New Prius V owner questions

It's not about the outside temperature. The throttle body is a place where outside air is being sucked across a throttle plate and expanding into a lower pressure in the intake manifold. The pressure drop means a temperature drop.

Have you ever owned an air compressor, and noticed when you open the tank drain valve to put it away, the wet air sprays out hard at first, then slows down as the valve ices up inside, speeds up again as the ice thaws, and repeats? Happens even at room temperature.

 

Or the carburetor venturi/throat in your small aircraft engine icing up at reduced throttle in humid air, unless external carburetor heat is applied.

 

Its worth it to do the bypass its a well known performance mod but on this car i was shooting to preserve the fly by wire throttle motor. And I think the car ran better actually. It does no harm. Keeps the throttle body very cool. Heating up the throttle body is unnecessary in my and your climate.

Its easy all it requires is a PEX barrel and 2 hose clamps clamps found at Lowes. I'm sorry I don't have the diameter of the barrel needed but measure the size of the inlet tube and buy that size barrel. The hoses reach each other after hose removal. Cant be easier takes 10 minutes after getting the barrel. I have bypassed every carburetor car I have ever owned in this state for the last 43 years.

It was on my prius for 160,000 miles and 15 years and sold like that. Engine ran perfect. Good Luck.

 

Be careful what you do mod wise in California, some smog techs may find a mod like this and fail the car. They can be very picky, also with OCC's. Not worth it, keep it stock.

 

Better start watching videos on how to change the traction battery and head gasket.

 

They’re “stupid” about OCC, because it’s unvetted, not unreasonable.

 

If time is short, just do the intake manifold EGR passages initially. They take a lot less time (no need to remove wipers and cowl), and are more likely to be clogged enough to cause problems than the cooler at your car's mileage. This assume it isn't guzzling oil.

 

Every 75k ...and less if you have an oil burning car.

 

The EGR cooler’s original purpose (it isn’t just there to clog) is to cool exhaust gasses. When its fins have a modest amount of carbon clogging, is that cooling ability compromised?

not sure how significant, but preferring to err on the side of excess, and because it sorta syncs with coolant changes, I’d advocate every 50k.

 

50k is excessive for cooler/valve cleaning (unless your engine burns a bit of oil, and then yes). 50k is fine for coolant changes..every OTHER coolant change, do the EGR stuff.