2007 (JDM) Prius Maintenance. Also, I think I found the source of the foul smell.

Hello all,

newb on here but I have been lurking in the background. I bought a used 2006 Prius RHD from Japan 2 years ago, it had about 32K miles and now at 33.5K. I have hardly driven it in the last year, about 300miles due to changed work circumstance. The car outwardly as well as the interior looks like it's maybe a year old, in other words, pristine. All fluids are toped up and 'look' good. The car is parked indoors.

Seeing that I don't know the history of the car, I don't have a baseline on what kind of maintenance I need done. The immediate things I need is an oil change. I attempted to do this myself but the last quick lube place I took it to (about 1.5 years ago w synthetic blend) overtightened the oil drain bolt and I can't get it off with my regular tools. They also checked the transmission fluid and showed me a sample, they thought it looked ok (they being college aged kids). I can only imagine they also overtightened the fill bolt of the transmission.

When I bought the car, the car does track straight, however the steering wheel is cocked maybe 5-10 degrees to the left. The car by law/requirement needed new tires installed after importation, which was done by the private dealer. It is slightly bigger than spec, but still 16".

The other thing is that because I didn't drive it much in the last year, there is old fuel in the car, about 3/4 thank. I topped it up with new fuel recently after realizing fuel also goes bad. I plan to take it for a long drive to try to empty the tank and put fuel stabilizer and new fuel for the near future (after oil change).

About a day after refueling (added 1/4 tank to full), I suddenly has this pungent smell on a subsequent drive the following day, it smelled more like fire sparkler sticks than sulfur/rotten eggs to me (do they smell the same I am unsure). The closest I could find while sniffing around the engine bay is the passenger front headlight, I had my nose on near the rear of the bulb with hood open, smell was faint but similar (this is a few days after the first and only incident of the smell). The other headlight didn't have any smell at the same distance (about a few inches). I have driven it twice on super short distance, basically from one parking spot to another but have not driven it at length to try to replicate the smell for the reason being that the car desperately needs an oil change first. Also the car has DRL installed as an import requirement (by the dealer), I mention this just in case it is electrical related smell. But lights and all are working fine.

So I called a local mechanic last Friday and I mentioned the above and he will call me back on Monday but already said something along the lines of checking the fluids, going once over the vehicle and was clueless about the odor. He mentioned that an alignment is probably needed in addition to my oil change request.

I am wondering what can I specifically ask the mechanic to check? What can I check myself? Like I mentioned, I can see the fluid levels under the hood, the pink looks pink, the brake fluid is lighter than honey color which is good AFAIK, the cabin filter is clean. The 12v battery is on a battery maintainer and there is no smell coming from it or the vent tube and is at 12.4v at terminal of the battery itself. I will take a look at the engine air filter soon. And yes, I will be changing the oil myself in the future at a once a year interval with synthetic.

I am wondering if I should ask for a brake fluid chemistry check?
Should I purchase and check the engine coolant quality myself with a pH paper tester, a volt meter and a hydrometer?

I also noticed in my area, the local cabs are using Gen 2 Priuses. Should I approach them and see where they get their cars serviced and go there instead?

 

So I just looked at my engine air filter, it's like new. The only thing I saw was that to the right side of the filter, the throttle body I assume, that looked dirty, coated in brown. I tried to take a picture but it didn't come out (using flash). I suspect the car is in excellent shape, but now it's in my hands and I am guessing I have to establish a baseline with the maintenance.

I jacked up the car twice trying different tools to get the drain bolt off. I am going to have the mechanic do it and install a Valvomax, it's a fancy valve whereby after installation, it will be easy for me to just use my hands to open/close.

I have never worked on cars before but I would like to learn. Unfortunately I live in communal housing, working on cars is not allowed, so whatever work I do it has to be done quickly.

 

In regards to the first post, aside from the brake flush, there isn't a set time to do the other services. My low mileage car would never achieve any of those stated miles seeing that it is at 33k after 18 years, 2k miles in 2 years under my ownership. Are there time interval recommendations?

 

Thanks for the info. My manuals and even service history is in Japanese, and I don't have a handy Japanese person to translate for me. I didn't think of looking around for the English service interval manual.

I was just thinking, for the coolant, would a hydrometer, Multimeter and pH test be sufficient to test if the coolant needs replacing? My novice answer would be no, otherwise why have a set interval, you can just run those test and find out. But I don't know, hence the question.

Brakes: Will not servicing the brakes be a bad thing? Are there anything that will rust along the brake lines? Is there not a test for brake fluid? Keep in mind I'm doing like a tank of gas mileage a year.

Also as for the oil drain bolt, I found a 7.5amp impact wrench for sale (used in new condition) or a 15" breaker bar.

I ran the car again today, the sparkler stick smell is less but definitely coming from the air vents. I sniffed the engine bay and didn't notice anything. I forgot to sniff the Cat and exhaust.

 

So I think I found the source of the foul smell (smells like fire sparkler sticks burning) that occurred just that one time and a faint remnant of it on the inverter side front lights (my nose couldn't get any closer). My inverter pump is dead, AM2 fuse ok, no movement in the reservoir, no vibration on pump during ON and motor running mode. It's cool weather where I am and no codes and car runs fine.

Not sure if I should make a new thread but my three question after extensive reading and YouTube are:
1) Do I need to open the bleeder valve while emptying the coolant fluid when draining? The reservoir cap will be open.
2) May I leave the car jacked up on just the inverter side or does it need to be level to fully drain?
3) May I not just leave the bleeder valve open and run a tube to the reservoir tank while the pump is running while filling the coolant. I see lots of videos about repeatedly opening and closing the bleeder valve, why not just keep it open till all the air comes out?