Problems...

[froSTed]

Lately I have had my problems with my black 2004 prius. The headlight on the drivers side went out, so I took it to the dealership to fix it. They said they fixed it but a week later it's out again! anyone else have this problem?
Also I am getting around 43 miles per gallon, maybe it's the gas, what's the best gas for this car?

[efusco]

Lately I have had my problems with my black 2004 prius. The headlight on the drivers side went out, so I took it to the dealership to fix it. They said they fixed it but a week later it's out again! anyone else have this problem?
Also I am getting around 43 miles per gallon, maybe it's the gas, what's the best gas for this car?

Can't help you much with the headlight problem, but it sounds like you've got a loose connection or a short somewhere...the dealer needs to be more aggressive to find the problem and truely fix it, not just wiggle a couple wires until it comes back on briefly.

Your MPG sounds OK, but it's dependent upon a number of variables. Please read My Knowledge Base Article and see if some of that doesn't help answer your question more completely. I'm averaging about 51mpg lifetime (click to see a graph in my signature), others better others worse.

[froSTed]

Took my car in, they said that the light bulb exploded.
I live in Raleigh NC so my mileage is probably due to the hills around here.

[jayman]

If you have regular halogen headlamps, the bulb is an H4 style. If the new bulb went out a week later, and as they claim it "exploded," seems to me somebody at the dealership forgot to clean the bulb and got greasy fingerprints all over it.

With any replaceable halogen lamp, you must carefully clean the lamp capsule with isopropyl alcohol or acetone (Fingernail polish remover) before installation.

The minute smudge or oily residue can cause the lamp to overheat, possibly explode.

[rick57]

Exploding bulbs brings back a story about a month ago. The parts manager had spoke with a sales man who wanted to start supplying the bulbs for us. We had been using Wagner bulbs. So the sales man left a box of bulbs for us to try. Made in India. Personal experience,I put in 5 bulbs,3 exploded(2 before it got out the door), in 1 corolla! I finally got them to get me another Wagner bulb. Like they say,you get what you pay for. And yes you never touch the glass part when handling,will shorten life.

[LeVautRien]

I only get around 43 MPG myself these days, but it's not the gas, merely my driving style. I go pretty speedily on the interstates (in LA) and make a pretty big number of very short trips, both of which are factors that contribute to a lower-than-expected mileage.

[V8Cobrakid]

exploding bulb? is your headlamp leaking? water maybe? greasy fingers is a possibliity too, like Jayman said.

I get around 43mpg but i'm running 17" low profiles. I'm really thinking about switching back. It's killed my good reputation with fuel mileage. it's also costing me 80+ more Dollars a month in fuel.

[jayman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(V8Cobrakid\";p=\"68958)</div>

I get around 43mpg  but i'm running 17\" low profiles. I'm really thinking about switching back.[/b]

I think that's a common complaint with those low profile tires. Even if the OD is the same (Eg Plus 1 or Plus 2 sized), the tires appear to have much higher rolling resistance.

Case in point was my former 2000 GMC Sierra 1500 4x4. The standard tire was a P245/75 16, but the salesguy talked me into P265/75 16 which is almost 1.5 inch taller OD. This is done at the factory so the speedo is ok.

He actually threw in the larger tire package during the order, which made me more suspicious. I specified 4.10 gears to compensate for the taller OD.

I noticed it was very hard to find replacement tires in that size, and just about impossible to find winter tires. So I switched back to P245/75 16, so at least I could find winter tires. Plus my fuel economy was sort of crappy, even allowing for a pickup.

With the P245 tires back on, and the PCM recalibrated to that tire size, I gained around 3 MPG city and 2 MPG highway. That's also with the 4.10 gears too.

So either a tire is too tall for the application, or the rolling resistance is too high.

I'm not into "performance" driving. I usually drive the speed limit or maybe 3-5 higher.

About the only time I regularly blow the doors off "performance" cars is in winter here when they're helplessly spinning their low-profile Performance tires on snow/ice and I buzz away on my Dunlop Graspic DS-2 winter tires. Gives me a lot of satisfaction.

[ltu1542hvy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(froSTed\";p=\"68680)</div>

Took my car in, they said that the light bulb exploded.  
I live in Raleigh NC so my mileage is probably due to the hills around here.
[/b]

Hi FroSTed,
Glad to see another poster from the Triangle here. Maybe your lower mileage is due to the cold snap we have had recently. Running the heater and defroster causes my Prius to take a noticable hit in mileage. Also, are you doing a lot of very short trips? Those too can be mileage killers.

- Bill in Durham

[froSTed]

No Bill, I do allot of 15 to 20 minute trips. The car seems to rattle a bit too and it shakes every time I am stopped and the ice shuts down.