299,999+ Mile Club

I think he has included fuel, maintenance and repairs in the 17 cents a mile.

SO clueless are the people who think that Prius does not save money compared to other cars.

 

The fuel alone is 8 pennies/mile, at $4/gal. Even at $3.25 average, that's 6.5 pennies. Add 6 pennies for depreciation, only 5.5 pennies per mile for tire, oil, filter change. That's $265 per year. He may have to buy used tire, recycle engine oil?

 

His original post talking about cost per mile was at 299,999+ Mile Club | Page 33 | PriusChat but it boiled down to this:

 

Our '04 Prius has about 155k miles, and thus far has cost right about one (1) penny/mile for maintenance/repairs, or about $15/month.
Here is it's log.

IIRC, half the cost has been tyres LOL

 

Did you change the 12V battery? It is not shown on the log.

 

It is there, labeled '12v' on 3/15/2009
I checked it's health by multimeter about 6 months ago. Still going strong.

 

That's impressive!
I also reached 1 penny/mile maintenance cost on my 2004 from 106K to 187K period (bought used). I saved a little more by used tire and refurbished 12V battery, but my car burns oil 1qt/1500 miles now, and oil cost is a sizable portion.

 

Sorry to hear about the oil consumption. Any chance a cheap PCV replacement might help ?

I have seen Prius engines for sale as low as $600 on Ebay, although I have no idea what is involved in replacement as a DIY or paid job. I also do not know the cost of new seals or valves (I presume the common problems, similar to regular ICE cars) since it has never come up on PC discussion to my knowledge.

By the way, my log includes repairs in addition to maintenance.

 

I will check it out the PCV and replace it, although I don't know what's the relationship with oil burning.
I am not considering engine replacement for now. Burning oil is a little hassle (have to monitor and add frequently), but not something that affects daily driving. I have not tried high mileage oil but I will, once my oil stock is used up.

 

Yep, mirrors my story except for the oil changes. He is somehow paying ~ $80 each time, or has a much more frequent interval than 10k miles.

 

I have seen not-high-quality oil given away for free. It is probably good enough to use as an ongoing addition of a quart every 1500 miles. If the oil was exiting my tailpipe as pollution I'd feel obliged to do something about it, but if it just getting burned along with the petrol, I'd keep chugging along with an extras qt in the car

 

got a new code on the battery, it says block 13 can become weak.
ive been driving with scanner and when the code hits, i clear out instantly to keep from going into limp mode and isolating the battery.

i got battery out last night and have it apart this morning. the cell blocks are testing around 15.30 on average. i tested individual cells and they all read about 7.65

im curious if anyone knows which exactly is block 13? is it closer to the pc/relays or on the other side of the battery?

i got 3 batteries for replacements/spare

 

3 HV batteries for backup? Are you so optimistic that you want to run to 1 million miles?

 

Pcv isn't going to help if you're burning oil. If you have a leak, an increase in crankcase pressure could make the leak worse. Do you notice blue smoke coming out of the exhaust while your driving? If so you're burning it and that's an internal problem. If it is valve seals then an oil like max life might help. If it is rings then a rebuild would be the only permanent solution.

If you're not burning it, you're leaking it. Comman culprits are the rear main seal or the valve cover gasket.

 

no, but would like to keep it running for 6-12 months til i can get 3rd gen battery set. also when i say 3 i meant modules/subpacks

 

replaced block 13 closest to pc/relay of battery pack, drove a few times on sunday with no problems

 

I drive a cab for a company that has 600 Prius. I have driven many cars that are at 299,999 and up. I must say they are still quite impressive. Some of them still run like new.

 

This is awesome, especially in AZ where they take a lot of heat abuse.

 

Passed 531,000 today.