133k mile service ... by myself. Advice and thoughts

welcome!

check your o/m for service intervals. are you keeping up with filters and brakes?
you should probably do the egr and intake cleaning, which is not in toyota's recommendations.

 

Wash all the plastic fasteners in hot soapy water, work the mechanism, to clear out the grit.

When doing the transaxle fluid, make sure the car is roughly level: proper level at refill is achieved by refilling (with the car level) until fluid starts coming back out. Only use Toyota ATF WS, it's foolhardy IMHO to use alternatives.

How are you raising the car, with floor jacks and safety stands? If so, I'd securely chock the rear wheels (use proper, heavy rubber chocks), raise the front, support the front on safety stands, raise the rear, settle on to two more safety stands. The scissor jack locations are shite for regular safety stand cradles, unstable and prone to bend. I would recommend these points, marked in red:



For oil change, a good socket is worthwhile to get. I use Honda's standard automotive oil filter socket, it works fine. Toyota also has one.

For the coolant change, if you read your schedule carefully, it maybe the inverter coolant is ok for a while longer, 160K miles or 15 years?

 

Welcome to Prius Chat .

The coolant for both loops is the Suoer Long Life coolant (the pink stuff).

Some questions:

• Where in the great state of California are you located?
• What is your plan for raising the car up?
• Do you have a good set of wrenches?
• Have you thought about the egr circuit as the rough engine start could be related?

Keep us posted .

 

I just did all the fluids at 107k. Oil, trans, both coolant, brake, and the plugs too. Haven't had any problems with rattling on startup as long as I don't shut it off before it's warmed up. Makes it easy if you have a lift. You can drain and fill the oil and trans through holes in the splash shield. I have actually cut off my oil change door to make it easier. But the inverter coolant drain is in the transaxle and there's no hole cut so you'll either need to cut one or remove the shield. Note: removing the shield has other benefits I.E. it uncovers the radiator drain. Other things you may find extremely helpful are a scan tool such as snap on to turn on the inverter coolant pump during filling and a vacuum coolant fill tool so you can fill the engine coolant without warming it up.


iPhone ?

 

If in the east bay of the Bay Area, we occasionally do meet ups, and have one this weekend:

Possible Monthly install meets. Bay Area-Fremont

We can walk you through what you need to do.

And we have all the tools you’ll need.

 

Yes, as my wife has given permission .

Respond to the meet up thread, and I’ll send a PM out later this week for more specific details .

See you this Sunday .