i have a 2006 Prius with 142,000 miles. The car runs and drives good except for 2 things. I have air bubbles in the heater that gurgle when the ac is running. I’ve read about how to deal with that. I’ve only had it long enough to put 5000 miles on it. The main problem is that when cruising it seems like the power to the drivetrain cuts in and out a little. The energy monitor doesn’t show a consistent pattern that goes with the power bumps. Any ideas?
sounds normal. there is a 3 second delay in the energy monitor. you need a scan gauge or equivalent to see what is happening real time
Thanks a million. That’s a load off. Planning to replace spark plugs and cvt fluid. Hoping this car lasts 100k
I thought you might be interested to know what happened with my Prius. A couple of weeks after our conversation I got the red triangle and the gas engine shut off. Throttle position sensor problem was what the codes showed. I pulled the throttle body and cleaned it and reinstalled. The power bumps in the drivetrain went away completely and my codes cleared. I’ve put 20k on it since then and it runs great.
Make sure you lubricate the throttle body return spring. And gurgling in the coolant means there is air in that loop. Be careful there because you could be overheating the engine because of trapped air and you would never know it. Pick up a scan gauge to monitor engine temp till you can bleed that air out properly. If going to change spark plugs go to dealer and buy a new valve cover gasket as yours is probably weeping like lots of others including mine super easy to replace when you have it all apart. You may find oil in the spark plug well when you pull the plugs out. Get a hand mirror and look in the wells before pulling the plugs. When you pull the valve cover off take pictures of the valve train. You will quickly see how well the engine was taken care of when you can see the valve train and if it’s lived on Dino oil or good oil. I also replaced the windshield rain dam gasket too since you may damage it taking it out. And since your in there replace the pvc valve. It’s all there easy to get at when you pull that harness back to get at the plugs. Only use exact size wrench when taking pcv out. Many posters destroyed there valve cover using adjustable wrench. I found on mine both pvc hoses from valve cover to TB had cracked ends. Replaced both hoses. Make the most of exposing the top of the engine.
Or Torque Pro or one of the myriad of phone apps that will do monitoring just fine at a fraction of the cost.
