Optimal Prius Maintenance

No one regulates the auto supply additive business. People are highly influenced by marketing. All gas now has adequate detergent additive. Regardless of what Shell markets with their premium fuel.

Remember if it was possible to run fuel injectors without detergent additives in standard gasoline, you might benefit from aftermarket fuel cleaners. That was the case forty years ago when most cars had carburetors and only the newer expensive engines had fuel injection. Now all gas has detergent additives. Top tier gas has slightly more sometimes made by the best chemical companies like Dupont or Chevron.

You are more likely to get low octane gas than the pump states at some of the cheapest stations who buy their gas at the lowest priced pipeline product terminal. But the engine knock sensors will adjust and you may get slightly lower mpg. Octane is not an additive, it is determined by the refining process.

 

Mind the expiration date.

@Elektroingenieur covered this ground properly, I'm just here to bluntly reinforce:

A Prius is a car that is best bought young, driven a lot and disposed of early. They aren't going to last forever, and there is a growing body of evidence that they don't age as gracefully as regular gas cars.

 

Most computer-controlled engines can shift the ignition timing somewhat. However, most don't make much of a change, and thus there is little upside to be gained from using premium fuel. It's extremely rare to find one that gets enough benefit to offset the extra cost of that fuel.

There is no "health" benefit to the engine once you have satisfied the minimum octane requirement.

 

Maybe, no, no.

 

If you get better fuel mileage with higher octane than what the engine is rated for, you probably have an engine problem (carbon build up, lean condition, sticky thermostat, etc.)

 

Yes and no.

• If you don't change your oil every 5,000 miles or 6 months (whichever comes first) or earlier then expect your rings to seize up and ruin the block (which can't be bored or honed) usually before reaching 200,000 miles. Then that will cause the engine to guzzle oil which will ruin the catalytic converter. And if you're in a California emissions state... Sorry!
• The hybrid battery is somewhat of a ticking time bomb. Usually you can baby an engine and transmission to 300,000, 400,000 or 500,000 or more miles. But a hybrid battery will eventually die around 15 years old. Then you have three options: 1) Get a battery for around $2,000 that will last, 2) Get a chinese or remanufactured aftermarket battery for anywhere from $600 to $2,000 that will die in the next year or two or play whack-a-mole.
• Toyota didn't include changing brake fluid, and when your brake actuator gets crud and water in it, there's another $2,000.

In other words, you could end up with a car that needs potentially up to $8,000 in just parts, kind of like my Prius that needed a battery, cat, and possibly engine block (I still need to scope it) 14 years old at 213,000 miles.

But if you do take care of a Prius from day one, then you may only need to replace the battery at some point which, with proper driving techniques and some maintenance, may also be extended the life of the battery.

Personally I would think a lot of people getting old Prii could be getting ripped off. If it's around 200,000 miles and you have no idea of how the Prius was treated and if the oil was changed regularly, then you could be falling into a money trap. Why do you think I bought my Prius 2 years ago and still haven't been able to drive it at all still? Mind you it cost me $300. I could probably sell it for at least $2,000 as it is right now.

 

The way I think of it, they last way more miles than most other cars- but be quick about driving them.

To clarify: I think age is harder on a Prius than mileage. If I ever had to pick between two used ones, I'd pick the younger one.

Everybody's use case is different. I'll leave it to you to (eventually) decide whether you got ripped off.

 

A 2002 Camry is more likely to make 200k miles without major repairs than a 2012 Prius. Worse yet, the gen3 Prius is likely to have multiple major repairs. I think the fluids used are best in class, they are not the root cause. Bad engineering is the root cause and was fixed in gen4 point for point. Prius c is exempt from most of the engine related flaws.

People who buy high mile gen3s at inflated prices are making a big mistake. They are letting the promise of high mpg and superficial good build quality in the body, interior and suspension fool them.

 

yes, putting in a new battery solves the problem. people often get sticker shock though.

 

It is mainly the battery, and the surrounding economics. Some people spend top dollar on a used Prius that needed a battery last year, and other people find a good deal on a car that just got a brand new battery installed with Toyota receipts to prove it.

You figure by the time the second battery is worn out, quite a lot of other parts will be done; the car almost fully depreciated.

 

the other problem is batteries are scarce like everything else these days