200,000 Mile Club

You are lucky with the car

 

2011 Prius Model 3 Purchased 4/2011. Commuted 85 miles a day (Mostly NYS Thruway @ 79mph) for 9 years then intermittently. Didn't drive 1st winter and battery was dead in spring. Drove it every day since. Getting rusty thanks to the NYS Salt.

I believe that anyone that buys anything other than a Toyota has too much money. If I could buy another brand new 2011 Prius I would in a heartbeat.

1) Did you replace the HV battery pack? No Do you maintain it? No
2) Did you replace the 12v battery? Just did it this morning - 1st time! 12 years- must have been the long commutes
3) Did you replace the transaxle fluid? No How often?
4) Did you replace the brake pads? 4 sets fronts 3 sets pads & rotors(Caliper stuck once after changing rears)
5) Your lifetime MPG (if available)? 45 Summer / 38 Winter
6) How often do you change your oil? 10k miles Does your Prius consume oil? No What brand / product did you use? OEM Filters and Pennzoil Full synthetic
7) How about posting a picture of 200,000 miles on ODO? My son has it in Buffalo - where I did a change of battery this morning. I had read years ago that the car would start acting funny and give a little warning. Upon questioning he said "Oh yeah - a couple days ago it did some weird shit".
Came here to find out what battery to use and thought I would post. (OEM Battery)
8) Did you install an oil catch can? ?? No. Only leak was a bad oil pressure sensor- replaced and fixed leak. How often do you inspect or dump it?
9) Have you cleaned the egr circuit? ?? No... How frequently?
10) Any other maintenance? Fingers crossed and knock on wood -
Warranty Replacement of the Inverter in 2018
Only rear wheel bearings both in the last 2 years. 1 ABS cable to left rear - Brake shield rotted off and took it out.
A few sets of tires. I used Michelin Defenders (originally known as Harmony) in summer and X-Ice in the winter. Flawless.

 

The battery last long if we drive the car regularly. Prolong tool did very minor thing to degraded battery from heat and age. It forcefuly can charge the dying battery individiually longer than others. But it won't revive or extend the live of any battery. It is a reboxed charger with some voltmeter and regulator to charge the battery at the same level accross the board. The job that all Hybrid ECU already do excellently. If one of the cell cannot keep up with others and 1V difference is detected, defective battery code shows up. Unfortunately, other batteries are also on their last legs when 1 or 2 cells died. But sometimes the problem is corrosion on the busbar. Something that no tools can fix but replace or scrub the busbar contacts by hands.

 

Funny, Prolong worked for me the very first time I used it.
No, it won't permanantly make any battery "new", it's not supposed to. It reconditions it.
It is maintaining it, so it will last longer.

I just ran it this past weekend and the battery is dischargin and charging evenly.

I guess it will depend on the battery, and the condition of the battery at the time you use the Prolong system.
When I noticed my hybrid battery staying on the 2nd lowest bar longer than jumping to the 3rd and 4th
very quickly, same with discharging, I purchased the Prolong system. After running it, the battery charged and
discharged evenly.

 

@ASRDogman you also can do the same effect by driving to the mountains occasionally. 7 hours to North Georgia trips may do if you live in northern part of Florida. Driving extended downhill force the battery charging to max and the car start doing engine braking when we set the speed with cruise controls. Something that we never have in flat Florida.

 

No, that is not true. The battery won't go below 20%, nor will it do so evenly.
And it won't charge it above 80%, unless you force it too. And it won't charge it to 100%.
Plus, it does either very quickly. Slow, charging/discharging cycles, is what reconditions the batteries.

 

Battery electrodes never happy when it is way too low or too high. The intercelations on the anode/cathode close to 100% or 0% create mechanical stress and degrade the battery. It is more about getting to 80% and 20% together.
I also sometimes recondition NiMh Eneloop battery on smart charger with slow charging/discharging. It often work on rarely used battery that got discharged too deep. But won't help on dying battery , especially regular/non-precharge Energizer NiMh. Of course, HV battery is more advance with Lanthanum alloys.
I still do not buy scatchy Prolong charger. Just waste of money for $500. Overprice

 

??? It's not an energizer battery.
It was about reconditioning the Prius Hybrid battery.
It HAS worked for me. And apparently, other people too.
But I can only say what has worked for ME. So it was well worth the money.

 

No problem, I am happy if it is good for you. I am just not convince yet or probably too cheap to buy such thing. I also do not have time to open the HV battery and connect them with Prolong. If it is less than $100, I may rethink and try.

 

Whatever...

 

I was gonna add that I did a piston soak at 203k. Made the car like brand new again. Basically as good as most average new cars can be.
Went from:
Consuming 1/2 quart: every 400 miles on the interstate. Maintaining 75 mph through 15% grades is tough.
Around town 1 quart: every 4000 miles trying to keep the car at 2100 rpm for pulse n glide like driving.
Averaged (55% city, 45% hwy): A quart every 2500 miles if it was a busy tank on interstate 1500 miles.

After piston soak at all rpms and all conditions car now consumes a quart every 10,500-11,000 miles. But oil is changed at around 5000 miles so it ends up being around a little bit less than 1/2 quart every oil change. Now I can strap kayaks to the roof, do interstate trips, and tow the occasional trailer with a fridge or jet ski no problem.
Also, installed an oil catch can and swapped to high mileage motor oil to combat weepy oil seals.

Car runs like brand new now.

Only real mods are:
Unplugged egr valve
Open air catch can

Winter:
hot air intake
lower grill block
insulation

Mpg in the summer: 48mpg interstate at 70mph
50-55 city with ac on 45mph.
55-62 city with ac off 45 mph.

 

This is the fourth Prius I have owned, and I just bought a 2011 with 213k, so I am in the club. It's averaging about 50 miles per gallon with AC on.

What is piston soak?

I'm changing everything to amsoil with next oil change. Inspection shows new tires and good brakes, new cabin air filter today (it was nasty) undercoating yesterday since I drive 10 miles of gravel a day so it's much quieter. Looks great, no rust.... need to find caps for the wheels... since I took covers off. Even is clean now and no leaks. I'll order led bulbs for most of it, when I find list of numbers....(?) ANY suggestions?

 

sorry but I am not sure what a piston soak is. For the last 4 years I've been using a 0-16 synthetic. I believe that its better for the rings and lubes better in northern weather. Changing the coolant, changing the PVC , had to change the control arm bushings, ball joints, struts, 12 volt battery once with an OEM, plugs a couple of times, coils once, head gasket once, trans fluid once, one left spindle due to a mechanic beating on it and destroying the mag pick up for the abs, changed to abs/traction module, tpms sensors, tires multiple times, currently running Yokohamas. I also cleaned out the hv battery vent system, battery modules are still in spec. The service from Tampa hybrid did wonders for the compression and response. The CV trans is still performing very well @ approximately 250,000.

 

Piston soak article:


Ive undercoated mine heavily since I drive 10+ of gravel a day. Im gonna change the plugs and transfluid. and thinking is a 300k car....

 

In which Kelly blue book?

 

Purchased car used with 193k miles... very broken Had been sitting for 3 years because of a blown head gasket and a piston that was sideways in the engine. Now it has 4th gen engine & lithium battery.

1) Did you replace the HV battery pack? Do you maintain it?
I did replace it with a lithium pack at 193k. Car had sat 3 years before I got it and the battery was very mad at that point.
2) Did you replace the 12v battery?
Similar issue. It had been replaced once when I bought the car. The replacement battery was not a Toyota unit. It was swelling and would not hold a charge any longer. I bought a new toyota battery and
3) Did you replace the transaxle fluid? How often?
I replaced it at 193k. Did not appear to have been replaced before.
4) Did you replace the brake pads?
Brake pads still appear original
5) Your lifetime MPG (if available)?
Unknown
6) How often do you change your oil? Does your Prius consume oil? What brand / product did you use?
Unsure. New motor does not consume oil.
7) How about posting a picture of 200,000 miles on ODO?
Currently at 223k
8) Did you install an oil catch can? How often do you inspect or dump it?
Was going to until I decided the 4th gen engine just really didn't need it due to updates.
9) Have you cleaned the egr circuit? How frequently?
EGR did not appear to have been changed. If it was still flowing after 193k miles, I don't believe it was flowing much.
10) Any other maintenance?
Car blew up it's motor with a blown head gasket. SO MUCH head gasket sealer had been used I had to replace the heater core and radiator as it had a white sludge throughout. Much pressure washing of the EGR cooler & catalytic cover heat exchanger as well. Even had to bust through the same white substance in some of the hoses to make them flow again.

 

I hope you replace the AC evaporator at the same time when replacing heater cores. That damn evaporator like to leak after around 200k miles in hot area.

 

50/50 mix of white vinegar and water was recommended by one sealer manufacturer, as a way to dissolve and flush out their "product".

 

311,000 miles on my evaporator, still working..... 99% Florida Miles...

 

Good to hear that. My gen 2 evaporator leaked at 210k miles. So, i hope gen 3 and newer is not that prone to leak.
I had bad habit not to dry the evaporator cores before i turn the car off. But it is internal leaks, not sure if wet evaporator accelerate the leaks