plesant morning with my 08

Today the weather brought on a cold snap here in Kansas today, so I hung out in my shop ( heated ) and caught up on some maint. that I had planned for my first new to me prius.

She has 93K on the clock and 91K when I purchased her about 4 weeks ago. I already changed the trani oil and installed new sparking plugs,,,the old ones were burnt down and original. So today I put in a new yellow top optima and now I get proper voltage when I preform a Diag. check. Then I put in a new PVC oem valve and that process went well with the help of U tube vids. Previously I had cleaned up the throttle body and Mass Air sensor and oiled the inside of the air box. When I purchased this car the seller had changed the oil but installed Dino oil and after I get a few more miles out of that oil I will change over to Synthetic and a Fram long life filter,,,,I will probably change the oil around 7 to 8 K even tho I could go 10K but going 10K on a engine just creeps me out since I came about when 3K was the norm,,,(years ago) of course that shows how old I'm am Ha Ha.
Best fuel mileage I have seen on the dash is 48 and worse was 39,,,most of the time I run 41 to 43. The figures got better after I figured out how to manage throttle control......HV bat seems ok,,,it is always charged up and I do see the green Bat indication often......

Just wanted to share with ya--all

 

Thanks,,,, I drove it tonight to visit my GF and put about 70 miles on it. At first the engine had a high idle when I stopped at Oriley to return the battery for my core return. When I came home from my visit the idle was like it was before,,,I concluded that the computer was learning my driving style or something like that.

I did notice my mpg was looking like it increased a few points 44 to 46 about,,,so I did something right LOL and the synthetic oil might help out also when I get it changed.

 

LOL,,,,, I wondered if someone would question that. It is a trick I got from riding ATVs in the dirt and sand dunes over the years and common practice with most off road guys. What I do is spread a thin coat of hard grease on the inside of the air box on the intake side. That way any dirt ( I live on a gravel road ) or some of the dirt will stick to the grease instead of collecting in the filter material. My air filter will last much longer and do a better job of keeping the air clean that goes down in the engine. The practice is mandatory for riding in the sand because the sand particles are so fine,the filter will get plugged up and any sand in the engine via the intake will trash a set of rings in a instant. We also use a fine mesh cover over the filter called outerwears to help also,,,,before outerwears was available we would use pantyhose over the filter to help strain out the sand.
It is a practice I do with all my vehicles that utilize a air box that contains a filter element, I even do the same with my tractor since it is always out in a field sucking in dirty air.

Every several K miles I just take the lid off and wipe out the grease along with the accumulated dirt and smear on another thin film and off I go down the road. Depending on the environment you live in, you would be surprised how much dirt gets stuck on the inside of the air box that you wipe out that would otherwize be embedded in your filter element. I live out in the country so I have more dust out here due to the gravel roads that can get dusty during the summer. Win Win deal for me and my Mass air flow sensor stays cleaner and works like it should.