Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Well, exactly 1 year later (to the day) and suddenly it happens again. So I take it to the dealer again (which costs me a $55 diagonstic fee, so now I'm getting irked at this whole matter). They check the battery in the back and they tell me it's a bad battery cell. They insist the two incidents are completely unrelated and that it will cost me +$500 to replace the bad cell. I left to go to class that night and had no more issues that day. But now I have a car that's been getting harder and harder to start. I've noticed that I have issues when I open my door and the alarm goes off like I've left the key in the ignition, but I haven't. I knew when I opened the door today and the alarm sounded that I was going to have issues. Sure enough, the car wouldn't turn on, and after two tries, it is now completely unresponsive.
So I guess I have a few questions about this whole thing. Which battery has the bad cell? They tested in the back, where the hybrid battery is. But I thought the hybrid battery is covered up to 100,000 miles, so why is this going to cost me +$500 to fix?
Also, I've been getting repeatedly worse and worse gas mileage since the fall, the last fill only lasting me 350 miles or so with an mpg average of 34.6. The engine kicks in as soon as I turn the car on to charge the battery, and I always seem to be running off of the engine more than normal since then too. Are these two related? If not, what else could be causing the terrible mileage? I just had my car aligned, 4 brand new tires, and a wheel bearing replaced. I got a new filter, and I've changed my oil when the light has come on. If there is something else I could try to fix the poor mileage, I'd love to know...
Any insight into any aspect of this is very much appreciated.
As to your milage (mpg's), you need to understand that milage drops off considerably during cold months (especially dead of winter). The Prius will usually get 46-52 mpg's during warm months but drop to 36-44 during the frigid months....WHY?.....Cuz the engine has to run more to get you heat for the heater. Once the temp is up to normal the engine will begin to cut out more but still, due to cold, run more during those cold months.
I'm more fortunate with my '04 Prius ....Not a single problem since day one and I'm crossing into 137K miles. The Prius Is The VW Bug Of It's Generation or maybe the Bat Mobile perhaps.
If my father had sold me the 2005 instead of selling it off to someone else, I would have probably been lucky like you. I drove that little car for years and neither of us ever had any issues.
I'm inclined to believe that my 2006 = :lemon:
Toyota service records show it has had all it's maintenance done exactly on schedule,which brings up my question. It just had new filter and 0w-20 oil put in at 29,815 miles. But the dealer I bought the car at (Rusnak in Pasadena,CA), told me they serviced it before they put it out on their lot which unfortunately included putting *non-synthetic* oil in it.
So it has fresh oil but I'd like to get the car back onto the regular Toyota maintenance schedule with synthetic. Since the filter must be either the one put in at 29,815 or an even newer one put in by Rusnak , should I just take it somewhere and tell them to drain the oil and put 0W-20 in?
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Mike
Jim
Thanks for the reply. I'm not worried about the money right now, I'm worried about keeping my car up to spec. Toyota says use 0W-20, that's what I want in it.
I guess my main question was do I need to get a new filter too, since it will have some non-synthetic oil in it when I swap to Mobil 1, or save the expense of a filter since it's brand new and I've only driven about 100 miles with the non synthetic oil in it.
Mike
Do yourself a favor and leave the oil in 'til the next scheduled oil change. And wait until the regular interval...that is do NOT change the oil at ..like 2,000, or even 3,000mi. Wait until 5,00mi. or whatever the regular interval is on a '10 model. Our landfills are filling up!
I don't even know what oil is in there right now! Gonna go talk to the mechanic there and find out tomorrow, then probably just get rid of it and put in the right oil. Even if I wait 5000 miles to do an oil change , I'm still not gonna be on the recommended Toyota schedule, rather just get 0W-20 in there now and run it for 7000 miles, then change again and be on schedule.
I guess my main question is if I can get them to drain the oil at the dealer I bought it from (I'm more than happy to provide the 0W-20 for them to refill it) do I need a new oil filter too? Will whatever is left behind of the unknown oil that's in it do anything to the 0W-20 that goes in?
Be a lot easier to just take care of it all myself but I live on a mountain street with no level ground to work on, and my garage is now a recording studio ;-)
I'll be driving all day all over Los Angeles, meaning lots of short trips and stop and go on the freeways both rush hours, but L.A. is swarming with Priuses, lots of taxis are Prius too, so let's hope the car holds up. I have 225,000 miles on my 2002 KIA Sorento in the same driving conditions, and I'll alternate cars daily til the KIA finally gives up. If it ever does, the thing is built like a tank.