Ok I read about replacing a bad or ailing 12v battery (mine was original - 2007 - and resting at 10.1v) and an increase in mpg's. But I didnt expect this kind of increase!
I bought the car 9-14-12 and had been driving it very hypermilishly...lol...and getting 48mpg average.
What kind of mpg increase one would see if they were to increase the tire pressures from recommended (35 F/33 R psi) to max (44 F/ 42 R). Any stats of tracked?
View 1 RepliesSo, 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.
Is it ok to shift into neutral when the car is moving?
View 19 RepliesSince I got Prius I've noticed that driving at 50mph returns 80+mpg , 90+mpg if I let it gently glide at -1mph per 1 mile. As it gradually slows down, the mileage starts to decrease. By the time I get down to 45 mph the mileage shows around 70mpg,
I get down to 40mph, I'm only getting 50mpg. When I keep my speed between 40 and 45 I get about 52-55 mpg for the day. If I keep my speed between 45 and 50, I get 55-60mpg for the day.
I have the 2010 prius V with the 17in tires. I love the rims on them Vs the hubcaps on the other models.
HOwever I have read that it is hard to hypermile with the 17in rims. SO I was trying to figure out what I can do to raise that MPG up there. I have noticed that my prius does not glide well.
I have 2LBs more air in the tires then it says on the side. mine say 60LB so i have 62.
My only thought is to running Amsoil 0w30 oil and amsoil synthetic tranny fluid. I know on a regular gas car you can up your MPG at least 2 MPG or more.
Wondering what could cause an increase in fuel economy. My GTI has been running at 29 +/- MPG since the day I bought it, but no higher than 30. I took it out for a ride on Sunday after I changed the front brakes Saturday. The dash tells me it's running at 34. So I filled it up and manually clocked it on a 50 mile trip. I refilled at the exact same pump - just to remove any error. And what I calculated is that the computer is right.
There is no loss of power. However, I've been fighting intermittent misfires on cyl #1 and #2. the misfire on #1 has all but gone away after finding out the coil wasn't sitting right and the spark had loosened up. I've tracked #2 down to either the injector or carbon. I'll be taking care of that next weekend.
Winter is over and summer is here. Will running with the AWD module unplugged increase fuel mileage? Will it do any harm to the drivetrain? (Assume matched tires, good alignment and suspension).
Signed, Looking to squeeze a buck anyway I can.
I was wondering if one would experience increased fuel mileage &/or power with the 5.0 by using unleaded premium gas, and if so, how much? I know this is true w/ the 6.2L in the F-250, and was wondering if the same applied to the 5.0?
View 14 RepliesWhen the shaded area is in the battery half of the ECO bar I would expect to have the mpg be 100. It sometimes shows only 25 mpg. Just purchased a 2010 and learning how to get the best mileage possible.
View 8 RepliesI have a 2005 Prius that I purchased in 2010 as the second owner. When I first got it, I would average 50-65 MPG depending on city vs. interstate (per trip computer). After about a year, I was usually in the 40's. However, in the past 6 months or so, the MPG has dipped drastically. Based on the trip computer, I average about 30 MPG on the interstate and 15-20 MPG in the city. I have read that often times, a dip in MPG signals a need to change the 12V. I tested the 12V, and it's usually around 12.4V after sitting unused for 12+ hours.
More info: -The poor MPG is consistent whether it's 95, 65, or 35 degrees outside.
-Flat terrain (Washington, DC)
-Usually shorter trips of about 20-25 minutes.
-75% city, 25% highway. Highway driving is pretty smooth, little traffic, average of 55 MPH. City driving is incredibly stop and go due to traffic, constant stop signs and red lights, etc., with probably an average of 15 MPH when I'm actually driving.
-No overfilled oil.
-Had an alignment maybe 8 months ago - nothing unusual about the drive or tire wear.
-Goodyear Viva 2 Tire P185/65R15, maybe 15k miles put on them. Tire pressure unknown at the moment.
-I drive like a grandma in D mode.
-I don't warm up the ICE.
-HVAC is off.
-In terms of whether any significant changes occurred around time I noticed the drop: none. I was living in Florida at the time, doing a highway commute of about 2 hours roundtrip every day with a small bit of city driving when the mileage drop occurred. I have since relocated to DC, and the problem is the same.
I've been using the EV mode - the EV portion of the curve without pushing the EV button - to run around town and to maintain speed once I've accelerated to traffic speed. It really boosts the mpg numbers and I'm able to get 55-60mpg on my 47mi. Roundtrip mostly highway commutes (hills included). Without the running in EV it's probably 42-48mpg.
View 8 RepliesHave not purchased a Prius yet as I have a TDI awaiting results of the lawsuit. I am wondering over the last week or so, Vegas has been really hot. Just wondering how the new battery and the MPG is holding up in the Vegas heat.
View 19 RepliesA friend of mine has a 2005 Prius, and was asking what his mileage would be when the hybrid battery dies. He has about 131k miles on it, and the battery dies out very quick right now. I told him that with a 1.5L engine, he should get at least 40mpg with the hybrid battery being dead.
View 19 RepliesI've been driving a bit different to try and get some more mpg. I will pulse up to about 45 then let off till ev kicks in and keep the bar right at the verge of going into ice. I can usually cruise at 40 mpg doing this on flat roads while only using the battery. Although if I'm able to do this ev mode for a long distance my battery runs down then the ice kicks in even with the bar below the ice line.
I'm still only getting 50-51 indicated mpg this way but much better than the 42mpg I got just driving it... My route has some hill and my tires are no lrr so I'm think that's has some to do with my low mpg.
Question is does driving 40 mph in ev mode till battery runs dead then recharge with ice just to run battery down again coasting with ev do any harm to the battery?
So my wife's MPG has gone down from mid- to high-40s to barely 40. We've taken it to the dealer and they run a check and said there was nothing wrong, adding that if there was something wrong with the battery I'd get a warning light, anyway.
So, took her car to get some gas for it and coffee for me, Battery meters was about 75% full when I took off. About a half mile later I noticed it had dropped to 40 percent. At that point I filled it up.
When I started it up, I noticed it was now in the purple range. It stayed that way until I got home (after stopping for coffee, too).
Total trip is only about 1.5 miles.
This has been a fairly typical scenario lately, but this was certainly more extreme.
So I think there is something wrong with the way the batteries are charged or the batteries themselves. Toyota disagrees .
I have a 2005 Prius recently replaced the hybrid battery. Not so happy with it, my mpg b4 was 49-51 mpg, now I only get 40-45 mpg. I notice the car is a little weaker and the ICE rev higher everytime I accelerate.
View 5 RepliesI got my car about 2 month ago, and i started to understand how she is working ( how the hybrid cars works in general ), in my daily trip, there is about 5 mile flat road, sometimes when I reach this road SOC shows 3 bars only and its not enough for EV that 5 miles road, but if the battery have more than 6 bars i think it will do the job, and if you will ask me why you don't charge it through the car movement, the answer is very simple, because I am gilding the car before getting that flat road, so, is there any why to force the ICE charging the HV battery?
View 12 RepliesToday I went to the national car test (passed. but), when the car has been returned to me by the employee of national car test center I noticed one bar on the SOC. This happened for the first time.
Additional notes:
1) recently (about 4 weeks ago) I had to temporarily replace for second hand (20 bucks) 12v small auxiliary battery.
2) recently (withing last four weeks) I noticed high temperature in the boot compartment, I tried to investigate and the ducting leading from the HV battery was really hot, which means that my battery was really hot too.
I tried to explain this to myself that this might be due to HV operating at higher levels due to unknown state of the replaced 12v small aux battery (second hand product).
3) Today I noticed that technician at the test center used some spring assisted bar to press the brake on the car while he tested the car, I recon that maybe he have had powered off the car while doing so, is it possible that this might have contributed to the dropped SOC ?- it's just my guess.
I'm thinking to replace 12v aux battery to brand new battery and then test the operation of the fan and whether the temperature still rise. - is it good idea? Or should I just seek for the testing tool to determine the status of each of the modules?
If so, which testing device can handle this task? I heard from this forum about ELM obd bluetooth adapter. I use android device, would this be okay or should I look for another device perhaps scangauge?
2006 gen II base w/ about 90k miles. Jump in, big scare triangle with multiple other dash lights. POA80 and PO319 codes. Traction battery fail. Fortunately, I was just under the warranty limit (8yrs).
View 19 RepliesI got prius i-tech Australia (should be IV or V in US). I just noticed this morning that my fuel economy is better when I got 6-7 bars on battery level, and worsen if i only got 2-4 bars. Is it just my imagination or any explanation for it?
View 8 Replies