Prius (2004-09) Fuel :: Dramatic Mpg Drop After Service
Mar 23, 2013
I have a 2005 Prius with 130k miles on it. In Oct 2012 I took it to the Toyota dealer for 120k service. They performed the following:
120k service
Replace serpentine belt
Clean and adjust drums
Replace cabin/hepa micro filter
Replace brake system fluid
Since then my car's mpg has dropped from ~45 to ~35mpg. I specifically notice that the pickup is completely gone and that it seems to "drag" pretty badly when starting from halt (stop sign, a light etc). Once it gets up to ~40mph, it appears to be doing all right in terms of mpg. What could be causing the "drag" and mpg drop?
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I have a 2008 prius. Usually it gets me around 52-55mpg, I've had it since January. Since a couple of days ago its not giving me anything above 49. I know thats a normal number, but considering the fact that its usually quite a bit higher I'm wondering what the cause of the drop is. Also around the same time, when I pull out of my driveway I notice what appears to be a bit of water leakage. Its under the vehicle in the front center, and it only happens when I start the car for the day and pull out of my driveway (its on an incline).
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After about 2,000 miles I'm averaging about 35.5 mpg on my Energy Savers, down from about 40 mpg on Michelin Harmony's. No change in driving habits. No change in tire pressure. Installer has checked them and doesn't see anything wrong. Balanced and aligned at installation. My 2008 is typically carries close to the maximum rated weight with passengers, dogs and/ or gear, hence the lower than average mpg. Michelin will exchange them, but doesn't consider them broken in until 5,000 miles, which I certainly won't reach within the 30 day guarantee period.
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Saw a drop in mpg from 45mpg to 34mpg. Since I was way over 200,000 miles, I began to fear traction battery failure. Toyota looked over codes, did diagnostics, etc. and found nothing. They recommended and replaced the auxiliary battery, which made no difference. I fought with them on aux. battery replacement price since their costs had gone up 50% in two years. Mine was barely out of warranty. So what happened. I replaced the iridium plugs. Mileage jumped back up to 45mpg.
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My wife and I were driving around town the other day. While merging onto the highway we hit a nail. I put the donut on and went to TiresPlus where I have gone since I started driving. I had been thinking about replacing the front tires due to wear and the nail wen in the side on the rear. Anyway I purchased 4 Firestone Affinity Touring tires and went on about my day. My wife drives 100 highway miles a day and then does some city driving. This week she has lost about 5mpg's according to the display average. Also the service light has come on. Can this all be tire related?
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I've had my 2007 Driftwood Pearl Package 2 Touring a little more than a year now. I had been getting 42-46 MPG every tank until I filled up my gas tank today.
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i've noticed on my 2008 prius that once i lose the first bar of gas i begin to rapidly lose the rest. For example the first bar might take three days to vanish but once its gone i might lose the second bar on the same day i lost the first.
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I used to get 55-58 MPG when my commute was 65 miles one way, 85% freeway. But these days I noticed that when AC runs hard and trips typically 16 miles, 40 MPH, mpg dropped to 42-45. That worried me a little bit.
Driving style: conservative. I start off normally, but I use N gear as soon as passing speed limit. (this factor alone should enhance mpg by 10 I guess. I used this technique on my 98' Lexus LS400, 4 Ltr V8 engine, once got 38 mpg on freeway, while the sticker says 18/25). This is the main reason I worry that something is wrong with my prius.
Typical range: 16 miles, all local.
Tire pressure: 40 psi
AC runs hard, outside temp 90 degrees, I set temp to 72 inside. (I guess this is the main reason for mpg drop, but I don't think it should drop that much)
I recently changed oil and trans oil.
My battery is a little bit weak, but no warning light. If I forget to turn off head lights, it needs jump in 10 minutes.
Mileage is 143K, 2004 model.
Water pump changed by Toyota free of charge.
Any clue? or it sounds normal and I don't need to worry about it?
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Right now I am seeing roughly 41 MPG and that is after changing the spark plugs with brand new NGK Iridium's, Air intake filter and did an oil change since it was due for one. I have driven the car roughly 2,500 miles since all of this stuff was done and it just seemed to continue to drop to the 41 MPG mark.
What I have noticed though is that when the motor turns off it shudders and the when it restarts while the car is in park the car will roll back and forth slightly. I have also noticed that the car seems to struggle to get up to the posted speed while climbing an incline and also while the car idles in park or at a complete stop there seems to be a bit of a miss fire. Could that be caused by a bad coil? Because I have tried everything short of taking it to the dealer which I really do not want to do again and be told there is nothing wrong with it when I know there is.
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So, my 2005 Gen II Prius went for a scheduled service on Wednesday, 70k miles, Toyota main dealer. They called and said it needed new front brake pads and disks, I was surprised but gave the go ahead. There would occasionally have been a mild squealing sound from the brakes at very low speed so I accepted the pads might need replacing, I was surprised the disks needed replacing but it hard to argue about brakes, especially as I only have the car a year (I'm the second owner and it has a full Toyota service history). It had a "major" service, new spark plugs, new front brake pads and disks.
Since collecting it I've noticed that the engine seems to kick in more often and needs higher revs. The fuel consumption seems higher, normally mid 50's MPG (imperial gallon) now 35MPG. However it hasn't been driven many miles since its been serviced so its a low distance for calculating MPG. I've also noticed that the car seems to slow more quickly without applying the brakes, a regularly driven hill that I coast down at 48kph now only gives 35kph. Also, if I drive on a flat road for a mile or 2 and coast to a stop the front brake disks feel VERY hot, way too hot to touch, drivers side more so that passenger side.
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2012 v five with 56,500 miles. Getting onto an on ramp and accelerating when car jolted and dramatic power loss. I posted a thread about my car "ticking" as I slowed down from 30mph and I am wondering if this was related. I had no choice but to drive it home and kept car under 45 mostly on side streets. Car is not assisted at all by electric motor and can barely go up hills. With windows open and attention to any unusual sound i noticed no more ticking when slowing down from 25 to zero.... I think its covered under warranty at least powertrain, hopefully. I know a few of you here have the ticking problem to so i will update if this is related after i bring it in for service.
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So yesterday, I reset my trip meter when I put on gas. I did a 7 mile drive home (no highways) MPG was around 54. This morning, my husband pulls the car from the garage to the driveway to install my name plates. When I start the car, I noticed MPG was 41. What could have caused the sudden overnight shift from 54 to 41. I only drove 3 miles to work since then so it is hovering around 42. Could the cold morning start to back up from garage did something? Could he have left the power switch on (and it shut off automatically).
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My average mileage down to 36MPG this week. is there something wrong with my car? never really went as far as 50mpg the best I got was 45mpg. my average is 40mpg.
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I turned on the car, CONS showed 56.0mpg,
backed out of the garage (about 20 feet) 55.8 mpg,
waited for the garage door to close 55.0 mpg (ICE started),
got to the end of the street (about 200 feet) 54.0 mpg
outside temp was 51F, humid, cloudy
had about 90 miles on new tank of fuel
I know you get big swings in fuel economy when you reset the trip on fill ups but I just thought it was funny that the mpg would drop 0.8 mpg while not moving.
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After oil changes (seen this 1-2 times now) on my 2009 Prius, I see a drop in mpg from 48 --> 45 or so. My driving doesn't change significantly, and I believe that the mpg slowly recovers over time.
Is there a reasonable explanation? Am I having my oil changed wrong? I usually get a 5W30 regular oil from Jiffy Lube -- nothing special. I decline the fully synthetic, because the 2009 model doesn't call for it, but would this affect the mpg?
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My 2010 prius had been giving low mpg since the last three months. It has now 145K miles.when I bought it a year ago, it had 134K on it. I haven't changed the spark plugs, do they have any effect on low mpg? My mpg is about 39 now,but was 42_45 before.
What are the symptoms for the spark plugs to be changed?
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I commuted to LA 2-3x a week. The mileage on my car is now at 90k. I have had an average of 40 mpg since new, but suddenly it began to drop. We took it to our local Toyota dealer and was told it was most likely a cable that needed to be cleaned. That was $160. It didn't work.
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I am using a 2012 Prius and I was running around 23KMpL average. For sometime I am seeing my mileage around 17 - 18 KMpL. What could be the reasons for this ?
The only change happened in between is that I had a accident which I had to replace the front buffer.
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I bought a 2010 Prius II (150,000 miles on it) about two weeks ago. In that time the car has been averaging between 41 and 43 MPG according to the computer, and I calculated 41.3 MPG at my last fill up. I am concerned about the MPGs. I bought a brand new Prius in 2012, it was a III model and '12 year. That car always got 48 highway, and 50 in the city. From what I understand, the 2010 and 2012 models have the same engine and transmission set up and the only difference may be the software.
So my questions are; why am I getting 7 to 9 MPG less than my old (newer) 2012 Prius? What to do to get better mileage, but what actually worked? My checklist of repairs include; check 12v battery, change out spark plugs, just changed air filter, check brakes, oil change (using Mobil 1 full synthetic 0w-20), what else should I check/replace/update,
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It seems that my mpg gauge always drops by at least 2 mpg when it's raining, even if one goes slower because of the rain. Why is this?
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This Easter I put summer tires on my "new" (owned about 4 weeks) prius -07, and cleaned and greased brakes.
With winter tires (almost new Nokia hakka xx, stud less) I got 4.5 l/100km (52mpg) easy and 4.2 (56mpg) at best, now I get 5.5 (42mpg) and 5.3 if I struggle, if I relax and put cruise control on I get 5.8 (40mpg). I travel 100km to work every day.
Summer tires is Michelin primacy (about 2 seasons?) pumped to 3.0/2.8 bar (over inflated).
Brakes don't seem hot after drive and they was really clean and easy to move after my service so my guess is that they work fine...
Mileage went down over the weekend so I see a clear link.
It was more fun trying to hypermile at 56mpg aiming for 60 then it is at 42 aiming for 45...
12v battery charged, just in case. Still same temperature out 1-8 C. Oil and all filters changed first week (will change trans axle oil in summer). Travel to work got 4% shorter so tire size must be a small reason to the +20% problem.
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