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2007 with 4K miles on it--lost it's fricking mind

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Jeffgb, Jul 12, 2007.

  1. Jeffgb

    Jeffgb New Member

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    Going to be making my first trip to the shop this week. Yesterday I got in my car and, as I was leaving the drivway going about 5-10 mph (flat grade), I noticed that my consumption meter was telling me that I was getting 6 miles per gallon.

    Huh?

    Seemed to be working all right after I got out on the highway, but a little off in the way I have come to expect it to work. Got where I was going and got the same thing...the slower I drive, the worse my gas mileage. Apparently, under 5 mph, I might as well be driving a sherman tank.

    Called the service dept, and they told me to bring it in.

    Damnit
     
  2. duanelaugh

    duanelaugh New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>

    Looks and sounds like a troll...Please don't feed!!
     
  3. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    He's not a troll, he's an engineer which is close but tolerable. However, he is an Engineering Director, so perhaps he should be avoided.

    It sounds as though the engine was running without battery assist. This might be why it "seemed" fine on the highway where you are accustomed to all ICE anyway.

    Let us know what the Tech finds.
     
  4. subarutoo

    subarutoo New Member

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    What's an obsessive compulsive mpg watcher? Someone who watches his mpg screen while driving down the driveway, and along neighborhood streets. Get a life.
     
  5. ZA_Andy

    ZA_Andy Member

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    Is there some reason the OP should not be bothered by abnormally low fuel efficiency or not be looking at the screen Toyota includes in the car to monitor such things? Funny, I thought that was what it was there for.
     
  6. Jeffgb

    Jeffgb New Member

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    I'm compulsive? Take a look at your signature file.

    I look over and a reading that should be high is, in fact, low. Methinks that this might signify a problem. Hell, come to think of it, isn't that why they put fricking gages in your car? Maybe they shouldn't do that. I would not want to obsess over the blinking engine overheat light.

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jul 12 2007, 02:08 PM) [snapback]477629[/snapback]</div>

    I am not sure if moving from an engineer to Director of Engineering makes me more or less avoidable.

    My guess is the same as yours. It is not acting 100% correct at highway speeds, probably not what would be a noticable difference in and of itself. At low speeds, it is easy to see that something is weird. I am at a seminar on modeling software today (fools made the mistake of adding internet access to the workstation computers?!?!) and, at lunch, I drove it across the parking lot at no more than walking speed. Graph claimed I was getting less than 10mpg. That sounds to me like the battery assist it acting up. Or perhaps, it is not and the car just thinks that it is. Either way, time to go to the shop.
     
  7. boulder_bum

    boulder_bum Senior Member

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    This may actually be normal. The Prius is most efficient at 30-40 MPH like most cars. Going very slow is actually very bad for mileage.

    To use an analogy, if you walking up some stairs at a normal pace, you're comfortable because you're moving at the pace your body was designed to. If you ran up the stairs instead, you'd naturally be burning up a lot more energy and struggling more, as expected. However if you tried to go up the stairs in super slow motion, it would actually be a lot more difficult than if you were just walking normally (and your quads might start burning sooner than if you were running, even!).

    5-10 MPH is "super slow motion" for the Prius, and I sometimes get very low mileage figures (5 MPG) when I'm driving that slow. Try speeding up a little and see what difference that makes.

    Granted, if you have a good charge on the battery you may end up going into all-electric mode at that speed which would drastically improve the MPG rating, but I wouldn't necessarily say that what you're experiencing is out of the ordinary.
     
  8. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    The consumption screen takes into account gas used and distance travelled. If you spend any time at all parked with the engine running, the initial mileage won't look very good. Hopefully your longer-term average mileage looks more normal.
     
  9. wiiprii

    wiiprii New Member

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    Troll troll troll, troll troll troll troll!

    Any real Prius driver knows there are a lot of factors that go into the MFD mpg reading. Namely engine temp, load, etc.

    If he had been driving a HUMMER, the reading would have been even lower...
     
  10. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 03:23 PM) [snapback]477639[/snapback]</div>
    Do you have pointy hair? :D

    Tom
     
  11. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    I must be missing something!

    OP says his Prius is acting differently than it had, and that the shop wants to look at it. Instead of offering moral/emotional support, he's being labelled a troll?

    What's up with this?
     
  12. zqfmbg

    zqfmbg New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 11:56 AM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>
    I think his post is reasonable if I throw in the assumption that this is just after the car is powered on. (Which I think is reasonable. If you just got in your car and are going out the driveway, it can't have been on that long.) I'm also further assuming that he's talking about the instantaneous readings, not the 5-minute averages on the Consumption screen.

    So then his engine is running to warm itself and the catalytic converter stuff up. It may have been using the electric motor entirely, but the engine would still be running. I've noticed this when leaving home for work; until I press the gas a certain amount, I'm basically running with the motors only, but the engine is still going.

    If all this is true, then Jeff, this is normal. Until the engine is warmed up sufficiently it will keep turning and you'll get bad mileage until it's done. And then even afterwards, whenever you accelerate, your instant readings are going to dip just because you're expending more energy to move faster.
     
  13. NoMoShocks

    NoMoShocks Electrical Engineer

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wiiprii @ Jul 12 2007, 01:00 PM) [snapback]477665[/snapback]</div>
    Why do we have one new member who joined 1.5 months ago identifying another new member who joined just one month later as a the T word? The question sounded like a reasonable concern to me for someone who has 4,000 miles on a new car less than one month old. If the requirement is to become a Prius Expert in less than one month, then I guess I am a T-Word too.

    To be honest, I have never looked at the MPG display while backing up, but I wouldn't expect to get any meaningful data, as the car was in reverse. I doubt that reverse mileage is included in the MPG calculations. Reverse is probably treated as waisted gas just like idling. If anything, the proper reading on the display would be 0 MPG.

    I probably wouldn't worry about it if the average MPG readings over time make sense. The instantanious MPG is just a tool to know when the car is least efficient to fine tune driving habits.
     
  14. priusmaybe

    priusmaybe New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jul 12 2007, 04:14 PM) [snapback]477674[/snapback]</div>

    I was wondering about the troll thing, too.



    Trolls need love, too.
     
  15. NoMoShocks

    NoMoShocks Electrical Engineer

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    What is the point of calling people names? How about someone who joins a forum on May 25, 07 and is calling other people the T-Word by July 12, 07.
     
  16. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    That actually wasn't the first one to call the OP a troll.
    The first one is someone that's been here a year...
     
  17. NoMoShocks

    NoMoShocks Electrical Engineer

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Jul 12 2007, 01:27 PM) [snapback]477682[/snapback]</div>
    Yeah, you are right. I miss read the date. It turns out the first guy to say the T word has been here for 1 year and six days. I am going to go back under my bridge and see who is walking over it.
     
  18. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Everyone,
    Stop with the Troll calling. He is not a troll as I attempted to elude to with my previous post. Jeff, I was just kidding when I said that you should be avoided as a Director. I should have used a ;)

    .


    .

    <== Look people. See that? That's the number of posts a person has.

    There was a time, three or more years ago, when I had only a handful of posts and thought that every shudder and nuance was a problem with the car. Thank God no one accused me of being a troll.

    Let's drop this silliness and stick to the topic at hand.
     
  19. Tom_06

    Tom_06 Active Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>
    The first half sounds normal if backing out is within the first couple of minutes after going ready. The engine is running to heat the catalytic converter and running very rich to do so. I see this a lot with my 2006 and even moreso with Barb's 2005. If I take my foot off the accelerator, the instantaneous mileage stays below 50 mpg, forward or reverse for that first minute or two.

    After the first couple of minutes, coasting at low speeds (foot off the accelerator) should cause a 100 mpg instantaneous reading. So having this happening at the end of the trip doesn't sound right unless going up a grade. Does the mpg shoot up if you lift your foot off the accelerator? If so, the car is probably OK. If not, then it does sound like there is a problem. The trip to the dealer can't hurt unless the service department is one of the bad ones we sometimes hear about.

    Good luck with it.

    - Tom
     
  20. priusmaybe

    priusmaybe New Member

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    quote name='priusmaybe' date='Jul 12 2007, 01:19 PM' post='477678']
    I was wondering about the troll thing, too.
    Trolls need love, too.
    quote]

    What is the point of calling people names? How about someone who joins a forum on May 25, 07 and is calling other people the T-Word by July 12, 07.


    I was not "calling" anyone a troll. I was questioneing the practice.


    I think the question the original poster has is reasonable. But I don't care for being policed.