LOW MPG revisited

[EllenH]

We have changed the tires and have scheduled an appointment with another dealership to see if the low mpg can be changed. My husband INSISTS that after three years, we need a tune up! Tell me he is wrong please. He wants to throw in some ejector cleaner too which I think either doesn't work or could harm my Prius. Do the spark plugs really need changing or can that type of thing wait until the 30,000 mile check up?

[ACORNBLUES]

since you didn't give the mileage on your car, all i can say is follow the schedule in your manual.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EllenH @ Oct 16 2007, 05:36 PM) [snapback]526574[/snapback]</div>

We have changed the tires and have scheduled an appointment with another dealership to see if the low mpg can be changed. My husband INSISTS that after three years, we need a tune up! Tell me he is wrong please. He wants to throw in some ejector cleaner too which I think either doesn't work or could harm my Prius. Do the spark plugs really need changing or can that type of thing wait until the 30,000 mile check up?
[/b]

[morpheusx]

If you buy gas from quality high volume retailers you probably do not need any injector cleaner. Some people will occassionally buy a tank of the Super Unleaded just because of the enhanced cleaners mixed in the formula. If you do buy an injector cleaner I recommend one from Lucas oil ($4- $5) you should be able to feel a difference. As far as spark plugs the Iridium plugs in the Prius are rated to go much further than 30,000 miles, I wouldn't touch them and just stick to doing the scheduled maintenance in the owners manual. More maintenance than what the manufacturer recommends is a waste of money.

[richard schumacher]

At first blush it sounds like hubby needs a hobby. You only need to do what it says in the Prius Scheduled Maintenance book. (By The Way, be certain to name each of those items explcitly to the service writer; if you say "gimme the 30,000 miles service" most dealers will charge you for their pre-defined grab-bag generic package of services, many of which are not needed or which cannot even be performed on a Prius, which thus makes the package overpriced for a Prius.)

If you ever buy gas at a pump that says "Contains 10% Ethanol" then you're already getting the best injector cleaner. Pouring in a can of cleaner would just be a waste of money.

As for your low MPGs: what are you getting, and how much air do you have in your tires? (Tire pressure should be checked "cold", which means that the car has been driven less than a mile in the previous hour; it has nothing to do with the outside air temperature.)

[paprius4030]

Have you canged the air filter?

[Pinto Girl]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EllenH @ Oct 16 2007, 05:36 PM) [snapback]526574[/snapback]</div>

We have changed the tires and have scheduled an appointment with another dealership to see if the low mpg can be changed. My husband INSISTS that after three years, we need a tune up! Tell me he is wrong please. He wants to throw in some ejector cleaner too which I think either doesn't work or could harm my Prius. Do the spark plugs really need changing or can that type of thing wait until the 30,000 mile check up?
[/b]

Follow the manual. It's really that simple.

Questions:
*How many miles on your car?
*What kind of tires?
*Tire pressures?
*Alignment?

These are usually the places most folks seem to begin, when Prius mileage drops.

Also,
*Has the mileage dropped gradually, or suddenly? Over how many (hundreds? thousands?) of miles?
*Did anything change initially when that began to happen? Did you hit a pothole or kerb a bit too stridently?

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If you want to be really evil, just agree with him...wait a few weeks until he's forgotten about the whole thing...read the manual and schedule a "normal" service...then don't bring it up again.
[sly grin]

Then, show him how much money you saved.

Seriously...usually things are the other way around, where the dealer is throwing all of these unnecessary services at me, and I keep saying, "no, no."

In this case, though, your Husband is a service manager's dream!
[laughing]

Have him to be sure to ask about the transmission flush and fuel injector service packages while he's there.
;-)

They may even have some oil additives gathering dust on a shelf in the corner that must ---immediately--- be added, or your engine's life will be drastically reduced.
[smile]

------------

Now, if you could only make it so YOUR mileage begins to drop, and Hubby will begin spending money on superfluous things for YOU, just to see if it might make an improvement...

...in my case, a tennis bracelet is worth at least 5 PGMPG (five Pinto Girl Miles Per Gallon!)

[Neicy]

Have you been checking the oil level after changes? If they are overfilling it that could be a contributing factor. If they overfill it enough the car could throw a problem code too. Just a thought.

[kocho]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(EllenH @ Oct 16 2007, 06:36 PM) [snapback]526574[/snapback]</div>

We have changed the tires and have scheduled an appointment with another dealership to see if the low mpg can be changed. My husband INSISTS that after three years, we need a tune up! Tell me he is wrong please. He wants to throw in some ejector cleaner too which I think either doesn't work or could harm my Prius. Do the spark plugs really need changing or can that type of thing wait until the 30,000 mile check up?
[/b]

30K is too little for the OEM iridium spark plugs. 60K is more like it and even that might be too short in some cases.

Injector cleaner of good quality IMO is not going to hurt. I am on my 2 tank of gas on a old-ish '02 Prius and just poured-in a bottle of Techron concentrated cleaner (treats 12 gallons). I did that because my engine is not running as smooth as I think it should be. But mine is at 116+ thousand miles... Will let you know if it helps any. For comparison, my '00 Camry is at 120K miles and I have not observed a significant change in fuel economy over the life of the car (got it new, always on proper grade synthetic oils).

Tune-up is not needed unless you have a specific problem and the dropping gas mileage may be it, but other things need to be checked first, since tune-up costs money and may not do a thing for you. On my '00 Camry I *have* to clean the trhottle body every 40K miles - if I don't my gas pedal gets sticky so this is the one "tune-up" item that I found necessary for that car, aside from the regular maintenance items. And the lost of my reverse gear at 120K

My first tank's mileage was actual 44.4 MPG over 400 miles (computer showed average of 54+ MPG, so it is overstating quite a bit). I was hoping for more but expecting about what I got - this is the "actual" mileage I see reported quite often. I hope to improve on this but we'll see - I do not like having my tires pumped-up to more than 38 psi front for comfort's sake on poor roads, but I might give it a try.