I bought my 2011 about 3 weeks ago with just under 130k on it. Thanks to the wisdom here, I’ve successfully changed the oil, both coolants, transmission fluid, front brake pads, spark plugs, lubed the brake caliper pins, cleaned the egr valve/cooler/intake manifold, replaced the PCV, and installed an oil catch can. Genuinely could not have done all that without tons of Priuschat reading & research. It’s been running great around town, but tomorrow through Saturday I’m making the drive from St. Louis to Maine. Really looking forward to seeing how it handles those highway miles.
Almost forgot…I also installed a new Android head unit…spent 30 minutes this afternoon getting Torque pro set up. So nice to be able to see all that info all that on my head unit!
A DIY success story! Pathetic that so much of OP’s laundry list is not even acknowledged by Toyota, but that’s how it is now.
if this was a list provided by Toyota for prospective prius owners, how many will actually buy a used Prius? Or any other used car with that list?
Hello from Cleveland, Ohio. A simple 9 hour drive today. The car handled beautifully. The day I bought this car, I had a ~100mile drive home. With just me and no cargo, it averaged 39 mpg that day. After all my maintenance work, today’s drive averaged 47.5mpg while hauling a few hundred pounds of gear and 2 adult humans. I understand this is just one data point, but I’m convinced!
I’m sure you can find this on Aliexpress, but I grabbed the Amazon option for carefree returns just in case.
Now in upstate New York, almost to Vermont. Took maybe 25 gallons of gas to get here from STL? This is awesome. When I got off the Interstate and started driving on winding county roads through mountain towns, I switched over to PWR mode. Way easier to get up to speed going uphill…and with P&G I’m still hitting 44mpg.
Here you go: Nutz About Bolts Prius Maintenance Videos | PriusChat Nutz About Bolts great videos about those.
Exactly! The Nutzaboutbolts youtube videos were my main source. I did the oil change, transmission fluid & coolant all the same day while I had the splash guard off the bottom of the car. Then spark plugs and EGR cleaning with the wipers and cowling removed. Finally I cleaned the intake manifold - easy enough to replace the PCV and install the oil catch can while that’s off.
Made it to Maine. I’m getting better…technique combined with slightly slower speeds (65-70mph) meant today’s ~300 miles through the mountains in Vermont & New Hampshire averaged 51.4mpg. Now to unplug for a week by the ocean.
