2010 Prius 100,000 Mile Preventative maintenance Items

Just thought I'd post an update on this car which is now 15 years old, and I have now had it for about 4 years. I am now at 137,000 miles (220,000 kms). So far the car's engine has been perfectly reliable. No rough startups, no burning oil, no coolant loss. I have been changing the oil every 6-9 months or every 3000-7000 miles. I try to do it twice a year regardless of the mileage but sometimes it gets pushed back a few months.

Note that I do tons of short trips in the car, combined with the occasional multi hour long road trip. It also sits outside so it gets plenty of cold starts. My average daily trip is 1 mile or less to the grocery store or to do some errands in my small town, and then back home. I'd say I've done this 80% of the days I've had it since I bought in 2021. I know this is not ideal treatment. On exceptionally cold days (below about -10 fareinheit or -23C ) I will plug in the block heater. I did once cold start it in -36 celcius (-32f) without having it plugged in. Other than the fan belt creaking and slow response from the LCD screen it starts up fine in extreme cold. I did have the 12v battery die once during a prolonged cold snap, but that was my fault as I left my OBD reader plugged in and didnt drive the car for 4 days.

I still have the oil catch can installed which seems to mainly just catch water during the winter along with tiny amounts of oil scum. In warmer temps it catches very small amounts of oil scum (a spoonful after months of driving) on top of small amounts of water. During very cold temps I think the cold metal can is allowing hot gas to cool rapidly and it condenses the moisture out of the exhaust air. Not sure if the catch can is helping but its certainly reducing the amount of oil and also moisture being fed back into the intake manifold.

I did remove the intake manifold once after installing the oil catch can and there was still a good amount of oil pooled in the bottom, so the catch can is clearly not catching everything.

The only actual issues I've had since I bought it in March 2021 are:
1. Right rear wheel bearing just started to make noise last month so I had a local mechanic replace it.
2. Very rarely the adaptive cruise control will detect a non-existant obstacle and start beeping and and decelerating the car. This has happened about 4 times during my ownership. When it does happen I absolutely am not about to hit anything. I just tap the brake to cancel out the cruise control and keep rolling, but its a bit startling when it does happen.

I still really like the car. it gets good fuel economy and has been a solid daily driver. People often comment on how they think it is a 5 year old or newer car. I will be keeping it for a while, but may upgrade to a minivan for more space in the next few years, which has nothing to do with my satisfication with the Prius, I just might need a bit more room to build a camper.

 

I should also mention that a few winters ago I switched the tires from studless Michelin X-ice Xi3 tires which were worn out, to new studded Michelin X-ice Xi3. We get lots of packed ice here, and not super deep snow so I thought I'd give studs a go. Results were as expected. It seems to do a lot worse in rain/wet, as the studs seem to skitter on the wet pavement. It seems to do slightly worse in deep snow, but it does pretty excellent on ice. You will still slide when braking on sheet ice, but you wont slide as much.

So I'd only recommend studs if you get lots of ice or super hard packed snow. Other than that and for more mixed conditions, non-studded tires will excel.

Overall the Prius with either the studded or studless winter tires has been a great winter vehicle. Our highways up here can get pretty wild during the winter, and I've always felt confident and in control, even at high speeds during a snowstorm on roads that had not been properly plowed. There is something about the low centre of gravity that makes you feel more connected an in control than you are in a SUV or pickup truck.

The only thing the Prius wont exel at is very deep wet snow, simply due to its ground clearance. The rocky mountains dont often get super deep snow, and when it is deep it is fluffy and the car can easily plow through it. I'd only second guess a Prius as a winter vehicle if I lived in British Columbia, the pacific northwest, or maybe areas of the east cost or upper midwest that get lots of wet heavy near freezing temp snow.