1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Jumped from 32 MPG to 56.6MPG - Heres How

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by ikefor, Apr 3, 2015.

  1. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 19, 2006
    11,309
    3,586
    1
    Location:
    Northern VA (NoVA)
    Vehicle:
    Other Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    Robert perhaps a separate post "how do you check compression" but I don't recall ever hearing anyone talk about checking that on a Prius.
     
    Robert Holt likes this.
  2. alfon

    alfon Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 17, 2009
    1,370
    270
    0
    Location:
    seaside, oregon
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    We had the sparks plugs replaced on our 2010 Prius when it had well over 100,000 miles. The plugs, Nippendso Iridium, look like they
    could go another 100,000 miles easily. No carbon buildup at all. We mainly use 87 octane (10% ethanol) at Costco with no problems. Infact I have used the same gas in our 2014 Volt, yes I know it requires premium, with no problems and still got over 40 mpg's just on gas, regular Costco gas at that.

    Who knows how other countries refine their crude oil in gasoline and distillates. US and Europe are probably number one in quality refined
    petroleum products.
     
  3. Starship_Enterprius

    Starship_Enterprius Active Member

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2014
    312
    152
    0
    Location:
    Ottawa, Ontario
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Premium
    hmm...my mpg is still good. But after reading this, i guess it's time to pour some injector cleaners to my gas. Hopefully that will help even just a bit.
     
  4. ikefor

    ikefor Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2014
    106
    35
    0
    Location:
    Lagos
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    There is only the regular PMS that you purchase at the station, no other options are available.

    Nigeria consumes about 41M liters of petrol daily with about 85% of this figure imported, occasionally, a shortage condition may occur once the supply value chain is upset. At such times, you will find folks selling fuel out of gallons on the road side.

    Weak monitoring systems enables some product marketers undercut customers in several ways to maximize profit. There are also some local refineries mostly around the oil producing regions who sell sub optimally refined products at reduced price making it attractive to some independent marketers who truck and sell these products in some cities.

    Generally, most major cities get the regular PMS, however, i have personally noticed that if i gas up at any of the government owned stations, my gas tends to burn a lot slower than when i gas up at other stations, don't know if that means a thing though.

    I have used the Chevron Progard (Techron) twice in my vehicle, but my question is does the injector cleaner get around to the sides of the injector tip, my thinking is that it just passes through the injector and cleans it through?


    Yes, i cleaned the combustion chamber each time i clean the intake manifold, which has been twice up till now.
     
  5. Redpoint5

    Redpoint5 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Aug 31, 2013
    1,024
    506
    0
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    I'm guessing nobody suggested the injectors as the culprit because it's such a rare problem in the US and Canada. I've never had injector issues in the hundreds of thousands of miles I've driven, and I gas up at whatever station is cheapest; usually Arco.

    BTW, Arco fuel is now Top Tier rated, and meets the same standards as Shell, Chevron and Texaco. Funny how their fuels are 30 cents per gallon more just across from the Arco station.
     
  6. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2009
    691
    151
    41
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I'm seriously thinking of doing this as well. Did you replace the fuel injector O-rings and seals, or did you just put them back in? The Toyota repair manual says to replace the o-rings and seals for installation.
     
  7. ikefor

    ikefor Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2014
    106
    35
    0
    Location:
    Lagos
    Vehicle:
    2015 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    I didn't replace them, I just put them back. if you see the cleaned injector pics, the techie just carefully rubbed the entire edges of the O-ring with some oil before placing them back to the rail.
     
  8. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2009
    691
    151
    41
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I've just replaced the plugs, and they looked like your pictures. The gaps on the old plugs are closer than 0.044", closer to 0.041".

    I'm looking at removing the fuel injector rail, and I'd like to know how you did it. There's a hard line that runs back along side the block to a hold-down point held with a bolt. The bolt is behind structure, and though I can see it and can loosen it, I probably can't reinsert it if I remove it.

    So, did you loosen that bolt to allow the hard line to slide forward a bit & thus let the unbolted fuel injector rail to move forward & disengage from the fuel injectors?
     
  9. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 15, 2011
    3,292
    547
    0
    Location:
    2014 Prius c
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Kerosene? That would explain everything
     
  10. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2009
    691
    151
    41
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I figured out how to remove the bolt restraining the fuel line today. With the wiper tray out of the way, I discovered I could reach the bolt with my left hand by reaching around the back of the block and along side the driver side of the block under the EGR assembly. I could use two fingers to turn the bolt once it was sufficiently loose. There is a narrow slot above the bolt in all the engine plumbing/wiring for an open-ended wrench to reach down to the bolt. A ratcheting wrench is really ideal - there isn't room for a socket wrench. Because of other obstructions, the wrench can only move about two "clicks" at a time, so getting the bolt out takes some time (it's about 1" long). The bolt is REALLY oversized for what it's doing.

    The wiring harness that runs in front of the fuel injector rail is a pain to release. There is a bolt on the righ side but the left end runs down across the injector rail and is secured with a snap-in clip that is quite difficult to get free. Once that is done, and the two ground wires are detached from the block, the wire harness can be moved away enough to free the injector rail.

    Once the fuel line restraining bolt is removed, there is enough flex and slack in the rest of the fuel lines to allow the fuel injection rail to move forward and disengage the injectors from the engine. The sides of the injectors were somewhat cruddy with some black goo, but the tips were clean. I cleaned all the injectors with carburetor cleaner, lubed the O-rings with dielectric grease and put them back in the fuel injection rail and in the engine.

    After putting the wiper assembly back in the car, and hooking the 12 V battery back up, I started the car and the #1 (leftmost) fuel injector leaked gas from the rail. Damn. Took everything apart again & found the O-ring on that injector had become pinched somehow. I tried cleaning the injector rail hole, relubed the injector & put it back in. Same result when starting the engine. So I'm off to the dealership tomorrow for a couple of injector O-rings. Engine sounded fine while it ran, which is somewhat reassuring.
     
    peterjmc, Robert Holt and bwilson4web like this.
  11. Dark_matter_doesn't

    Dark_matter_doesn't Prius Tinkerer

    Joined:
    Aug 8, 2009
    691
    151
    41
    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Today I replaced the O-ring on the leaky injector and no more fuel leaks from the injector rail. I'll drive it around tonight as a check.
     
    Umar Ali likes this.