Most Obscure Prius Facts (Way out there)

Okay, I don't know if this is true of ALL Prii, but I've just spent 4 weeks trying to reset the Average MPG reading, and on my 2009 Touring you MUST BE IN PARK before the MPGs will reset. The mileage and odometer readings will reset if you are driving along, but NOT the MPGs!

Oh My GOSH, am I glad I finally figured that out!!! :dance:

Have a great weekend, all!
=o)

 

This seems to be really obscure.

If you have a problem with the A/C blowing warm air (i.e. not cooling at all or not cooling enough), try this to find out if the car is throwing any error codes.

For Gen 2:​

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{Gen 2} HVAC DTC check. With your left hand -- thumb and pinkie, hold down the Auto and recirculate buttons on the steering wheel. Then, foot on the brake, turn the Power On (Ready). Things will start flashing, then you will hear a beep as the MFD switches to the climate control screen. If you have a DTC, it will flash in the top right corner of the screen. 21 is the most common, for the solar sensor, and is normal, especially in sun-less OR. Other codes could indicate the source of problem.​

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Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/2006-prius-a-c-not-cooling.115010/page-2#ixzz27ux1BHJs​

 

The Earth is an oblate spheroid, not round and not a circle.

 

I know this post is older than Abraham, but I have to jump in.

My brother managed to put his Ford in reverse at ~50mph. That thing was, iirc, from the mid '90s.

He aimed for the neutral to save gas while on the exitramp of the freeway...
Yes I know and have since told him that the injectors stop injecting when coasting, so you are using LESS gas when freewheeling in gear then in neutral.
I think it was an econoliner F150 7.2liter diesel former Dutch Ambulance, but I might have some of the details wrong. They are imported from the US just to be converted to ambulances, so I am pretty sure the US versions will be exaclty the same.

Fact: you cannot 'start' the Prius with an external battery capable of feeding 1A. I plan on finding out just how much net current IS needed, but as long as you will have the (dead...) 12V battery as an unknown and variable load for an external battery trying to get the ECU up and running, even knowing this number means pretty much nothing. Still curious enough to find out at some point though

 

Don't know if this has been listed yet, but the donut spare does not have the same type of design where the lug nuts bolt the donut on as the standard factory wheel has. The donut spare's holes have a tapered hole, whereas the the standard wheel has flat bottom holes. The lug nuts do not bind on the donut properly since they are flat instead of being tapered. I don't know what the engineer's were thinking when they did this, but it doesn't sound like a good idea imo.

 

For those of you wondering about the excessive beeping when reversing it was initially designed on purpose in response to some earlier customers backing into things, not realising the vehicle was both turned on, and in gear (reverse).

Considering that when reversing you are using electric power only, it is silent and no engine started (unless engine is started purely for charging purposes due to low battery).

My understanding at least.

 

I regularly try to put it into drive from reverse and do it too quickly so it stays in reverse. Without the beep, I would hit other objects (even more frequently... recently hit a gate with my newly installed trailerhitch because I wasn't used to it...)

Moral of the story: I'm not disabling it.

 

The Prius prismatic battery module has very similar specifications to a lot of Radio Controlled Car batteries "(RC)",

7.2 volts, able to provide 20-30 amps in short bursts.....

 

Took me a while to recognise it. I thought at first I was looking at a Mars-rover type thinghy with 6 small solarpanels on top. Me, as a self-appointed solarpanel specialist, thought: the solarpanels won't do much with the cables running over them...

Then I tried/looked a little harder to find the module, and lo and behold, the 'solarpanels' ARE the battery

My daughter's bike had 20 NiCd 5Ah D-cells that I upgraded to 20 NiMH 10Ah D-cells (from another old bicycle batterypack), but one cell is probably faulty again. So I considered the Prius blocks, but the cell-count won't match

So now I am ripping apart 30 laptop batteries I bought for 25$ and charging and testing all 18650 cells individually. Hopefully I can make a decent pack out of them (and obviously buy a dedicted charger for this battery).


Electrical bicycles are all the rage here now. It started with old folk, but now all ages drive them. (They are 250W max and cannot drive electrically unless you apply force to the pedals as well. Electrical support stops completely at 25km/h (~15mph). We have higher powered ones, but they require a helmet and insurance).

 

Here are some more useless prius factoids:
1) BORN- IN THE USA (brakes).
Toyota is like any large corporation, it does some things because "that's the way it has always been done" and would cost too much to change. So I assume this standard is left over from US influence on Japan's industries back in the 1950's. The US spec Prius rear drum brakes (almost the same as Corolla) use 3/4 inch wheel cylinders - not "metric".

2) Born- in the USA (PCV).
About 20 years ago Toyota transitioned most all their PCV valve designs from a "snap in" valve in a rubber grommet to a "screw in" threaded valve. What's interesting is that while some manufacturers used straight metric thread with a sealing washer, Toyota chose a different design. They went with a 3/8 inch (18 pitch) tapered National Pipe Thread - go figure.

3) Now you can see the data- now you can't.
One of the most powerful tools for diagnosing the electronic control systems on any modern car is the scantool. Being able to "talk" to the control modules, see the data inputs and commands that it sees, control certain outputs- all of this makes it possible to properly fix these technological monstrosities that we drive everyday.

So one day I was using my SnapOn scantool to check data in the engine ecu for the variable valve timing system (VVT) on my Prius. One of the best ways to know when something isn't working correctly is to study a "known good" car first. If your problem car has a particular line of data (aka a Parameter IDentification or "PID") that is different from your good car, then you know "hey, that's bad- I need to look closer at that system".
I was driving around while recording data PIDs for the VVT system. When I looked at the recording later, all the VVT stuff stayed at 0. WTH?? I tried using the actuator test to control the VVT, and then the data was good (ie it changed as commanded and wasn't always at 0), but not during normal driving. Tried my Autel scantool- same thing.??

After confirming that the VVT system is active during most all ICE operation, I tried Techstream to see at happened with that. So Techstream doesn't have any VVT PIDs on the normal data list. They only "appear" when you select the VVT test. So apparently even though the VVT system is always in use, the software engineers "turned off" the VVT data except for the test. I have no idea why.

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