gas engine coming on more than before

Sounds normal to me. The gas engine needs to warm up before you can start playing with P&G and such. Takes longer to warm up in cool weather than in warm.

 

Yup, sounds like its the weather. Personally I start stuffing my front grill as early as 75F. Its fully stuffed at 65F. Search for grills.

The prius actually pumps hot coolant into a thermo vessel to help reduce warmup time.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 12:19 AM) [snapback]514675[/snapback]</div>

 

is this while your actually driving somewhere? yah it needs to warm up to warm up the catalytic converter, thats been discussed before...

if its just idling, its great, at the temp set at 72, and the outside temp 57 degrees the engine comes on for a couple minutes, and then it stays mostly off for me for almost a half an hour...

try lowering the climate controls. having it up too warm will cause the engine to run more

 

Most of it's actually down to providing heat for the cabin. If you turn off the climate control, you'll often find the engine will stop.

 

You will be able to glide when the coolant temp reaches about 105F, assuming you do not have the heater on. This should take about 1-2 mins.

 

Normal. As previously posted, the North American version of the Prius stores hot coolant in an insulated tank when the car is turned off. When it starts up, this heated coolant is pumped back into the engine to reduce the warm up time.

Tom

 

Also, don't forget that if you start the car with the defroster set in the on position the ICE will start immediatly

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 08:16 AM) [snapback]514800[/snapback]</div>

I think someone could have driven it away; that's why the car was complaining! But if they turned the engine off later, they wouldn't have been able to re-start it without the smart key.

I have a similar funny story: on vacation recently, I was packing luggage into the car, and after one particular trip downstairs, I loaded that trip's haul of luggage then tried to lock the car. I got the dreaded beep! So I'm thinking my wife must have put her key in the suitcase, so I took that out to see if it would lock. No dice! Ok, maybe it's in the other bag I brought. Still no go. Finally, I figured it HAD to be the cosmetics case, however unlikely that seemed. Sure enough, I opened it and there was the key! Why it wasn't in her purse I'll never figure out!

These smart cars with their smart keys can sure outsmart us!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 12:16 PM) [snapback]514800[/snapback]</div>

As Kimgh replied, yes, someone could have hopped in your car and driven off. However, once the car was shut off, they would not be able to restart it.

However, if you got out of the car with the key and left the car ON, you should have heard 3 or 4 (?) slow beeps that are fairly loud and the yellow SKS light (looks like a key with an exclamation mark) on the dash should have lit up to warn that the key is no longer detected inside the car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 01:21 PM) [snapback]514935[/snapback]</div>

Always look at the dash before you leave the car. Is the READY light on? Power off the car

 

Yes I almost did the same thing once...but all the beeping when you open the door should have gotten your attention..must listen to beeps..must listen to beeps..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 04:21 PM) [snapback]514935[/snapback]</div>

If you are in the car, you hear a long beep and see the yellow light. If you are outside the car, you hear the 3 or 4 beeps, but won't see the light (unless you look inside the car at the dash, which you won't).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Drifty'sDad @ Sep 19 2007, 09:45 PM) [snapback]515083[/snapback]</div>

It happened to me once when I was in a location where the ambient noise level was high enough that I couldn't hear the beeps when I got out of the car. I had a passenger in the car and I needed to get out and get some stuff out of the back before helping them out of their seat, so I left the car on so I could leave the A/C on for them. I had originally intended to go back and turn the car off after I helped my passenger. However, there was a lot going on, and by the time I got the passenger out of the car I had forgotten that the car was "on".

Many hours later I came back out to a nicely cooled car with the doors unlocked and the car still on. The gas gauge hadn't changed and my MPG took only a small hit.

I was surprised to find the car on, and immediately realized what had happened, but it sure was nice to come out to a cool car on such a hot day B)

 

Sorta kinda on this topic...even though I almost never use the heater in my car--I live in Northern California AND I seem to find anything above about 50 degrees F too warm. I am still sometimes reluctant to turn on the air conditioning due to the, um, conditioning, I've gotten here on PriusChat about the hit in mileage that causes. I recently discovered that if I put the air flow onto recirculate and just have it blowing against the windshield, it stays very much cool enough even for me. The a/c light is NOT lit. The air is VERY cool/cold. If I turn the controls to blow face and/or feet, and if the fan is EITHER recirculate OR outside, the incoming air is warmer, regardless of what the outside temp is. Is the a/c compressor on even if it is not lit?

As to the car being on--when I've been driving when it's been hot (even by standards other than mine own), I intentionally leave it running so as not to HAVE to blast the a/c on my return. You can lock it with the mechanical key (which you then HAVE to use to open it up again). This is also handy to know about if you want to leave a pet inside on a hot day. In that case, however, also make sure you leave a note that says something like "Air conditioning AND alarm on for the comfort and protection of the dog." Okay, yeah, I have no alarm, but the sign in the window protects me from PETA and thieves.

But I REALLY would like to know why the recirc/front blower is so much cooler than other settings...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(camner @ Sep 19 2007, 01:19 AM) [snapback]514675[/snapback]</div>

I also have a 2007 that I bought in Jan. I have been finding for the last few months or so that the gas engine is coming on immediately when first starting the car - if not every time, almost every time. It actually started doing this in the warmer weather. This happens when I have absolutely no accessories on at all. No A/C, radio, nothing. When I asked dealer, they said that the computer knows when gas engine needs to come on and that this was typical when weather/battery are warm - (What THE?) I told them that the gas engine took tons longer to kick in when the weather was freezing cold - I live in NH. Also, the gas engine isn't always shutting off when I stop. It takes quite a while sitting at a light before gas engine shuts down.

Has anyone else had this problem? AND has anyone else found a dealer that knows what they're talking about and doesn't brush you off when you have a question?

debaug