My inverter fluid seems low (below the word "Low") -- does fluid need to be added, and can this be done by purchasing a product or should I ask my garage to do it? Does it need to be flushed--it never has been. Thank you!
Not 'flushed', necessarily, but if it has never been just drained all out and replaced, that would be good. The anticorrosion additives in the stuff only last so many years, and then you start to get corrosion products building up and blocking stuff:
Is that something I can do, or better to let the garage do it? What should I expect to pay for this and how often should it be totally drained? It's a 13-year-old Prius at 180k miles.
This is the 2007, per your avatar? Unless it sat a long time at dealership, it’s about 16 years old. Toyota USA recommends to change engine coolant at 100k miles or 10 years (whichever comes first), and inverter coolant at 15ok miles or 15 years. thereafter, both are recommended to be replaced every 50k miles or 5 years. coolant spec for both is: Toyota Super Long Life Coolant it’s a 50/50 pre-mix, can be purchased from dealership parts departments by the gallon, if you want to do just do a top up. all this info is covered in the Owner’s Manual and/or Warranty and Maintenance Booklet. If you’re missing either, pdf versions are available in the Manuals tab, at Toyota Tech Info website. I’d post an excel spreadsheet of the schedule, but uploads aren’t working since the server migration.
Nicely spotted. (There was some early debate around here about whether the Gen 1 should be called the Classic, and then the Gen 2 would be the Iconic. If so, I think that pic is in fact from an Iconic.)
