the 2010 loaner while he was getting 4.5 * 1.8 = 8.1 L/100km (29 MPH) previously.
It was never ruled out. All we know is the OP said he changed to a Optima battery and he kept claiming his voltages were "in spec", "the battery is fine", etc. and refused to tell us what they were, despite many of us repeatedly asking. He went so far as to get to the hidden menus/screens (http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ally-hate-my-prius-toyota-13.html#post1262959) but again, refused to tell us the voltages.
actually it was ruled out - people here dont want to accept it - it;'s not the battery - but hilarious to see that "magic bullet" resurface. With regards to economy my prius used to net me avg 5.3 l/100kms ... the loaner delivers 5.0 - 5.2 - as I posted *slightly* better than my own vehicle before it's economy went south. My prius nets 7.0 - 8.9 l/100kms in it's current state with same commute. It's broken. They're fixing it. It's not the 12v battery. Yes everyone's checked that - don't apply for a job as a prius mechanic LOL
