Hi there! I'm hoping for some advice/insight on my 2013 Plug In with 110K. I'm new to PriusChat and couldn't find something similar. Top concern: I got 12 mpg on a quick 2 mile drive on Saturday morning. It was very cold, 0F but I've never dropped below 40 mpg prior. Could this have been caused by a transmission speed sensor or should I be concerned about the battery health? I brought the car to Toyota Saturday afternoon after the brake light, ABS, slip indicator, and (!). When I would press on the brake there would be some resistance in the steering wheel and the car would take significantly longer to fully stop. I had taken the car in a few days prior for the same issue and the tech said my non-OEM floor mats caused the break not to fully compress and was triggering the error codes. After another look they said the breaking issue was from a faulty transmission speed sensor that needs to be replaced. I don't have the car back yet to see how that helps my mpg. I had hoped to keep this car for 200K+ but I'm not sure it's going to make it. Overall, it's been sounding increasingly rough and I've spent a lot of time in and out of service. I had to replace the wheel bearings and repair the heat shield in November. I know a lot of the members of PriusChat work on their cars themselves but I don't have any experience with that. I was able to find a local battery repair shop just in case but they do not do PIPs. I will probably download the Dr.Prius app when I get it back. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
That is very cold, and a short journey. Battery performance would be impeded (or deliberately restricted) at those temperatures, and the engine would take a while to get up to temp so would be doing a lot of idling. I wouldn't worry about high fuel consumption in this scenario. Do you block the grill in winter? If not, maybe you should (there's a thread about Gen 3 grill blocking somewhere here).
Yep, that is low mileage but at 0 for only a couple miles you're never going to get into EV mode. You're going to be burning gas the entire time just trying to get it warmed up. Did you let it warm up before you left? Stop in traffic? All times where you are averaging zero mpg into your total...
I agree with the others. A 2-mile drive at 0ºF would give spectacularly low mpg. 12 sounds about right. A loose floor mat can easily interfere with braking and even cause an accident if it gets under the brake (not "break," btw) pedal. but I don't see any way it would trigger any error codes or lights. What codes did they get?
i have never heard of a transmission speed sensor, or it causing a problem. after the floor mat comment, i would take it somewhere else, and ask them to read the trouble codes and report them here. if you paid for the diagnosis, ask for the codes. you do not have a battery issue, but you likely have a clogged egr circuit and could blow the head gasket soon if you haven't already. you have a beautiful car, and if it were me, i would repair the trouble code issues and clean the egr circuit.
One way all these lights light, is when the 12 volt battery is low. I would check it, ideally after sitting overnight. If it it is over 12.5 volts, great! If it is under 12.1 volts, save up for a new 12 volt battery. Or it could be a low tire pressure making one tire spin faster than the others. Check for that. www.amazon.com/TN-TrunkNets-Inc-Accurate-Pressure/dp/B08ZYTXGKL www.amazon.com/KAIWEETS-Multimeter-Digital-Voltmeter-Continuity/dp/B08CX9W7G3 Optima DS46B24R Optima battery direct fit replacement for Prius 2004 to 2015 , Prius V & Plug-in Prius with Instructions
Regardless of whether it is pertinent to the issue, ill-fitting floor mats are going to be high on the checklist at any Toyota dealer after the whole unintended acceleration debacle, and I would agree that they should be removed as a priority if they obstruct the pedals in any way or are not secured properly.
Absolutely agree! I immediately removed them when I found out. I picked up the car last night. I had already given them permission to replace the transmission sensor before I saw your post. I did pay for the diagnosis so I could call them back for the codes. I noticed you're Boston based, is there a mechanic you recommend in the area? I'll have to watch some videos to see if cleaning the erg circuit is in my skill set
Thank you all for the great input and advice!! I have the car back now and it seems like it's back to normal after having the transmission sensor replaced. I'm hoping this is resolved and I don't have the lights back on in two days again. I'm going to look into your suggestions as well to try to be more active in my car's care and not just blindly trust Toyota.
This weeks code was C1467 The codes from the original visit last week were not recorded but the tech noted 2 codes in TPW and 2 codes in ABS which they cleared.
