Just bought used 2001 Prius. Here are my initial questions salvo...

First of all, welcome to Priuschat, I think you'll find the community here pretty helpful and supportive.

As far as culling posts for info related to NHW11 (your car) vs NHW20 (my car), it shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Most things regarding engine and service and the like actually apply to both. And if you see a post that seems critically important for you to know which model it applies to but it's not clear from the posts, just ask and people will tell you.

I'll give some nudges, not really answers to your questions:
1. I don't really know what you're talking about... also the keys in your car are probably different than mine.

2. There's lots you can do. There are large threads devoted to this topic, and lots of help to be found. Here's a good place to start. In regard to your specific question, slow motor-only starts are actually bad for MPGs. Accelerate at a moderate rate (some say ~1/3 throttle) and then once you're a little over your target speed, release the go-pedal and reapply slight pressure to hit a "glide" state (easier to achieve after warmup, or ~5 minutes of driving).

3. That's sort of a religious question. Some here really advocate getting indy shops in on the hybrid diagnostic and repair scene, but I still feel like my car would be a guinea pig, so I'd prefer to take it in to a dealer for anything I can't do myself. I also happen to like my dealership though, and you may not be so lucky.

4. I'm too much of a nervous-nelly to make a mod like that to my car, so I don't have the info for you. Searches will help, and I think you're talking about something like the "hymotion" PHEV kit.

5. Lots of people sacrifice a little FE for traction, esp. if they live in snowy climates. Sort of up to you, but you can look for tires with low rolling resistance numbers.

6. Some of the technuts around here recommend replacing transmission fluid at 60k miles, and just for peace of mind I'd do that. I have about 23k miles on mine and have only done oil changes and tire rotations. I had the dealer look it over at 15k+ and they didn't have a single thing to recommend. I mean, most dealers would come up with something for you to pay for!

Other tips? Enjoy the car, and your inherited early-adopter status

 

I think you can get master key blanks from coastaletech.com for something like $17. There are two things you need to do to the blank:

1. It needs to be physically cut to fit the physical locks. Any lock shop should be able to do that, but I have a feeling if they do it by copying the cut of your valet key, you'll just wind up with another valet key. The dealer or certain lock shops can probably cut it properly by knowing your VIN.

2. The radio signature of the new key needs to be registered on the list of keys the car will start for. You can do this yourself with a sort of comical sequence of timed door openings/closings and key twists (if your neighbors can see this, they'll think you've gone round the bend). The details are in the repair manual volume 2, pages BE-106 and 107, and I think they're also on the coastal web site.

You can make the car register your new key on one of two lists: "master" keys and "sub" keys. This is different from the master/valet physical cut: you can cut a key as a master or valet, and you can register it as either a master or sub, it doesn't matter. The physical cut only determines whether it works in the trunk.
The registration only determines whether you can use that key to register other keys.

See, the little registration dance I mentioned up there only works if you start with a key that's already on the 'master' list. You can register a key on the 'sub' list and lend it to somebody, and they won't be able to use it to register some other key they've got in their pocket.

But this means you might have a problem. We don't know whether the valet key that you have is on the car's 'master' or 'sub' list. If it's on the master list, no worries, you can buy more keys and use it to register them (either as masters or subs).

But if the only key you've got is on the sub list, you're kind of up a creek. You won't be able to use it to register any spares, and if you ever lose it, you'll be really up a creek.

So you'll want to find out pretty soon which way the key you have is registered with the car. You can do that by just trying to do any of the registration functions with it. If you can't, it's registered as a sub, and you have a problem.

The first function you might want to try is the one for "delete everything on both lists except for this one key." That gives you a good fresh start and you know there won't be any old keys floating around that can be used to start your car. And if that works you can get some new keys and register them as masters or subs as you prefer.

If it doesn't work ... you said you only "so far" received this key. You'll want to try very hard to get the others. If you can't, you'll be unable to register any spares, or recover from loss of your key, without replacing the entire tran$$$ponder ECU in the dash.

By the way, you've got similar functions for registering remote-unlock fobs too, and again you can tell it to forget any registered fobs other than the ones you've got.

If you live where there's a cold season (even a mild one), adding the engine block heater supposedly gives you a good boost on that crummy first-five-minutes mileage, if you've got a convenient place to plug in for just an hour or two before starting. (The people who've analyzed it report the electrical cost is small compared to the gas saved. I can't say from experience because I've bought the EBH but not put it in yet.)

-Chap

 

I am in the same boat as you. One key only and it's a valet key.
Let me put this as delicately as I can.. Don't lose the key.
To encode a new master key you need to replace the transponder key ecu.
That is a 600.00 part according to one of the dealers(stealers) in my area.
Add to that a 40.00 master key and 2 hours of labor. You get the drift. Toyota was at one time paying for the ecu but doesn't any more, again according to my dealer. I don't mind the labor and the key but I will NOT pay for the ecu out of pocket. It was Toyotas wish for a more secure system but I won't pay for it. It was mostly to satisfy the insurance companies anyway. Here in New Mexico the car thieves steal cars by pulling them into a trailer.
So much for the expensive immobiliser system.

 

Fthorn, find out if any other 'special work' was done, beyod what you've mentioned. On my mind are SSC 40G battery resealing, new cranshaft position sensor, and TSB EG011-03. There are a couple of others that might also show up.

Enough warnings about losing the one-and-only key.

Your highway shudder makes me want to confirm first that the tires are well balanced. How does the tread on them look, also?

A competent Toyota shop is the best place for transaxle fluid and coolant changes, unless your independent shop knows hybrids, or you want to skill up for DIY. The routine maintenance (engine oil, filters, brake and suspension inspections) are just like other modern front wheel drive cars. Those skills are commonly found.

In your rading here you will find that some people like periodic transaxle fluid changes (count me among them). But there is no flushing.

The EV plug-in switch does on apply to 2001-2003 Prius.

'Nuff for now.

 

1st thing have the shuddering at 55mph checked out, a steering rack replaced at 80K sounds fishy to me...

2nd thing, when buying a used car, maybe you should flush and change all possible fluids...just to make sure all has been done, and of course whatever the 80K service consist of, besides all the fluids changed
maybe air filter, cabin filter (if applies), spark plugs, clean injectors, etc. etc.

 

Kandy, prius steering assist depended on the readings from a couple of potentiometers (variable resistors). The original version design was not without its problems. Your '08 is in the clear, being the 4th year of Hall effect sensors instead.

 

^thanx for the heads up^