Preping for the road trip

Sorry I'm confused about exactly what you did or didn't know. Are you saying that the seller informed you that the odo reading was not the true mileage, but they didn't tell you exactly what was the true mileage. Is that correct?

BTW. Even if the mileage was only 100k, you still need to check the oil more often than every 6k miles

 

welcome to priuschat! google all the toyota dealers along the route in case of emergency, and join triple A. have a great trip, vancouver should be lovely this time of year!

 

(1) Don't assume the dealer got the oil level right, always check shortly after service. This way you will know how much it really consumes.
(2) What does "15k warranty" mean? How does that change Toyota's recommended oil change interval, which I thought was still just 5k for this car. If correct, I'd change oil again before this trip.

 

I knew about the odometer discrepancy when I bought the vehicle but I did not expect such a high mileage. And I have no idea which high mileage maintenance services have been done on it. The record does mention "APPLIES TO 5K 25K 35K 55K 65K 85K 95K 115K FACTORY RECOMMENDED MILEAGE SERVICES" but does not mention anything beyond 115K except major breakdown/repair at 240k. I was mainly worried about trans service, spark plugs, PVC valve and serpentine belt and also throttle body and mass air flow sensor. Both dealer and the former Toyota mechanic who changed my coolant control valve mentioned that the inverter seemed like it was replaced, so I'm not too worried about the inverter flush as of now.

I don't have a lot of time before the trip and I kind of wanted to save the services mentioned above for later. But at the same time I don't want to damage my car either.

So what do you guys think? Do you think my car is ready for 3k+ trip as it is now? If not what services and check-ups do you guys recommend that are absolutely mandatory before a 3k+ road trip?

Any input will be greatly appreciated![/QUOTE]

Seems like you did not have a mechanic look over the car before purchase?

Perhaps you can find a dependable Prius mechanic to look over your car now and comment on the "trans service, spark plugs, PVC valve and serpentine belt and also throttle body and mass air flow sensor." Should definitely cost less than $100 and maybe that could be applied to any repair cost.

In my case, during such check up, the mechanic found a cracked belt, old plugs, leaking struts, etc. You may not want to drive 3k w/ such a belt but some other stuff you can wait on.

If Fuzzy1 is correct, you may want to do an oil change. Take advantage of the dealership's oil change specials, these usually incl. a 30-point or 50 point inspection. It may not be as detailed as a pre-purchase check up but better than not knowing.

BON VOYAGE

 

The water pump seepage is a fairly common issue. The guys probably would have noticed a bit of pink crusting around the water pump pulley shaft. If you're getting a noticeable drop of coolant level in the reservoir then you definitely should get it fixed. You could try just getting a litre or so of the SLCC (coolant) and measure how much top off it needs over a period of time. If it's really slow then you could probably delay the water pump replacement for a while, but you'd definitely want to keep your eye on it. Remember to also check the level in the actual radiator fairly often too.

The crankshaft seal will be oil seepage rather than coolant. This might account for some of the 2qts you lost over the last 6k miles. If the car was previously using conventional oil then the M1 might have accelerated this a bit. You could try a high mileage oil and just monitor this for a while if you want. But again you'd have to be careful to keep an eye on it. Try placing some paper under the front of the car where you park it at home and see if you get any noticeable dripping of oil in that area.

The cost of a crankshaft seal replacement is almost entirely labour.

It depends on the conditions, but yes it can happen. Most commonly this is when you're stopped with the engine off and the aircon running.

 

I believe Advance auto made the decision not to carry the Optima battery quite a few months ago. You probably got stuck with their old stock. It should be ok for your trip to have this battery but I would definitely return it and get a refund. You can buy a fresh battery at Toyota parts department for around the $200 you spent.

Spark plugs for $70 is really cheap, the parts are about $10 each.

The gasket you need is not the valve cover gasket, I believe it's the gasket that goes on the timing chain cover. Get a quote on how much it would cost. combining it with the spark plug service would not save you any money as they have no relation. Leaving the gasket til after your trip would be ideal.

 

It would be best if you call the shop and tell them you intend to return the battery because it's registering 11.9volts and it should not be lower than 12.5 volts per Optima. Hopefully they'll still have your old battery.

A fully charged battery should be 12.8 to 12.9 volts. A brand new battery should not be under 12.5volts when you get it because it can sulfate and get permanently damaged and offer a shorter life span..

 

I wouldn't have bothered changing it at this point.

The optima sounds like it's been sitting too long, though it will probably get a descent charge and those voltages improve while on the road trip.

 

… Unless it has already been damaged by sulphating. If it were me, I wouldn't risk the potential of a damaged battery that will more than likely have a shortened lifespan.

I second JC's advice, definitely return this one and get your old battery back, if you can. Failing that get a new battery that, out of the box, measures at least 12.9-13.2 V.

For your reference, my new AGM battery measured 13.1 V out of the box. If my battery is reading 12.5 V (or less), I consider it to be 50% (or more) discharged and will charge it up over night with my CTEK MXS 5.0 smart charger to ensure it stays in top condition.

 

I read somewhere here the odometer only goes up to 299,999 miles? Then I'm not sure, goes back to zero? So maybe if your's is showing 100,000 on the odo it's in fact 400,000?

If the car's sounding/running fine, just bring a couple of bottles of your preferred oil, a funnel and a rag, all in a secure plastic bag.

 

How many more Optima batteries are we going to read about that come with a low state of charge, and how many are there being fitted to other makes of cars or from people that do not frequent motoring forums that we do not hear about. The numbers must be high.
Although I have admittedly never been an Optima fan mainly because of the ludicrous prices charged for them in the UK. Can there now be any justification in recommending these batteries when there are many better more reliable, and higher capacity options available.

John (Britprius)

 

The battery is really a hit or a miss. I have one now (warranty replacement) that's great. I've deep cycle the thing at least 10 times and it is still holding at 12.8 volts. The first one that I returned would not hold charge

 

I wonder where member OptimaJim has gone?

This was his signature line, but he hasn't posted here since June 6th:
"Jim McIlvaine, eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries"