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Questions after 3months /3900 miles

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by joeuser, Jul 15, 2009.

  1. joeuser

    joeuser Prius Junkie

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    So I have now officially driven the car to about 3900 miles in a matter of 3 months.
    A few things I've noticed about my car:

    1. Exterior, the paint near the bottom edges of the sides (basically under the doors on all sides) is bubbling up and I feel as it is going to wear off. This is partially due to two things:
    A. I have washed my car almost every two weeks and not been extremely careful to wipe dry around those areas and
    B. Too much rain here in NYC.

    I realized the above because only when I washed the car and it's that bonding where you learn about the car more than anything else. I want to know if I can do anything about this and whether this is a common thing in just the classic metallic silver priuses or if this is common is all the prius (i doubt the red or the blue behaves like this).

    2. The interior is feeling more and more plasticky after I've left the car in the sun too long. I generally keep my car inside the garage while I am at work since they have a nice indoor facility in long island, but on the weekends my car is out in the sun. The plasticky feeling is apparent in the sounds the car makes when the car encounters bumps on the road and I'm afraid its going to get worse. Is there anything I can do to stop this? I'm sure I'm not the only one having this problem, its just so happens that the roads are bumpy here. I hate the feeling that a 3 year old Honda civic doesn't have these cracky bumpy sounds as much as my prius. At first i thought i had something left in a wierd position in the glove compartment but that wasn't it. Its just the area around the dashboard seems like its creaking, even though the car is in top notch form. Also, i am a very watchful driver who avoids bumps and slows down enough to really negate any impact on the car. SO anything to help in this case would be appreciated.

    3. Lastly, now this is nothing too much to complain about but I have felt a bit of a change in how the car reacts when switching from battery -> gas and gas -> battery. The movement has become more jerky expecially when switching from gas -> hybrid at very slow speeds (around 7-8Mph), is there anything I can do to rectify this? Plus when I initially come to a stop I feel the car stuttering to come to a complete halt from using the engine, I want this to be more smoother (can I do something about this?).

    This is quite the mouthful but I tried to explain as much as I can without rolling on too much.

    So please let me know if there are any solutions to any of the issues I've listed up here. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

    Note to all, that even though I've said a lot, I still consider these minor issues. I've enjoyed each and every second of being inside my Prius and I believe that my first car (this one) has been a fantastic choice (thanks to all the opinions people have posted about this car on priuschat.com).

    regards,
    Joe
     
    #1 joeuser, Jul 15, 2009
  2. 2009Prius

    2009Prius A Wimpy DIYer

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    #1 seems a defect that ought to be covered by warranty especially for such a new car
    #2 there have been suggestions in this forum on how to suppress the noise. do a search.
    #3 there was another similar complaint recently and I am waiting for answers from the experts.

    Just my 2 cents. Good luck! :)
     
    #2 2009Prius, Jul 15, 2009
  3. justlurkin

    justlurkin Señor Member

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    fellow NYC-area Prius owner here. Mine's an '07, which I bought new.

    The paint under the doors are rippled on mine too fresh from the factory. I think Toyota might have put an extra thick layer of paint there to guard against pebble hits or something, don't know. If I have to guess, it's probably like this on every 2nd-gen Prius so it's probably normal.

    I haven't noticed any rattles in mine except the glove compartment area. This seems to be a pretty common annoyance among gen-2 Prius owners, so I hear. Something to do with a loose-fitting shelf on the upper compartment. Mine does rattle rather loudly because I keep a tire pressure gauge in there, LOL.

    Lastly, I think as your car gets broken in, the transition from ICE to electric should become smoother. I got 19,000 miles on mine now and I did notice the ICE-shutoff shudder is not quite as pronounced as when the car was new.

    Just my $.02.

    See you on the LIE HOV lanes! :D
     
    #3 justlurkin, Jul 15, 2009
  4. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    #3: The portion about it stuttering before coming to a stop (at the last few mph before) has this very long involved thread on this http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/16301-brakes-stutter-right-before-car-stops.html. It seems to just be a quirk as it did it when mine was new and after 41K miles. Just for kicks, try shifting into neutral and then braking to see if the stuttering is lessened/goes away.

    Regarding the earlier part of your complaint I'm unclear if it's the intermittent rough ICE shutdown. Mine still does it from time to time and I think it's easier to repro it when the engine's cold. :confused:
     
    #4 cwerdna, Jul 16, 2009
  5. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    The lower part of the car has an anticorrosion coating, which is rippled. The paint went over that. Perhaps you just didn't notice it earlier. Pearl has been washed a lot more than your car, and it hasn't changed.

    Usually the sounds are caused by something in the console or glovebox. At least with my car. Note that the shelf in the glovebox can rattle. I wrapped mine with tool box mesh.

    Have you had an oil change? Using higher viscosity oil will make the engine on/off cycle rougher. It will smooth out as you get more miles on the car. Pearl used to "hunt" for the engine crank position (the car tries to stop the engine at a particular crank angle, and if it fails will bump it until it's there). I haven't heard it doing this for the last year or so.
     
    #5 David Beale, Jul 16, 2009
  6. 2009Prius

    2009Prius A Wimpy DIYer

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    Wow! How did you determine the crank angle? :confused:
     
    #6 2009Prius, Jul 16, 2009
  7. 2009Prius

    2009Prius A Wimpy DIYer

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    It's not intermittent. It's predictable (stage dependent). Search for stages of operation of Prius.
     
    #7 2009Prius, Jul 16, 2009
  8. Evilshin

    Evilshin Member

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    Well the jerkiness as the engine starts at low speeds and when stopped is normal.

    I just explained it to someone here:

    http://priuschat.com/forums/generation-1-prius-discussion/65470-tranaxle-issue.html

    Remember the prius has no hydromatic clutch dampening the engine when you are stopped...
     
    #8 Evilshin, Jul 17, 2009
  9. David Beale

    David Beale Senior Member

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    There is a crank angle sensor on the engine. Prius stops the engine at a specific crank angle so it will start easier/quicker. When new this system has a bit of trouble getting it right first time every time. As the engine wears in and friction drops it seems to do much better.

    But on the topic of unusual or normally unheard sounds, I was just checking the performance of my amateur antenna. To get at the connector I had to remove the hatch floor and the cargo tray, then drive the car out of the garage (for technical reasons). For the first time I heard the relay in the battery box as I turned the car on then later off.
     
    #9 David Beale, Jul 17, 2009
  10. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    I'm well aware of the stages and various documents. Most Prius drivers do not have ScanGauge or anything similar to monitor coolant temp, ignition timing, etc. (I only got my SG <2 months ago.) It may as well be intermittent to them.

    Personally, I have not bothered (nor do I care) to correlate rough ICE shutoffs w/parameters that correspond to stage 3 and to see if it is 100% repro in stage 3 and only occurs in that stage.
     
    #10 cwerdna, Jul 20, 2009
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