I am the original owner of my 2008 Prius. Gas was $3.49 when I took possession. She has never failed me!! and still has her original lithium, tranny, and engine. In fact, only the routine repairs have been required: brakes (still on my 3rd set); wheel bearings, tires, plugs, coolants, 12 volt, and oil change every 2500-3000 miles. Proud to say she will turn 400,000. Alas, the check engine light is on. Had the spark plugs replaced, but to no avail. Yes, she is burning oil. There was oil on the 4th plug. Code shows plug 3 & 4 are misfiring. What is really wrong is the question. Rings? coil? Emissions? The misfire occurs on cold start up. Once I am on the road she is purring at 74 mph. If she is warmed up, I can sit in traffic most of the time with no indication of something not working well. Would truly appreciate any feedback. I luv this car!
Welcome to PriusChat!! How is it holding up with the salted roads? Could be any of those, but you would need to read the OBD2 codes to know for sure. It could also be the fuel injectors, and the list goes on... how about the valve cover gasket?
Try doing a compression test on all four cylinders. Test should be done dry first and then a second time with a teaspoon of oil squirted into each cylinder before testing. How to turn over motor for compression testing without running engine is a good question. Any help on this issue would be appreciated personally also (as I am about to change spark plugs and I want to get base line compression at 205k on my 2006 Prius).
My Prius gets washed at least five times a week on a car wash program I enrolled in. She has a little rust and looks better than cars much newer
Look under the car. Look at the suspension. See how rusted it is. Take some pictures. Washing the car frequently in the winter is the last thing u want to do it energizes the salt and drives it into crevices where it really goes to work.
At 388K miles the engine in my son's 2006 just gave up. He looked for a replacement car but just did not want to spend $10K to $15K for a decent car. For $1500 we had a low mileage engine and transmission installed. I'm sure the car will now go past 500K.
