inverter coolant looks good brake fluid strip didn’t change colors at all I will retest brake fluid tomorrow with engine coolant test
retested brake fluid and no change on the strip. think my 16 year old brake fluid is perfect? (lol) or the test strip isnt working?
My 2004 April example reached 122,000 miles in 2023 March, when I finally had the sparkplugs changed. Cons: Inverter coolant control valve failed in 2015. Engine coolant transfer pump and A/C evaporator failed in 2018, a little beyond 100,000 miles. The brake accumulator failed in 2020, a bit too late for Toyota to help pay for its replacement. And now the fuel bladder may be acting up. And of course the traction battery will fail someday. Pros: Everything else. In six years I can buy collector license plates :_> Non-Prius pro: The Optima yellow top spiral wound battery from 2005 August is still at 11.9V resting, even after once draining it to 6.5V by leaving the cabin lights on all night. Overall: The jury's still out.
One Light-Second! 2008, purchased ~4 years ago at 120k miles for $6k. Hasn't needed anything significant other than 2(!) stolen cat converters. Original traction battery. My 2001 has 386k miles and running great, with some recent $ spent to keep it on the road and try to make it to 500k (new struts, alignment, tires, plugs, coil packs, injectors, 12v battery). That one didn't need a traction battery until 286k miles.
Just hit 157,000 on my 04 I swear it drives so much better now that it did when I got it five years ago. Started with weaker acceleration and a slightly slipping transmission at times; changed the trans fluid, oil and only fed it top tier premium gas..the thing is so rock solid it could probably go another 5-10 years with a new battery pack and continued maintenance
That's funny because in a Prius the last thing you ever need to do is put top tier gasoline in its tank I mean go ahead if you like you might believe that stuff keeps you clean and whistle bright silver inside and all that. If you ever get to take apart your fuel system and look at any of it you'll see it's very clean even if you're running a diesel fuel and a diesel system The fuel system is generally quite clean I mean fuel in itself is a cleaner per say until it's burned but that's from injectors forward so all the way up to the injectors your fuel system should be whistle silver clean internally I have tried the most expensive gas all the way down to Sheetz Blue No difference in mileage nothing and I mean nothing when my car was getting top gas mileage I was running sheets blue fuel which is just above the yellow flex fuel and I was getting rated 47.1 mi to gallon on my Gen 2. In 2020. Now I'm down around 43 miles per gallon The car still runs exactly the same with a you know a year old traction battery that was brand new from the dealer blah blah blah That's just old I'm over 300K miles of very heavy driving The car is almost never off the road can't complain dumping expensive gas in it just raises the operating cost doesn't do anything for a D tuned one NZ
Now have 2 Prius, 06 and 07 with over 100,000 miles. Was indifferent to them previously but having had 2 now, I wouldn't go with another vehicle!
. First week of next month I’m gonna do an oil change. My ’05-G2 will be passing 185,000 laps and I’m getting 58-mpg. I’m sure the gas milage will go back up over 60-mpg when I start work again next week and do more highway driving. I love the bageebies out of this car. For the 45,000 laps I’ve put on it I haven’t done any major repairs outside of replacing the front wheel bearings. I don’t think that counts as out of the ordinary given the total laps the car has. It’s so much easier to drive, it’s cheaper to operate, easier to repair and it gets 3-X’s the milage as my wife’s over-engineered 3-letter German p-i-t-a car.
Car registered 12/2008. I purchased it in 2010 with 12k miles. Its now 178k miles. Brake pads changed 3 times, discs replaced at about 150k, now on the third (maybe 4th) 12 volt battery. Slight rust showing around the front edge of the bonnet. I constantly get about 53 mpg in the winter and about 55 in the summer - I think UK gallons or miles are different to US. Toyota advisory this time last year "replace a/c radiator, replace front shock absorbers and replace water pump. Took it to a local garage and they advised the A/c gets cold so wait till it stops, change shocks if it fails the annual MOT and just do the pump. The A/c still works and the car flew through the MOT with no advisories. Catalytic convertor was stolen and insurance replaced it with non Toyota part. Engine light about 3 months later with warning about Oxygen sensor - replaced by insurance. Several months later Engine light again. Eventually replaced with Toyota CAT. I had Toyota cat lock fitted which now makes an intermittent vibration noise which they suggest is "normal". Much as I like the idea of getting a newer car, this one has been so reliable, economical, comfortable and so convenient for carrying large items from IKEA etc that Toyota do not have anything in the UK (they stopped selling Prius) that could replace it. It currently cost very little to run - road tax £20 per year, insurance about £500. In recent years I have not been doing more than about 7k miles but previously up to 16k with oil change once per year as part of the service. I like the idea of plug in hybrid but cant settle on anything. I assume the main hybrid battery will fail at some point but wonder if it might be more cost effective to just run the car on the petrol engine assuming that's possible. Would the cost of running the car in non hybrid mode be less than the cost of a replacement battery
If you really don't want to replace the battery you'll be able to drive until it completely falls on its face and then at some point the car won't like driving anymore I don't know when that point will be exactly I haven't tried to take one to that point usually I wind up putting a battery in it whether I refurbish the battery or buy a brand new one for around $1,700 that's a 10-year lasting battery generally a refurb might go two or three years apparently you might be getting out of this car soon just because of whatever reason my generation twos that I have here will last July expire I imagine and I am the same age as you 70 living in Southeastern United States USA so there's always that I'm pretty sure mine will be here probably when I'm gone and then the kids will dump them because God knows what they'll be doing electrics whatever. But as far as I'm concerned the pre is should get a pass in every state that it's in these check engine lights and all that stuff that are taking these things off the road that's pure bollocks I don't believe in any of that it's a hybrid electric vehicle leave it alone referee it through MOT and stays on the road It certainly better than driving an old Corolla as far as most of it goes in the government anyway. That's how I get a lot of mine and a lot of parts of the United States if you can't pass emissions testing you're screwed thousands of dollars worth of repairs can't drive your car can't get a sticker for your license plate You're just finished. Luckily I live in a county that dumped emissions testing so I just go around outside of my county and buy up these cars that can't pass emissions in the counties that they're registered in $700 800 usually. Good luck I hope it all works out for you buddy
You're asking about engine/inverter coolant replacements, in the States? That's 100K miles or 10 years*, then every 50K miles or 5 years thereafter. I believe the spec'd is Toyota Super Long Life Coolant (or equal), but check Owner's Manual. Note: for 3rd gen in the States, the inverter coolant replacement is delayed to 150K or 15 years, but that doesn't seem to be the case with 2nd gen. * Whichever comes first
Thanks for the follow-up. On my Prius 2007... I replaced all 3 electric pumps 1 mechanical water pump and seal/gasket 1 thermostat and gasket Water pump belt Clean and flush all the cooling system and replace with new coolant. All done at 100,000 miles and everything I used is original Toyota parts. Now I have 154,000 miles. So should I flush and replace the coolant now with new Toyota pink coolant? Thanks. CCG
I thought I'd done a L/H rear wheel brg, replaced it and it got worse ... turned out to be a tyre case failure I think there was something like 700,000km on the clock then, why do the US models go through brgs in relatively low mileages. My '06 iTech has well over 280,000km on it now, a few thousand are on a gypsy trailer behind the motorhome, so the rear wheels are always turning .... not always on the ground mind you, we have our share of goat tracks covered in bitumen as well :lol: T1 Terry
Just bought a late 2007 Prius for £2,600 with around ~135k miles. Roll on 200k! Just needs a new wheel bearing and spring on drivers side. Will put new struts on both sides on front though as preventative, and install a 1.5” lift kit while I’m there.
