The road my house is on is a steep hill. In the morning when I first start the car I have two choices. I can jump right on the hill and start climbing. Or I can drive down the hill and do a little quarter mile loop before I start climbing the steep hill. Which approach is best? Or is there a better way to handle this?
View 19 RepliesA few days ago I posted a thread about losing power on a steep hill climb with a cold engine. I replaced the hybrid battery and all seemed well. A few days later, the problem occurred again--bummer. (The car has 120K miles and has spent most of its life in a hot and mountainous environment, and I knew the hybrid battery was failing, so that's not a problem.)
The car starts the climb OK, gains a few hundred feet in elevation, still has some charge left in the hybrid battery, then loses power, surges a couple of times, then comes to stop. The engine continues to run at idle and I get no warning or check engine lights. The "ready" light stays on. This time, the second time it happened, I turned off the car, turned it back on again immediately, and all was well. The remainder of the 1000' climb went fine. As did several other similar climbs on the same drive. Since then I've climbed this hill with a cold engine without a problem, so it's intermittent.
I hesitate to pay Toyota for a code scan since the check engine light did not come on. Should I do this anyway? My local auto parts store will scan for free, but I know that their scanner will not read Toyota-specific codes, just industry standards.
So, I was in Wash. State for a while this month and rented a Prius. I decided to check some mileage on mountain roads, and here's what I got. All of these are indicated by the computer, so they are probably 5% or so high. Unfortunately, I did not see either the maximum incline or average incline of these roads posted anywhere, so unless someone else knows them, these numbers are not worth too much scientifically:
UPHILL:
Going uphill on I-90 to Snoqualmie Pass from the West (from Seattle), at 70 mph (the speed limit), fairly steady, with a few decreases for traffic and curves: 18.6 mpg.
Going uphill on US 97 to Blewitt Pass from the north at 50 mph, also the speed limit: 27 mpg.
Going uphill on the Olympic National Park road to Hurricane Ridge, speed limit varying between 35 and 25, with a couple of sections as low as 15 mph: 22.1 mpg. (Maximum incline here might have been 6 or 7 percent).
On the Hurricane Ridge road, I reset the Trip Meter A about a mile from the top (interestingly both segments of the uphill trip registered 22.1).
DOWNHILL, mostly:
The Hurricane Ridge downhill produced an interesting number, because I didn't reset the thing at the top, so I had a mile of 22.1 mpg at the beginning. You go down for about 18 miles, losing about 5200 feet of altitude to nearly sea level (Strait of Juan de Fuca). We kept driving, and at 24.7 miles (so about 6 miles of driving near sea level), the mileage gauge still showed 99.9 mpg. (I took a picture, but it's too fuzzy to put in here.) It was a couple of more miles before I noticed that the trip mpg was down to about 91.
I found recently that my 04' Prius' engine easily goes higher rev than before (based on engine sound pitch). It happens mainly when cold start, go up hill. After warmed up and on flat road, it goes back to normal. Overall, still in great condition at 211K. MPG stays at 46 on meter when temp is around 45F with 50% highway drive at 100 miles/day. I suspect the serpentine belt slippery or something. What do you think? I think the belt is original. I bought it used at 104K.
View 4 RepliesI have a 2010 GTI with 70K miles. At @ 40K the clutch began to exhibit sort of a slight sudder, and squeak when the car was fully warmed up, but only from starting from a stop on a steep uphill incline. The dealer could not duplicate the problem when routine maintainence was performed, At the 70K maintainence, they could duplicate the problem, and have told me that a new clutch from flywheel on is needed. The Diagnosis was $90 and could not have included any mechanical inspection. One of the Techs told me that there is a list of VIN's that VW apparently identified as having potential clutch issues. My thoughts are:
Even though the car is past the 60K powertrain warranty, the problem was brought to the dealers attention at @40K.
If the car is on the list, VW already knew there could be issues.
I feel that under the circumstances VW could be expected to cover 1/2 of the repair, since the car now has 70K.
Other questions if VW has no interest in working with me:
Can the flywheel be resurfaced? What would the approximate cost for labor to replace the clutch by an Independent garage? The car operates as usual, just with the one issue. I would like to have repair done fairly soon.
I have a 2013 Prius-III. I have a steep driveway, about 250 years long. At the bottom of the driveway, just before entering the roadway, a few times the vehicle shifts into Neutral. At first I thought I was hitting the shifter or a bump was causing the shift, but since it now has happened multiple times, I know it is not my touching the shifter, but I am not sure what else could cause this behavior.
View 13 RepliesI have always wondered how I should drive from a cold start.
View 19 RepliesIt seems like it takes an awfully long time for the good mileage to get going from a cold start - even when it's warm outside. The last 5 miles of my commute are great, but the first 10 miles not so much. How much effect does ambient air temperature have on this process.
View 15 RepliesYesterday I measured the mpg going uphill.
It was 22.2 MPG going Uphill 4.7 Miles from elevation 50ft to elevation 1250 ft. It is more than 50% drop in the mileage.
Do other cars ( non-prius / non-hybrid ) too drop 50% mpg going uphill ?
Why my 2010 Prius has 3 times now failed to stop when brakes were applied on a steep downhill in slight rain? Happened a year apart with no slick road and with tires both new and old. I pull up to a stop sign on a grade, apply brakes, the car slows, then there are metallic noises and the car glides 3-4 feet before stopping. I'm lucky no car or person was in front of me. Honestly not a skid at all. Service tells me I don't know about anti-lock brakes but I've driven with them on cars for many years with nothing like this.
View 2 RepliesI purchased my 2014 GX a couple of months ago and already logged in about 2K. The car has been great so far. The only thing that I'm not so used to, is a strange feeling when accelerating or going uphill (even slightly) - I can feel the engine roar(?) through the steering wheel - I can't really describe it well - it's not a vibration per se, but more like you feel the engine working harder than usual through the slight vibration of the steering wheel. This is my first V8 car - I used to have a V6 Acura MDX before, and never felt that. There is a good chance this is normal for a V8 based truck, but I wanted to get others' input.
View 9 RepliesHow does the A/C still blow cold air with the engine not running?
View 16 Repliesup. Coolant temperature was high (160 F). Car was in low speed (5-10 mph because of traffic). Battery level was high (67.8% 7 pips).
But gas engine was still running non-stop.
Checked battery temperature. It was 28 F.
Switched from recirculating to fresh air mode. The battery temp raised from 28 F to around above 32 F rather quickly. Then the gas engine stopped and car started to run on full EV mode.
Did not know the fresh air mode will have such a prominent effect on battery temp...
Will use more fresh air mode in summer when the AC is blasting.
I have not had my prius in winter yet so running the heater is new. I am noticing the engine will turn off when warned up as in summer if the heater is off. You turn the heater on and boom engine kicks on. Which of course kills my mileage and it's frustrating. Is it supposed to do this or is something wrong with my prius?
View 17 RepliesIs it normal? I tried to find a discussion about this in this forum but couldn't find anything.
When coasting over 35 mph, when the speeds reaches 35, the engine (or ICE as you prefer) is starting for a second then stops. I really don't see why it would do that.
I installed an Injen cold air intake and 2 days later, the check engine light went on. I had it reset at the dealer and next day, again. Am I stuck with this or is there a way to keep it off, other than putting back the original air box?
View 18 RepliesMy Prius is having a problem during cold start. When I bought it, the cold start was very energetic with a high rev tone then gradually regulate to a normal pace and petrol engine shuts down. But about 4 months I noticed the tone of the cold start has changed, it starts with a weak and low engine rev and delays to turn off the engine. Today it took about 10 mins to power off the engine. Got 2 months I changed my 12V battery (Bosch now), thought that these symptoms was to notify that battery is failing. But the problem is persistent despite I put new battery..
View 7 RepliesYesterday we were on a 10 hour trip and the engine was acting oddly; when braking, the engine sounded just like the engine brake, but the MPG indicated that it was consuming fuel (engine brake does not consume fuel). When braking, the engine would sound, and the MPG indicator indicates fuel consumption, it would go down to 50, with the heavier braking, like when stopping... then at a certain point it would suddenly stop
It seemed to happen most times but not always. This issue didn't happen before.
Just picked up a Toyota certified 2010 Prius III....less than a week later, the check engine light comes on. Took it right back to the dealer...in which they said its the air/fuel sensor. Toyota warranty services was closed, so they need to check tomorrow if its covered by the remaining warranty or not.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2010 with 4000. miles on it. Check engine light came on. After reading everything I went and checked my fuel cap and yes it was not on. Now the ce light is still on. What next, do I wait and worry or go to the dealer. ??
View 6 RepliesSo I had 1st rough cold start today on 2010 Prius with 72K. Wasn't too cold low 40s. The fix was to shut it down and then turn on again.
Engine sounded like it was working on 3 cylinders. It is probably ignition or perhaps valve train issue.. with ignition being prime suspect. If it happens again I'll pull and check plugs.