Prius Plug-in 2012-15 :: Cold Weather Driving (Rattling Noises) - Gas Mileage Down
Apr 11, 2012
Today, I experienced the coldest temperatures yet on my drive to work. At one point, I saw a '24F' shown as the outside temperature (although not unusual for April in Minnesota):
Expected: My gas mileage was down a bit. I was impressed it wasn't as bad as I would have expected from our 2005 Prius, though.
I should have expected: On the last 1/2 mile or so, when driving slow on the little bit of EV left while in the forced HV mode, I accidentally accelerated too much and forced on the ICE again (it had been previously on earlier in my 22 mile commute). This time, however, it was different because it didn't shut off immediately. I think the ICE had to do a second warm up. I'll have to watch that more closely next time (darn that cold weather)!
View 5 Replies
Advertisement
My Camry Hybrid XLE has been at the dealership for a total of 26 days and 3 unsuccessful repair attempts relating to my dash that constantly creaks and makes cracking noises during cold weather. The shop foreman at the dealership also has not had a single camry (besides mine) come back for a noisy dash. The lemon law in my state kicks in at 30 days in the shop and/or four unsuccessful repairs and the dealer is well aware of this. I currently have the car and am waiting for a 'field technical specialist' to show up to take a look. I was told he/she comes comes 'once a month' but offered no more details than that. I noticed on this forum that some dealerships can call the specialist whenever and have them show up. Apparently mine only comes once a month... My luck will be that it will be too warm the day the specialist shows up and they will not be able to reproduce the issue!
View 14 Replies
My Plugin is only about 4 months old, but the EV mileage range is now down to 9.8 from 12.4 from the first very first day I charged it overnight. This with HVAC and fan off.
View 19 Replies
My 2004 has 132K miles and still running great. We now have a PIP standard model as well. I can't find a screen that tells what the overall mileage per tank is. Does it exist on this car?
View 19 Replies
I was driving up a hill today at about 30 mph with .9 miles remaining showing on my EV battery meter when all of a sudden it drops to 0 EV miles remaining and shows only 2 of the battery level bars (which is very very low), and the engine of course turns on. What happened?
I promise I did not push the EV power bar over its threshold. I monitor that like a hawk. I also know for a fact that it jumped from .9 to 0, because I watch that part like a hawk. This part of the trip is near the end of my drive home and I've done it about 50 times so far with no issues. With .9 miles left at that point on the hill I have always been able to make it to my driveway with .4 or .5 remaining, so this is very odd.
View 4 Replies
Brand new 2014 Prius Plug in. I am getting about 45 mpg on a 14-mile all-city trip and 46 mpg on a 30-mile mixed hwy/city trip. The mpg numbers are from the information display when the car were turned off.
Is that normal? I thought it's supposed to be about 50 mpg. Btw, ECO mode was enabled.
View 8 Replies
When the gas tank is full, it makes an audible sloshing noise when coming to a stop or going into a parking lot ramp. For a few days, I thought that something was loose in the rear suspension or trunk, then realized it was the fluid in the gas tank. Of course, I generally notice it only when the radio is off or low and I'm performing the above tasks and the ICE isn't running.
View 19 Replies
My son got this for his '05 Prius, and I plugged it into my PiP for awhile. I am learning to brake more slowly and accelerate more gradually, but the mileage is obviously way off. That seems to be about all it's good for, unless a check engine light comes on.
View 10 Replies
I just took advantage of incentives and traded in my 2012 PiP for a 2015. In hilly San Francisco I'm accustomed to between 8 and 9 all-electric miles per full charge. Today was the new PiP's maiden voyage--a six-mile trip that in the old car would leave me with 2.1 to 2.3 EV miles remaining (per the readout.) But the new car actually ran out of electric power just before the trip's conclusion.
View 15 Replies
While driving in EV mode I noticed my remaining estimated gas mileage drops. I watch the dash and the EV is constantly light and it doesn't appear the the ICE is coming on. Is this normal?
View 1 Replies
I'm just curious...if somebody drives a PHV Prius like a regular Prius (not using the 13 mile pure EV mode range), could they theoretically get better gas mileage by staying in the electric part of the hybrid system indicator?
View 19 Replies
I have a vague memory that the PiP will start its petrol engine every XXX miles just for a maintenance warm up if it has not been used for that mileage. An engine start will reset that mileage back to zero and start recounting its EV miles until that limit is reached again. What is that limit?
View 19 Replies
I am experiencing a buzzing rattle coming from the left corner of the dashboard in the area near the horizontal speaker. It's not loud but it's annoying. It only happens when the car is moving. It doesnt seem to be affected by the audio system being powered on or off. The best thing I can think of to describe it the sound a Geiger counter makes, but not as loud.
View 17 Replies
With the colder weather in the NE, I am experiencing lower mpg with the ES 300h. We have had several cold days here, and my mpg seems to be going down. My driving habits have not changed.
View 5 Replies
So I noticed that there is a type of whining sound coming from the ICE side whenever the temperature is below ~55F. This only happens from a cold start and only when I'm accelerating (pressing the gas pedal) and always go away after the engine warms up.
View 7 Replies
The colder it gets, the stiffer the cable of the EVSE gets.
Harder to coil and uncoil.
The last 2 days I put it on the front seat to keep warm.
I may have to turn on the seat heater !
View 6 Replies
With the mornings getting colder now, I'm wondering if I should try to start driving using ICE so the engine is warm when I have to accelerate quickly when merging with fast traffic.
View 14 Replies
PIP does not charge the plug in battery while driving....
View 19 Replies
I had my brand new plug in prius for 6 whole days before my house was hit by lightening, while the car was charging. The car has been in the shop for 3 weeks since that has happened and they eventually replaced the "electric vehicle recharge unit". But it still doesn't seem right to me. one of the things that is happening is that the EV switch is not operating while I'm driving.
For instance: I'm driving locally on EV and then get on the highway and when I get to the point that the engine kicks on, I hit the EV switch to turn it off and move to hybrid mode. However, even though the EV light is off, the battery continues to discharge and will eventually completely discharge. To prevent this I do a number of maneuvers like hit the brakes repeatedly or hit every button the dash (EV, ECO) until it stops!
This cannot be normal but then again I only drove the car for 6 days before lightening struck. It also happens the other way. If I'm driving on the highway and get off and then hit the EV switch to turn the electric back on, the electric motor doesn't kick in.Am I imagining this? Is there some fancy way to switch EV and back on the fly?
View 19 Replies
From my understanding, there are 3 batteries in the PIP. 2 of them are for EV mode, and 1 is for Hybrid mode. they are all hooked up together and also the electric motor when it is fully charged. when the first pack (ev pack) get's depleted, it will disconnect via relays from the remaining 2 packs. then when the second pack is depleted (second EV pack) it will discontinue from the last remaining pack. below is a small simple diagram of what it looks like:
Fully charged: (EV1)-----(EV2)-----(HYBRID)-----[motor]
1st pack depleted. still in EV mode: (EV1)---x---(EV2)-----(HYBRID)-----[motor]
both EV packs depleted and in HYBRID mode: (EV1)---x---(EV2)---x---(HYBRID)----[motor]
(x = disconnected)
View 4 Replies
If I'm driving around town and have to accelerate to merge with traffic, the ICE will come on even though I'm in EV mode. I understand why that would/should happen. But why does it stay on for so long after that? It seems like it stays on for several minutes, even if you're driving slow after the the few seconds of acceleration. And I've noticed a few times under the above circumstances that the ICE is clearly on (I can feel it's on) but the dashboard indicator shows it is off. What gives?
View 19 Replies
