Is the Gen 3 unreliable?

1.3 million miles? Wow!

 

All of my Pri have right at 300K only the 13 persona had a failure . Gen2 nada 3 of them. 10 gen3 that's never off the road except maybe 7 hrs a night been on road since bought used at 160 ish all original. This car got a JY HV battery the day I bought it . And has been rolling ever since . One the lowest maint vehicles in world. Till it isn't . Like many . But costs can drastically be lowered if YOU are Can Do type.

 

I’m also concerned about mine, engine was stuttering badly yesterday

 

fresh gas, mobil. i could try some techron to see if it helps, thanks!

 

Clean the throttle body? While in there you could check the EGR pipe (just the stainless steel pipe betwixt EGR valve and intake manifold, though with your miles and EV usage should not have significant carbon build-up.

 

Cleaning the throttle body is occasionally needed to get a Prius to restart after the 12 volt battery power has been out.

The ECM learns how far the throttle must be open for idling and starting. As the throttle gets gradually carboned up, which happens slowly over long times, the ECM keeps up and learns the needed throttle openings.

If 12 V power goes out, the ECM forgets that learned value and goes back to factory defaults for the next attempt to start. Sometimes that just means a hard start and a lousy idle for a few moments until the right throttle positioning is relearned. Other times, if the carbon is worse, the car will fail to start at all.

All gens, not just Gen 3.

 

Spray carb cleaner on a rag and wipe the edges of the throttle plate and wipe out the bore it sits in until clean. Almost faster to do than to type.

 

EGR cooler & replacement is admittedly a pain, especially the first time. After you do a couple, you just roll your eyes and say, "Here we go again with the bruised hands."

Gen 3 spark plugs are a piece of cake. If you have an impact driver, you can get the wipers, wiper motor, and cowl off in about 10 minutes or less. (Two nuts for the wiper arms, pull the plastic cover off, unplug the wiper motor and get the cable out of the way, remove 3 screws for the brace and 10 for the metal pan, set it aside, and you're ready to unplug the coils.) I actually prefer it to the Gen 2 because, while you don't need to remove the cowl on the Gen 2 to do the plugs, it's pretty crowded in there.

 

Really? I guess I've never done plugs on a Gen 2. I seem to remember needing to on my Gen 1, and on my Gen 3. Maybe it's the odd generations. Anybody know for Gen 5 yet?

 

Whenever I’ve purposely disconnected the 12 volt (typically to avoid mishaps when taking caliper off rotor), the next few start ups I’ll hear the engine do an unusual rev up, sounds like it’s calibrating.

So maybe, and especially if the throttle body was quite grubby, good to follow up cleaning with a battery disconnect?

Just pausing the review videos, they look to be accessible without cowl removal, not too far back.

@NutzAboutBolts video can be found here:

Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat

a fair bit of the work is removal of engine air intake plastic pieces.

I prefer now to also disconnect and lift the throttle body right off, a little easier to thoroughly clean (leave coolant hoses attached). Torque values in attached.

 

2012 here with the 138k miles on the clock.

Consumes a lot of oil. Just had to put 1 1/2 of oil because it was barely on the dipstick and only 4500m driven since the last change

I have an engine knock occasionally on the cold start-up which sounds really bad

I haven't done anything except replaced the brakes and the wheel hub

Honestly a lot of things are needed already or coming soon

I don't have time for major maintenance and not interested throwing money to it. I am already thinking its time to let it go and move forward with something new

 

There's not a lot of room above the spark plugs on Gen 2, so I have to use just the right length of socket extension and it's easier if I have a u-joint on it.

 

totally unrelated but I didnt know where else to go to ask this question. how do I post a new topic? I am brand new and at least to me the interface didnt indicate to me an obvious button or link to click to start a new topic. thanks!

 

never mind. figured it out

 

There maybe another thread post about your car on here . Car that haven’t had any oil change services for the last 35,000 miles,

 

Of all the different cars I've owned over the years, my 2011 Prius has been the most reliable vehicle by far. If comparing to recent Toyotas, my 2016 Camry needed more repairs before reaching 75k then the Prius which is currently at 175k.

Outside of maintenance and normal wear items, the only thing the Prius needed so far was wheel bearings.