What services you need and what you don't

Re: What services you need and what you don't

My last post on this must still be on the way through the intertubes!

Anyway, I just got back from my 40k oil/filter change and tire rotation at a Toyota Dealership, in the Chicago area.
Here's the list of "suggested" services they tried to upsell me while I was there (all verbatim off the invoice):
Comments:
Front brakes at 7m
Rear brakes has 75% life
Tires Tread at 05/32
Recommendations:
Synpower Fuel induction cleaner $129.95 + tax
Brake Fluid Flush $129.95 + tax
Clean and adjust rear brakes $ 59.95 + tax
Evaportator service $149.95 + tax
Cabin air filter $ 68.50 + tax

Holy crayp! $538.50 in "recommended" services! What a racket they're running.
They told me that my back brakes had a "gap" between the shoe and the rotor that was too big, as well. What's that all about? And what's evaporator service? is that AC?
I'll go for a second opinion on the brakes, just because brakes are important, but ...

Ok, my turn. My Prius is at ~65K miles and almost 6.5 years old now. It's slightly overdue for an oil change and definitely needs a tire rotation.

I glanced over the maintenance book and didn't see Toyota calling for these services, but I figure I'm going to have them done anyway.

Since I've seen people talk about throttle body cleaning, I'm going to ask for that. How about MAF sensor cleaning? Anything else I should ask them to do? I'm pretty sure I've never had these done. And no, I don't plan to DIY.

I changed my 12 volt myself to an Optima Yellow Top more than a year ago. I had my PSD fluid changed already and had my inverter pump changed under the "recall".

My third hand 05 Prius, acquired a year ago had "black" transmission oil. It's been drained, refilled twice in the last year. Replaced spark plugs ourselves, drained the engine oil totally, plus the transaxle oil and refilled completely I think. How to check the fullness of the transaxle oil?
Worried about the inverter? Does it make a noise or give any hint of dying before it dies?
Patty

Raise up the car on four jackstands so that it remains level. Open the transaxle fill plug. The spec is for the fluid to be within 0 - 5 mm from the bottom of the fill hole.

The inverter will work fine until it decides to die one day. No hints are given.

Ouch!!! $68+Tax for a cabin air filter??? That's a complete rip off, any parts store you can buy one less than $15 and it's probabl the easiest DIY

Good luck

What is evaporator service? Never heard of it.

The evaporator is the part of the AC system that cools the cabin air. It can accumulate mold, debris, etc and create unpleasant smells. The idea of the service is to inject a cleaning spray to coat the evaporator and kill any organic coating.

If you live in a very humid climate and operate the system in recirculate mode, that increases the likelihood of mold buildup.

Patrick - are there step-by-step instructions for cleaning the throttle body? E.g. removing the air cleaner housing, getting into the throttle body, etc. I get the actual cleaning part from above, just need to know how best to get into it.

Thanks, Evin

Hi Evin,

If you look at the air cleaner housing it will become fairly obvious how to remove it. You need to remove the hose clamp that connects the housing to the fresh air inlet, as well as another hose clamp that holds the housing to the throttle body. There are a couple of bolts which attach the housing to the engine and the MAF sensor wiring harness connector also needs to be removed.

Once the housing is removed then the throttle body can be accessed and cleaned using my suggested method.

While you are at it, look at the engine air filter which is supposed to be replaced at 30K mile intervals. If in doubt about whether it needs to be replaced, hold it up to sunlight. If you can see light passing through the filter then it can remain in service.

I just replaced the engine air filter at 30K miles. I was somewhat surprised to find the old one completely opaque under fluorescent light except at the peaks of the bends where there were a line of light leaking through.

I'm overdue a major service at 104k. Missed the 60k service

I drive it like I stole it!

Thinking of changing the PCV valve and an oil change.. 5/30 synthetic (Magnatec) good enough ?
The car still runs sweet, although I just changed the belt driven ICE coolant pump the other day... what fun!

I'll be changing the front pads on the weekend most probably.. with the 12v disconnected!
Any other gotchas on this ?

1st question where is the PCV valve and how do I change it ?
2nd question... will I need to change the plugs too?

The PCV valve is located on the end of the valve cover, close to the inverter. You may need to remove the engine wiring harness mounted to the valve cover to see the PCV valve. You remove the valve by first removing the PCV hose, then using a suitable large wrench that fits the PCV valve hex.

The iridium spark plugs should be changed at 120K mile intervals, and you may want to consider doing that soon.

I have a 2005 Prius with 227403 miles...never had any major issues until now, it is starting to burn oil (not leaking ). I live in Pa. but work in Md. Daily round trip is 120 miles (all highway). Any recommendations / suggestions on the oil burning.

How many miles per quart of oil?
Has the PCV valve been changed yet? That is a relatively inexpensive repair.

If the oil consumption is not severe, I would suggest that you live with it. Much cheaper to buy a quart of oil every week or two, vs. installing a salvage engine. Not sure it makes sense to spend four-digits repairing a car with 227K miles logged.

Anybody know where the pcv valve is located on the 2010 Prius? I followed an earlier post step by step with photos but couldn't find it. I assume it was for an earlier model. I removed the windshield wiper blades and cowl and me and my neighbor spent an hour looking for it.

Uhh... you should probably post in a Gen 3 thread. This thread's in a Gen 2 area.

The Gen 3 is quite different, besides having a different engine, almost totally redesigned HSD system and different maintenance intervals.

Behind the intake manifold.

well newbie here, with a 2009. My first maintenance apt today. Dealer tells me that the Prius takes less oil than the "other" cars, so it cost me a little less!?! Also i opted out of the tire rotation as soon I will be getting snow tires. Thanks for the maintenance article. I'm at 76,000 now, and they said no filters until 90,000?

The engine air and cabin air filters are supposed to be replaced at 30K mile intervals.

My big 100K is coming up here within the next couple of months! I've done a few of the services in advance before hitting the mark as a preventative maitenance!
Let me know if there's anything i might need to get checked.. This is everything i've done myself.
Changed Spark Plugs @90k
Changed Timing Belt @80k
Changed Transaxle Fluid @75k
Cleaned MAF and Throttle body @87k
Reguarly change Air filters and Oil/Oil Filters every 7k miles. I use Castrol Synthetic Oil with the Fram Ultra Filters
Everytime I change my oil, I run Chevron's Fuel Injection Cleaner as well.

I haven't looked into getting my Rear drums cleaned/aligned. I also haven't looked into getting the inverter fluid changed. I think those are two pretty important factors as i'm at 97k now.

My 12 Volt battery is on it's way out, and i'm actually going to replace that this weekend!
Patrick Wong stated that I might want to look into getting my A/C Serviced as well.

Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks for the input guys!