Where do I place the floor jack and jack stands?

The best source of information today's days is Prius Chat.
The second best place is the instructions of the Owner's manual....

 

Yes, the owners manual shows the floor jack places. Best to have the jackstand adapters with rubber pads, or you could just use hockey pucks. Jackstands go on the "jacking points" outlined in the owners manual on the sides of the car. Try to avoid the plastic part there.
I still prefer ramps as there is no danger of collapsing/crushing body panels.

 

This is where I put safety stands, the red marks. Front of the car is to the right:



That's all I've ever used, for oil changes and tire swaps / brake inspections. I find the support points proscribed in the Owner's Manual too flimsy, suited for the scissor jack, barely, but not good with safety stand cradles.

Even with the scissor jack, which cups around the crimped lower edge and actually bears on the body panel directly behind, a single use on the lighter loaded rear point (with a flat) caused some deformation.

Front safety stand point:



Anuder pic of where I put the front safety stands, maybe a bit clearer:



Always use good solid wheel chocks on the rear too:

 

You should always use jack stands and do not rely on a jack alone. The hydraulic seal in a jack can fail at any time, and the car will fall on you if there are no jack stands.

 

I was going to see if they make "caps" to allow jack stands to be positioned at the jack points without damaging the body work. I have one for the hydraulic floor jack, and it works well.

 

Ours is a 2010, same underbody as yours AFAIK. Maybe look for that distinctive L-shaped bracket? The support point's there, just a little subtle.

 

You can always depend on Mendel for these questions

 

Yeah I had more than one "say what?" moment with this Prius. One was the flimsy "jacking points", which are zones along the rocker panel pinch weld, defined by a pair of notches, and that's about it, lol: in no way reinforced.

When you put the supplied scissor jack at those points it cups around the pinch weld seam; the actual bearing is against the car body, inboard of the seam. I used that once, changing a flat on the rear. And after, found that one use had slightly deformed the car body at the point of contact.

 

To be honest, it can be difficult to orient yourself down there and once you find the spots for sure, it's a good idea to put some paint or bright tape on the jack and jack stand points.

 

Hey, Mendel, Happy Holidays!

So..in preparation for changing the flat I may someday have to change...
What's my best bet?
And should I get a better jack to accomplish that?
I also have AAA...

Thx
-P

 

The scissor jack is fine. It'll do: will slightly dimple the bearing point is all. Too: you don't want something heavy and unsecured in the hatch.

It's a poor jack though, might have you swearing: it has a cast, single-eye connector, which makes for a lot of jumping around as you're cranking the car up. A bent plate dual-eye connector (per Honda) stays more stable.

You should try it out, do a dry run.

 

Cool.

 

You have to place the jack close to the tire so that It does not slips. You can see the proper guide here.

 

A question regarding floor jacks. I have a 2012 and want to do maintenance changing fluids and PCV valve. I would like to use a floor jack for raising the car. Must it be the low profile type or can it be a regular 2-3 ton type floor jack? I suppose I can always drive up on 2x4's if I need to? And yes Mendel, those pinch welds look pretty lame to me. Maybe a better option would be to drive up on my metal ramps. I can use 2x6 boards to allow for the rise heighth of the metal vs. the Rhino plastic ramps? Any suggestions would be welcome. Thank you all.

 

I’m using a cheap 3 ton jack, not low profile.