My SSC 40D Service was completed yesterday and so far everything seems OK - Interesting though.... I brought the car in showing 56.7 mpg after 200 miles and the battery showed blue. When I picked the car up I was back to 55+ mpg and the battery showed purple. The ODO indicated that the dealer had not put any miles on the car so????? I had no trouble bringing the battery back into the blue zone but Geez!
Well, even though I called Toyota and wasn't supposed to need a 40D, my notice arrived in today's mail so I guess I have to get to it next weekend. Anyone else call, get told they didn't need it, then get a notice anyway?...
Same happened here- call Toyota Customer Service, gave them VIN, they said I did not need it, then just got the notice in the mail that I needed it...Sounds like a mess to me. Just in time for our 5,000 mile check this week.. grin..
I called Toyota Center today, and they said they hadn't gotten the stuff to do the 40D yet. They only found out after trying on another car. I guess I'm OK with the idea of being second, since I have no idea how many cars they've sold and we may be the only two. What I do hope is that I can validate that $40 Outback Steakhouse test-drive deal while waiting for the service call. The flyer for that came in the same batch of mail as the service notice...
Yes, I too called and was told my VIN was not on the "Recall" list - then received a notice so called again and was told yes my vin was on the list. Go Figure!! :roll: :roll:
FYI, the Prius is like any other car, in that it requires energy to run. Starting the system, running the A/C, the fans, and the engine all require power in some form. In simple terms, the engine ran for a bit and used up some gas, reducing your miles per gallon. The technicians ran your car less than 0.1 miles, so you did not see a change on the odometer. Mystery solved. Next time you bring your car in for service, instruct them to tow your car around so as to not decrease your tank mileage. :roll: BTW, I assume you were kidding, or you are really clueless. I got my SSC 40D in the mail Saturday. Time for my Prius checkup.
Autoxic, watch the personal attacks please. The question was legitimate and lots of people don't understand all the intricacies of the hybrid system. Indeed, in the case he described, it's possible the service dept. screwed up and didn't put the battery on a charger during the programming and had run it down and had to start and run the engine for much of the time to get/keep the charge up. A drop from 56+ to 55mpg is significant for a car that was not driven anywhere. The nasty 'tow your car' comment wasn't necessary and it seems likely to me that the shop probably didn't exercise all caution. I do agree that no harm was done other than burning a few drops of extra fuel, but a legitimate question need not be attacked. Please try to remain kind and civil on this board.
Got the 40D notice in the mail yesterday, will be setting up a time soon at Koons Tysons Toyota to have it done. Hopefully it'll go as smoothly as everyone else here! -m.
As a follow-up. I got my SSC-40D done today. I also had a wheel changed out that the service dept. had scratched last wheel rotation. Total time from drop-off to finish was 1' 20"--I was pretty impressed. They didn't cancel any presets or change any settings (i.e. reverse beeper, etc.) as had happened last time. My battery went from about 1 bar above 1/2 full to 3 bars. My mileage showed 48+ and had been about 54+ when I took it in. BUT, I only had about 26 miles on that tank of gas so it's pretty sensitive to minor fluctuations at this state. In fact, on a 65mph drive home with AC I got it back up to about 51mpg. No comments about the EV button were made (if it was even noticed), it still worked fine. Did have a spat with the team service mgr. b/c they put only 31psi pressure in the tire with the new wheel and adamately refused to put it up to my requested 40psi. Said they'd lower all the rest of the tires to the door/frame recs and air that one up to 33psi. But my arguements that they were creating a greater hazard by having the one tire at 31ps with 3 others at 40+ fell on deaf ears. Fortunately one of the service guys who seems to have a hankering for my Prius took pity on me, drove the car to the back, put my desired pressure in and saw me off with smile and a hand shake. Hope he doesn't catch too much hell from the svc. mgr who he essentially defied to help me.
Had my 40D done last week. My battery was also way down. Apparently they don't remember to charge the battery when doing the downloading. I haven't noticed any changes at all in the car. I got the official Toyota notification today. It appears it is really only a reprogramming for the diagnostic codes. The OBD computer may receive the wrong code for the malfunction indicator during service work. 40D updates the codes in your car so the mechanic will get the correct info. Why does the initial recall notice indicate a potential safety concern? Is that so we get scared & bring 'em in instead of ignoring something useless to us?
Perhaps a tech could read a code and correct a problem that doesn't exist while missing the real safety related problem.
It took about 1/2 hour for my upgrade today. Battery level was down two bars at the end but no other changes. It seemed that my instant MPG were slightly higher after the upgrade. Did anyone else notice this?
I had my SSC 40D upgrade performed today. The mechanic said it was essentially an upgrade to the SSC 40A that I had done a few months ago. Around 2 hours total time. Everything went well. (Unlike the other dealer who did the SSC 40A reprogram and put in the wrong program and blew the computer which caused them to get a brand new one from Toyota while my car sat in the shop and I was given a rental car.)
I'm scheduled for tomorrow morning. I REALLY hope things go OK. I have stuff to do and don't want to argue about rental car fees... OK, it took about 1:45:00 and nothing bad seems to have happened...
I got the 40D work done along with my 5k service. Time was irrelevant because my only request was "today". The version numbers did *not* change for anything. (In diag menu) I also thought I would ask about the EV button. I said my end goal was to have the button and maintain my extended warranty. I told the SA (who was clueless), who asked a Prius tech. Here's what the tech told me. No, we can't get the part. No, we won't install it if you give us the part. We strongly urge you not to install it yourself. Yes, it will void your warranty. He also offered that "the Euro/Japan ECU's are different from the CA/US ECU's and although the button may work with it, the US ECU is not programmed to consider the EV mode when making calculations. If your car is broken down by the road, and you have this button installed, you're on your own." Guess I won't be doing this mod... Anyone have thoughts on that?
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) certainly cuts back on one's enthusiasm, doesn't it? WHY one is broken down by the side of the road isn't important: doing something they don't want is...
Hi everyone, I went in for my 40D work about a week ago and get this!... The dealer service computers could not communicate with my car. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Also...a mechanic friend of mine has a universal (super-expensive) OBDII diagnostic tool and it can't talk to the Prius either. Any ideas on what I should do? ~Andrew
...Well there don't seem to be any good dealer service departments in my area. But some day I'll find one. I'm going to be living in the Rhode Island/Massachusetts area for the next few months. Any recommendations? ~Andrew
