Car is acting differently since trip

[saminjax]

Hello my dear Prius mentors,

I recently took a weekend trip and drove about 400 miles. I have had my Prius for about a month and a half and have put about 1800 miles on it in that time. Before my trip, my MPG average was about 52. The trip caused it to drop to 49.5. Although my MPGs dropped, I was still pleased to get that average when driving at around 70 MPH the whole time.

Well, since my return, I've been driving my usual routes and I'm not getting as good of an MPG average as I was getting before my trip. The car is also acting differently. Usually, when I leave home in the morning and the engine is cold, I am able to drive in stealth mode upon leaving my subdivision (takes about 56 seconds to get there, I suppose). Now, I can no longer drive in stealth at all on my way out of my housing development and most of the trip to my son's school and to work, like I used to. It wants to run the ICE, even when the battery is charged up and the engine should be warm. I'm not doing anything differently than I did last week on my routes. I'll take my foot off of the accellerator to try to get into stealth, but the ICE immediately kicks in (a little frustrating). After about 10 minutes of this, it will finally let me stealth. It's as if the engine is taking longer to warm up. The weather has not been colder, still fairly warm (65-75 degrees, depending on time of day). I usually get about 55-60 MPG on my way to work in the morning, but now I can no longer get that and MPG has stayed at 49.

Can anyone explain this? I want to get back up over 50.

I've already been told by my friend who also has a Prius that I'm obsessed with my MPGs. Maybe so, but she is only getting 45 MPG...

[hyo silver]

Just a thought: have you checked the tire pressures? They generally seem to have a fairly large effect on mileage.

[richard schumacher]

Check tire pressures.

[Sheepdog]

Originally Posted by hyo silver

Just a thought: have you checked the tire pressures? They generally seem to have a fairly large effect on mileage.

That is exactly my first thought.

[GoBeyondGreen]

I have seen this as well. What is the optimal tire pressure and i will check mine?

[BIGGDOGG]

I had a similar problem but that was due to the weather hitting a chilly 15 degrees with a wind chill of 5 degrees. I just suggest to do the same as everyone else said. Check the tires then check the oil.

[Rae Vynn]

Did you fill the tank at a different station?

[saminjax]

Originally Posted by Rae Vynn

Did you fill the tank at a different station?

Yes. I filled it up on the way home on my road trip. You know, the pump said "less than 10% ethanol." I was going to check on that because I seem to recall some posts here about ethanol, but I forgot about that until you mentioned the gas. Would that be a factor?

I will check my tire pressure. I haven't done so since I first changed them to 42/40 the day after I bought the car.

[jdonalds]

I've learned a number of things can cause ICE mode. Heater on, air conditioner on, cold starts when the catalytic converter must be warmed up.

I can't get 50 feet from my house in the morning without the ICE starting and running for 5 minutes. I also have a short drive at 15mph in my mobile home park; sounds something like your situation.

I think it's normal behavior.

[dogfriend]

Originally Posted by saminjax

You know, the pump said "less than 10% ethanol."
Would that be a factor?

Less than 10% is probably 9.9999% ethanol. Yes, it could be a factor if you were previously using gas that did not have ethanol.

And just to be consistent with everyone else, check your tires.