New owner here. I picked up a 2007 limited for $4800 here Lil' Rhody. 115K miles Was driving a 03 trailblazer, so the gas savings will be amazing Questions, Is the dash MPG accurate? It averages 30-45 hwy, But around here on the ocean state your really have to stomp on the gas sometimes. When I do that the mpg dips in to the single digits, that might be normal. What do you think? I cleaned the hv fan, very dirty... went from 46% to 57% on batt. health. How to read dr prius? all see is green bars go up and down, that's good right? Is battery balance real? or hype The motor makes noises. looks like cruddy carbon build up, an valve area makes noise on hard accel... oil starving. I was going to change plugs and pcv to see for crud How to fix that? crankcase cleaner, seafoam, atf etc? and oil catch can? Finally, Wheels and tires: roads here are crap, with potholes bigger than prius wheels What steel wheel and tire combo would give a decent side wall and allow rugged tires or snows Thank you all Glad to be here Billy August
congrats and welcome! you can't really judge mpg's that way. best is to track it by the tank full at the pump. all the best!
Balance is Real ! With DrPrius you want to keep track of 3 things over time when considering Balance. Pack Voltage, Blade Voltage and Blade Voltage Difference The other 3 things you want to watch are the Battery Temp Readings. If you decide to keep track of the battery temps, might want to also keep track of the outside temps along side the battery temps.
Ok, Thank you. aside from the Pack voltage,Blade Voltage, and difference and temp readings what can I do? turn the fan on sooner, run cooler?
This has worked for me, with snow tires: Corolla steel rim, part no: 42611-02471 (2003-2008 corolla or matrix, CE, LS, S) steel rim lug nuts, part no: 90942-01007 (plain, open-ended, galvanized) I pushed a 2" ABS end cap on the centre hub opening, to protect the hub from rusting. It's slightly loose fit, so fashioned some rubber bands, sections cut from an old bicycle inner tube, pushed them on first, then the end cap. Also, the open ended lug nuts leave the stud tips exposed, prone to rust: a drop of oil brushed on helps there. Or see if you can find acorn-style nuts, closed ends.
Ah, thanks Mendel, what would be a good tire size? and weighing pros and cons of the oil catch can on my gen 2 thoughts?
I'd stick with stock. I don't think it's anywhere near as necessary on 2nd gen: I believe all the crankcase gasses route via a hose atop the valve cover? On third gen the PCV valve is on the wall of the block, and much more vapour gets sucked up, pools in the intake, and likely lots also makes it into the combustion chamber. Bottom line: I don't think many gen 2 owners have done it.
In the summer for sure, keep it as cool as you can. there are always options for other things. If drprius says our battery is 50% or better you can get a grid charger and keep the pack balanced. Below 50% you'd probably need at least a few new modules (drprius will tell you which ones are bad). And if planning to keep the car for 5 more years and don't want to have to worry about battery stuff. and you can afford it - you'll want one of these https://projectlithium.com/products/prius-lithium-replacement-pack discussion about the nexgen batteries are mostly in this thread here at priuschat Rainbow Prius Hybrid Powered by Lithium! | PriusChat
