2010 Prius sedan DIY questions

welcome!

there are lots of youtube video's on prius maintenance, it's similar to any car. pads typically last a lot longer, but you would have to inspect thickness. the caliper slide pins require regular inspection and lubrication.
the aero shield under the car makes the oil pan a bit difficult, but most are gone after the first dealer oil change.
if you have any problems, you need tech stream software and a laptop to read th obd codes, and an on line subscription to toyota's service manual.

one warning, 100k is around the time some gen 3 prius (2010-2015) start burning oil and blowing head gaskets. there are a few threads here on the subject.

all the best!

 

Yeah oil changes are a little trickier, due to the plastic underpanel. I take it off completely, every six months, wash all the plastic fasteners before reinstalling. May have had to replace one or two, but that's about it. Also, the oil filter has a permanent plastic housing, you just replace the internal filter. Dealership will be able to help with all the parts numbers. I use a Honda automotive oil filter socket for the filter, works fine.

With the brakes it's good to disconnect the 12 volt negative lead at the outset, and leave it off until everything is back together, and the brake pedal has been tromped a few times. One gotcha: the rear brakes require care, you need to ensure the rear caliper piston is oriented to that it's "spokes" straddle a pin on the back of the inner brake pad, and everthing is firmly seated in this orientation. Again, tromping brake pedal multiple times. With perdiodic lube of the caliper pins, say tri-yearly or 30K miles, you should have no problems and the brakes tend to last a long time. Same interval is good practice for brake fluid change.

It's worthwhile to change transaxle fluid imho, especially if it's never been done.

 

The Prius is a very easy vehicle to maintain. All of the DIY maintenance video is on our YouTube channel. You can easily drive 10k miles every oil change or change it early if you notice oil burning.

 

Is dad nearby?

 

The brakes need very little maintenance as so much of the force is really electric generators making electricity. As Mendel Leisk mentions the computers can apply the brakes at their whim, so it is best to do brake work with the 12 volt battery disconnected.
Should you need to 'bleed' the brakes, that is complicated by the many braking systems, not all the brake lines are open in normal use, you need to enter a special mode to bleed all the fluid.

Most maintenance is easy. Toyota does not mention a transaxle fluid change interval, you are free to make your own. 60,000 to 90,000 miles seems sensible. There is no transmission filter, there is no need for a flush, just a simple drain and fill. Buy 4 quarts of ATF WS and the two washers at the Toyota parts counter, and open the fill plug before the drain plug. Most use a funnel with 3 feet of tubing on it. Level the car.

Early versions of the maintenance manual said the oil change interval is 5,000 miles. All later manuals say it is 10,000. Just in case you did not get a manual:

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-10Prius/pdf/2010_Prius_WMG_0W20_lr.pdf

(90,000 service is on page 51 of the PDF, page 49 of the manual)


owners manual https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47668U/pdf/OM47668U.pdf

 

In the US first inverter coolant change is 160K miles, I can't recall the months. It's in the book, a little obscure though.

My 2010's inverter coolant reservoir has a sticker on the side saying 160,000 miles, which is a little odd:

1. Contradicts Canadian schedule.
2. Should be kilometres?

 

I would go to 120k miles on both the engine and inverter coolant. I haven’t heard of coolant going to 160k miles.

 

It's confusing.

US (2010) Schedule, page 50:



and page 51:



Canadian (2010) Owner's Manual Supplement (encompasses all Cdn Toyota vehicles):



And at odds with the above, sticker on my Coolant Reservoir (indicating 150000 miles, no month interval):

 

They will probably bend back the portion of the engine underpanel local to the oil pan. The Repair Manual doesn't mention this, but it's very widespread practice, and looking at it, would appear to be by design. There is a "hinge" towards the back of the panel, and by removing just two or three fasteners and bending a small zone, you can avoid removal of the whole panel. This is very likely the practice of most Toyota dealerships as well.

Your car being used, that might have been done in past. The downside: the plastic used to make the panel is poor, thin and brittle. Repeated bending of this hinge eventually breaks it, and then you either carry on without it, cobble some method to reattach (if it's not lost), spring for a new panel (around $250 for Toyota's, cheaper for aftermarket).

Your dad should know the current condition of the panel, if he's done the oil changes in past.

Here's a pic of the full panel, with the flap bit outlined in red:

 

If you, or your father, carried pets or other 'fuzzy' items, the fan for the HV Battery may get clogged and need cleaned.

Each new Generation of Prius improves the HV Battery based on experience. Many of the Gen 1 (2001 to 2003) have corroded and failed. Fewer of the Gen 2 (2004 to 2009) batteries have had trouble. Your Gen 3 (2010 to 2015) has almost no failures at all, I would guess you should worry in 2022.

Your goal should be to keep the battery from over heating, so clean the fan if it needs it, run A/C when it is hot, try to park in shade, and prevent over charging going down LONG downhills.

If you are descending thousands of feet, shift to B mode at the summit. B mode will use engine braking, and slow charging the battery so it does not over heat. The engine will sound busy, and get louder the harder your press the pedal, but the computers will not let you hurt the engine. Even if you don't use B mode, if the HV Battery 'fills' to the point the computers want, they will begin to use engine braking so the friction brakes stay cooler. (I have not heard of anyone over heating the brakes)

For much of the US, you never need B mode, but you may live among the Rockies, Sierras, Cascades, Smokies, etc. If you drop over 600 feet, think of B mode.

On your car, the 12 volt 'car battery' is in the back of the hatch on the right side.

 

Just a note about under carriage removal, those fastener pins are bound to break when removing so have spares on standby, don't rely on oil changing people to replace broken ones because they won't. Prepare to drive it flapping in the wind from their shops, best to diy.

As for engine braking, I rarely use it. On tech steam, when I'm at 8 bars, HV SOC is 63% +/- 2. Most ever was 70% and that was on SF hwy hills, those decending hills are my prolong chargers

 

Yeah, the time-is-money pros are hard on that panel, and the fasteners. If you don't check, they WILL just leave broken fasteners off, or just stuff them back in, pretend they're working. Especially Minute Lube type places: there's no way they will stock the proper replacements, or care.

As a DIY'r, I take my sweet time, start at the back and work forward, use a variety of tools to pry up the release mechanism, remove the fasteners, till it's hanging off just the four front-most bolts. Remove those, then slip the panel back and out. Reinstall is the reverse, and beforehand I wash out all the fasteners in hot/soapy water, and work the mechanism back and forth. Also oil-soak all the steel bolts.

I've broke one or two IIRC. Had the car for over 7 years, with two oil changes per year, that's 14 removals, and maybe another 6 removals for other reasons.

I've never had a problem doing an oil change through winter, but it barely gets below freezing here, and I at least have a closed garage, and a few space heaters, that are slightly better than useless. The car warms the garage as much as anything I think. It's not that long a job, and you can get it draining, then go in for a while to warm up.

 

The attachment summarizes the fasteners. If you're removing the whole panel the plastic fasteners are (11) type "3" (lighter, black) and (2) type "5" (heavier, light gray). It might be worthwhile to mark the the type 2 and their locations on the panel, with something like a silver sharpie, just to keep track of their location. If you're doing just the flap, it's the aforementioned type "2", plus (1) type "4" (lighter, black, plastic-to-plastic).

 

I use my Prius as a daily driver for work. I drive 2500 miles a month, so having a Prius for work is a well worth investment. Once this third generation Prius die out on me, I’ll be getting another Prius.

 

You gonna club up to a Prime or stick the standard Prius ?

When the time comes for us, I think I’ll be “primed” for an upgrade .