I hope I don't jinx the car, but up untill now I've only done the most basic maintenance ( oil and filter changes etc.) on my Prius and even skipped out on the spark plugs...till now. I did not count the one set of front brake pads and the computer battery. Finally threw a cylinder 2 misfire and was pretty sure it was the spark plug but made the mistake on doing a search; and low and behold the dreaded head gasket failure came up everywhere I looked. I can't believe I wasted so much time reading all of the posts and watching videos. Deep down in my gut I knew it was the plugs. Did the paper test with #1 , 2 and 3 removed seperately (even though no coolant had been lost) and it passed. The plugs looked pretty good, although the iridium nipple on #2 was more worn down than the others. 45 minutes and $53 later with new OEM plugs, the Prius runs like a champ. Next is both of the front hubs as one has started to growl a little. Bought a set of Koyo hubs and axle nuts for $500 including shipping. I refuse to buy the cheaply made aftermarket junk that is available online and saved over $450 if I had bought from the local Stealership. (Koyo is the OEM supplier for Toyota hubs). So, in a nutshell, have faith in this wonderfull car and Japanese engineering and it will last forever............................
I have the cheapy non-factory hubs with 50,000 mi on some of them with absolutely no problems and if I gave you the brand name would make any difference anyway. We have like six Prius here two generation 3s and we're phasing the threes out just don't want that kind of maintenance our 2010 just went through the issue you went through with the spark plugs it's actually a 360 k miles right now and heading to 400k on original engine and inverter and brake pumps I think we'll make 400k and then the car will be retired needing the brake pumps and things done and I just don't think it will be worth it to be looking to put an engine and brake pumps onto this 2010 solar roof chassis armrest panels are blowing out of the door panels so on and so forth.
I am skipping out on my spark plugs until next spring and I am at 126600 miles. I have friend on a Lexus ES350 with the same spark plug interval as the Prius and he skipped out to 149100 miles and counting. I guess you win with 176000 miles. But I saw one misfire with a 6 cylinder Toyota Tacoma at 157000 miles.
