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Long Warm Up Period in Hot Weather.....

Discussion in 'Prius v Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by jrparne, Aug 23, 2016.

  1. jrparne

    jrparne Junior Member

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    Hello Everyone!

    Went for a quick drive for about 15 minutes and the car never seemed to get out of the warm up period. I had no EV available, the battery was charged to normal limits when I started. I would expect this in cold temps but this is south florida in the summertime!!! AC was blasting but the battery level never wavered from the normal full setting of two bars empty. I normally get 40+ MPG on this drive and I only got 29 MPG because the ICE was running the entire trip.

    Specs

    2015 Prius V 9000 miles

    Any Ideas!!????
     
    #1 jrparne, Aug 23, 2016
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Maybe the engine was trying to cool itself
     
    #2 JC91006, Aug 23, 2016
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    test your 12v battery. do you carry any pets? hv battery might have been overheated from sitting in the sun.
     
    #3 bisco, Aug 23, 2016
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    In cool or cold weather, the engine on 3rd gen Prius can be predictably turned off/on, say at a red light after a bit of warm-up, by turning the cabin temperature up down/up, when it's cool out. The threshold's around 21.5~22.0C: go above that, engine starts up; drop below it, engine shuts down again . It seems there's programing that's saying, if you're asking for more heat than some threshold, it's going to keep the engine running.

    Maybe something similar is happening with a high AC demand?
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Aug 23, 2016
  5. lrisius

    lrisius Member

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    Were you running in ECO mode or one of the other modes? I believe ECO mode does a much better job of managing the engine with the AC in use.
     
    #5 lrisius, Aug 23, 2016
  6. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    I've noticed the same thing in 2 different hybrids. My best explanation is that the engine isn't working hard enough to make much heat. Also in warm weather you often do manage to coast more which cools the ICE. I'll also add that it doesn't seem to make any difference in MPG. I suspect that the Gen-4 cars with active louvers might avoid this quirk.
     
    #6 rdgrimes, Aug 23, 2016
  7. jrparne

    jrparne Junior Member

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    2015 Prius v wagon
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    Two
    Drove the car this morning on the same route and it was completely normal. The car warmed up for about a minute then it was normal Prius driving. I do this drive most days, so it was extremely unusual for me to drive 15 minutes without the electric motor working at all (it is all stop and go traffic). I hope the combination of high, heat and humidity just caused a fluke. Thank you for all of the replies!
     
    #7 jrparne, Aug 24, 2016
  8. rdgrimes

    rdgrimes Senior Member

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    The more important information is whether those 2 trips had any variation in MPG.
     
    #8 rdgrimes, Aug 24, 2016
  9. CR94

    CR94 Senior Member

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    Any chance you accidentally were in "B" mode instead of "D"?
     
    #9 CR94, Aug 25, 2016
  10. mikefocke

    mikefocke Prius v Three 2012, Avalon 2011

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    ECO mode for the drivetrain with Auto mode for the HVAC. Then see what happens.

    I consider the ICE on in the first 100 yards to be it trying to get the HVAC to cool down the interior. The car has been sitting in a garage but with temperatures at 80 on wakeup. (Or heat up the interior in winter.) Now if the HVAC was off.....

    I'm 99.8% of the time in both ECO and Auto and get spot on EPA figures for 33k of mixed driving. My local trips are generally 7-10 miles before stopping. But half the mileage has been 50 miles of more at highway speeds of 65-70.

    My first mile is at 25-30 MPH due to local limits.
     
    #10 mikefocke, Aug 26, 2016
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2016
  11. JTT2

    JTT2 New Member

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    I've mentioned it to the dealership when going in for service, they tell me engine oil temperature has to be at a certain temperature for the EV system to turn on. I don't know enough to be sure it's the case, or just an easy thing to say to customers.



    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #11 JTT2, Sep 8, 2016
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