Driving to California from North Carolina, what parts should I bring with me?

Since you're probably packing light, I would bring a full size spare (available at a u-pull-it for about 15-25 bucks), a small floor jack and a good lug wrench.

And a AAA+ membership card.

 

Actually I'm over in Orange county with an 09 and a 13 I would jump in the 09 right now headed for California without bringing Mary anything my basic quarter inch drive socket set through 14 my long nose needle nose pliers and necessary Phillips and flat screwdrivers my electrical crimpers my 12 volt test light I would have text stream with me just because I do course sunglasses in the light but other than that that's it and I probably not going to do any work on the car all the way to California unless I'm really beating on it trying to set a land speed record or some kind of nonsense the 13 I would not do this with even though it's cleaner and newer and just had an engine put in it I don't trust the 13 I trust my 09 without question good luck buddy

 

If you're experienced, then you know the drill. Give the car a once over like it was a routine trip check. Pay particular attention to cooling system components as those are likely the things under greatest stress from a prolonged trip. WP belt, radiator, coolant hoses and clamps. Tire condition and age. How old is the inverter pump? Can your scanner pull codes from the hybrid control and HV battery ecu's?

As far as what to pack- extra fluids, some fuses and a couple bulbs, a test light and DVOM(maybe that inverter pump if yours is older and a few tools to change it- they tend to go about 100k?). Otherwise not too much else as I gave up trying to plan for every possible failure. It was different for a car from the 60's - you could do lots with some straight hose, or some electrical wire. More modern cars need lots of tools, info, and correct parts to be able to fix them.

A 12V Li-ion booster pack, extra water and some food for you.

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I will second some of the good advice. My inverter pump just stopped on a long drive and my inverter would have eventually overheated. My next stop was the nearest Toyota dealer. I never go to one, but I was left with a triangle of death and very few resources. The water pump clanked like a chain before I replaced it... there was some warning there.

On that note, bring along an OBDII reader with the ability to reset a code. The last thing you want is to wind up in limp mode because of a glitch when you could have done a code reset. Second best option is to have the 10MM to disconnect the battery temporarily. Not saying codes are not important, but using your wisdom, some aren't worth getting stuck in the shoulder somewhere in the dark.

Bring the full size spare like was mentioned, or at least know that the donut can't go anywhere. That's my experience. I found that the Prius had a conipshit when I put the donut up front and it refused to go above 20 MPH. Bring along the owner's manual.

Road side safety kit.

Check your A/C pressures if you are comfortable doing that and have any concern about cooling. If you are already in NC, you most likely know if your AC is working well.

 

I would consider Tranny eCVT oil change with OEM toyota ATF WS 4 qt. No after market should be considered. This oil should be changed every 60k after 150k. Obviously bring engine oil just incase youre buring oil. Do you know 2nd Gen Prius is notorious for burning after 150k. You are well past that mark and if not fixed or resolved I bet your Prius is burning oil. Oil burning in 2nd Gen Prius is pretty bad at 1qt for every 1000 miles at highway speeds and less in city driving. Mine was so bad it was 1qt for 1000 miles and getting worse. At that rate after 4000 miles your engine is blown. Be aware!

SM-A526U ?

 

Might check if your car has the newer Inverter Coolant Pump that was possibly replaced by a recall back in 2010. If not it might be worth getting one installed or at least have it to carry with you. Sourcing some of these parts might be tricky on the road.

 

Well my '09 and my 04 are all wrong I have non Toyota CVT fluid in them non-toyota coolant that's the right color plus one. And no tool brake fluid which is five and goes in my motorcycles oops Id drive it anywhere.

 

the prius transmission is not a CVT like other vehicles from what I have read. Any fluid that meets the Toyota WS spec should be good. I use the same Valvoline synthetic ATF that works in most of my other cars without issue.

I have also heard that failing to change this fluid can lead to issues with metals suspended in the fluid causing arcing from the electric motors to the case. Not sure if the last comment is an urban legend or not...

 

The primary reason to use the right oil in a Prius transaxle is the high voltage electric motors inside.

 

Jerry cans with Gas. Unless you want to pay $7-$8 a gallon for regular. Probably will be $9 when you get here in July.

 

Bring some of those spare plastic fasteners for your panels underneath car. For me, it's easy to scrape because of low profile of car and you don't want to waste time looking for replacement!! Also bring flashlight.

 

I had a 2004 for a little while and sold it. It also had a recall done for a steering shaft bolt. I removed the black plastic cover that's down by the pedal cluster. Behind it was a U joint with two small bolts. One was copper colored (I think that was the recall). The bolts were loose!! I tightened them down and all the play in the shaft disappeared. I thought it would be much more involved and require you to get under the vehicle. It did not. There was a second U joint under the dash, but that was pretty tight.

I also considered putting a nut on the end of that bolt to lock it down, or at least apply some loctite, but never got around to it.

 

Gas is currently around $6.00 where I live near LA. If a person was silly enough to visit the gas station right next to the highway it might be almost $7. Use gas buddy ahead of time to plan out where you intend to stop for gas. Look for stations a mile or two off the main road. That will save you money the whole trip, and you won't have to worry about going up in an enormous fireball because you were foolish enough to pack the inside of the car with gas cans. Gas is less in major urban centers than in small rural towns. (That might not be the case near major petroleum refining centers, like in Louisiana.)

 

It was a joke

 

I prefer a generic 12V test light for checking fuses.

Might consider the Autel Maxi AP200 OBD device and app - it can read codes and data on all ecu's on Gen2 -including INF codes. Also look at the ThinkDiag device and app- costs more but is close to having all Techstream functions (codes, INF, data, freezeframe, bidirectional controls, tests, resets, etc) in your pocket. There's a sticky thread at the top of the Gen2 Technical discussion forum that gives my review on some apps.

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This is getting out of hand. Gonna have 400 pounds of crap in the back of the car, lol.

 

When there's a problem on the road, you have at least as great a need for things that will help you know what the problem is, as you have for carrying parts to fix it.

That's why I would second mr_guy_mann's suggestions for good diagnostic equipment, a scan tool that can show you codes from all the ECUs, a test light at the very least if not a multimeter, etc. If you use a smartphone app for code scanning, you can probably use the same app (or another that will work with the same dongle) to display things like your temperatures while driving. A phone mount can keep that info where you can see it.

The repair manual. Either a dead-tree version, or downloaded onto your laptop, tablet, or phone. All the parts in the world won't save you if you can't find the information on how to diagnose the issue and the right way to repair it. I remembered that when you wrote "both inverter pumps".