I like to have heat coming out of the vent. However, in the winter, when I click for it to come out of the vent (as opposed to the floor), it turns on the A/C full blast. I then turn off the A/C and turn down the fan speed. About a minute or less, it automatically turns itself back to floor heat.
View 11 RepliesHow the rear seat vent works? When you started your car and car was moving, did you notice that vent is always blowing? OK, I just notice that my rear seat vent just keeps blowing when my car is moving. Especially, it is loud as I hear when I turn off my radio.
View 5 RepliesTemps average maybe around 10-15F in the winter so mileage won't be great. Tires are up, grill is blocked. We're getting about 42-43 on the HSI which means about 40 mpg in reality (I've checked this many times and Toyota is off by 3 mpg on average in our car). But Mike in Maine shows up with a 60+ mpg in 15F temps, and I know my fellow Alaskan, Spiderman, is getting 50+ easily. My commute is more highway than stop and go. I don't use P&G but I'm very gentle with the go pedal. I feel that I should be getting closer to 50 here, even with the temps. Is this too much to ask? Maybe it is...
View 12 RepliesTypically here in the Phoenix area the coldest it gets in the morning is mid to upper 30s for about 2-3 weeks in dec/jan for the low and 50s for the high. Half of November, Jan, Feb & March temps are around 40s for the low & upper 50s-60s high
With these temps is it worth grill blocking?...and how much of a MPG gain would I get?
So tonight I went to turn my fan on for my heat when I started my car and noticed it is will only work when it is on the highest speed (4 I think). What the issue could be?
View 10 RepliesIn my 2010, when I use the A/C, the air comes out cool and dry. When I turn the A/C off, and just run the vent, I notice a few things.
1) The air warms up (duh!)
2) The air is more humid (duh!)
3) The air has a mustier, stale smell to it.
When I just run the vent (and don't run A/C prior) I don't notice the odor, but if I then run the A/C for a bit and then run the vent, the musty/stale smell returns.
I've noticed it and tend to ignore it. My wife noticed it and pointed it out to me, and it prevents me from cycling the A/C off as the odor fills the cabin.
I did read the most recent thread on this, and while those lessons would be good if I was out of warranty, I'm about to go in for the 5k service after 2 months on the road.
View 19 RepliesToday I noticed a sound as I was driving almost like I forgot to shut a door. I believe it is coming from the vent which is located on the right side of the back seat. I'm not sure if I ever heard this before. It's been in the 90's this week.
View 3 RepliesI am driving down the road and the TPMS light starts to blink - and then stays on. I looked in the manual and it says that "When the light comes on after blinking for 1 minute: Malfunction in the tire pressure warning system." The resolution is to "Have the system checked by your Toyota dealer."
All my pressures, including the spare are how I have them set. I also made sure to re-set the TPMS button under the steering wheel to the new pressures and everything. I'll let you know what I find out. I'm kinda mad a sensor has failed though on a car that's less than one year old.
My toddler spilled an open bottle of water from her rear facing car seat on the passenger side of my brand new Prius III. From what I can make out, her car seat and the sides of the passenger seat took most of the damage. But there were a few drops of water on the spokes of the battery vent. I cleaned it up and tried peering inside the vent to see if water got in but I couldn't tell much as it was dark out. We had to drive it back home as we were 20 miles away. What should my next steps be? Should I take it to the dealer in the morning to have the battery checked out? Can I remove the vent cover and wet vac it?? What signs should I look for? Am I looking at having to replace the battery!
View 15 RepliesI purchased a brand new 2013 Prius 2 last October and I'm loving it so far.
However, I notice that even if it's slightly warm outside, and I have my cabin temp set at a higher temperature than outside, the vent blows cooler air.
For example, the other day it was 65F outside. Since it was warmer than usual, I turned down the cabin temperature to 65F as well. It was nice and cool, but a little TOO cold. So I turned it up to 70F. It was still blowing cold air. I had to turn it up to 72F before it was warm enough to feel comfortable.
I sat in the back of my recently purchased 2011 Prius Three, not III, for the first time yesterday. I learned from this forum that the vent in the rear seat is to keep the hybrid battery cooled. However, while sitting the back during a ride, I noticed it was blowing air out instead of sucking air. I would think the vent should be sucking air from the cabin to keep it cool, but that does not seem to be the case here. After a 30 minute drive, I even felt the air coming out of it was warm and the A/C began to feel that it was not enough for my area in the back of the car.
View 16 RepliesA few weeks ago I started to notice that the battery vent fan was turning on way more than usual. I've had the car now for five years (34K miles) and I've only heard the fan go on a handful of times, even in the hot Las Vegas summers. Once I really started to pay attention to it I noticed the noise only started once I hit about 30-35 mph and got louder as I went faster. As I slowed down, the noise would get quieter and eventually stop as the car came to a stop.
This week I caved and brought the car in to the dealer to get checked out and they did an inspection of the vent, fan and did a complete diagnostic on the hybrid system and batteries. I was worried about damage to the traction battery if the vent fan was malfunctioning or clogged. I'm out of warranty with no extended coverage so I was pretty shocked that the dealer didn't charge me a dime to do the tests. All the tests came back clean and they said all the systems tested above average and that the fan was operating normally so I shouldn't worry about it.
But the noise still persists and it's starting to drive me a little batty. It has never made this much noise before. Is there something else that could be going on that the dealer missed? Maybe the noise I'm hearing is something else and it only sounds like it's coming from that area?
I have a uk 2010 t4. The air con only works on the passenger left and centre left. From the RHS vents its just unrefrigerated. Ie -7c on the left vents and 0 ish in the right vents.
So when you start the car on a warm day you end up with actually hot air on the RHS and cold on the left (!)
I have a 2012 Prius hatchback. For the last 3 years the satellite works just fine however for some reason about a month ago it just stopped finding a signal? The FM and AM radio load just fine (even though the signal typically stinks) but when I go to a Sirius channel it just says "loading" and I never get a signal. I called Sirius they did all kinds of test signals over the air but could not find an issue. They told me I should go to the dealer..
View 2 RepliesWe have a 2010 Prius, and I can't remember if AUTO just works on AC. or is suppose to work for controlling heat also. (Doesn't seem to) Nothing in book, and search turns up nothing.
View 19 RepliesMy air conditioner is giving me problems. For some reason, when I drive around town taking short trips, my AC refuses to cool the car down. I've also noticed the "outside temperature" gauge displayed in the cluster shows the temperature about 20 degrees hotter than it actually is.
I noticed today while driving on the highway, once I hit 45mph or so, the cool air really started to come through. I've looked at it with a non-Toyota tech after driving around for about an hour, and when we're sitting and idling the low pressure pipe doesn't seem to get cool. After my ride today, I popped the hood when I stopped to check, and it was cool to touch, but not cold as I've felt on other cars.
We also checked the pressure within the system, and it's right on the money (so he says). What could be causing this? I know my AC has never really been as fast as other cars given I keep it in eco mode, but it literally blows warm air until I start going an an accelerated speed.
I am new to the Prius experience as I just bought by 2013 Prius 3 last week. I have a question on the EV mode and how it works when I am in normal drive.
This is something I observed when I am driving and I wanted to check whether it's normal.
When I am accelerating, vehicle is in EV mode and the progress bar is green. As soon as it pass the separator in the hybrid indicator (it turns white), the EV mode light turns off. When I hit the brakes, speed goes down with the acceleration and the progress bar goes back towards the green side. However my EV mode light does not turn on until I go way too close to the charging section of the bar. Once it's enabled, it stays in EV mode (green) until I pass the separator again.
We also noticed when depressing the horn to actuate it in the straight position, there is hardly any movement. When in a rotated position, there is a definite actuating movement or depression of the horn. There something happening when it's a straight position, the horn is being prevented from making contact so the horn will work.
View 5 RepliesI am wondering how does the jump start works on the Prius since it uses a electric motor to start the engine but not a conventional starter.I recently drained the 12V battery (left the interior lights on for two days) and had to take the battery out from the trunk to recharge it. Initially, I tried to jump start it at the specific jump port at the front of the car but it didn't have any effect at all. By that, I mean as if there was no external power source given to the Prius - i.e., no lights came on and no response when pressing the Start button.
I mean zero electric current at the Prius. Is the electronic starter motor power driven by the hybrid battery? If that is the case, it may explain why jump start didn't work in my case because it only passes the power to the 12V battery which doesn't drive the electric starter motor. So what good is the jump start for if it doesn't work like a conventional car? How this process works on Prius?
For those of you regular Gen3 (non PiP) that average in the low to mid 60's for MPG during the warmer months of the year....what do you average in the winter for mpg? And what is your yearly average?
View 19 Replies