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2018 Prime Premium Fails NYS Inspection @ 66,000 miles

Discussion in 'Prime Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by johnamerc, Oct 3, 2021.

  1. johnamerc

    johnamerc Junior Member

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    There have never been any check engine lights yet apparently there is a monitor that says I have had a cylinder 4 misfire. I do remember what was probably a misfire in August yet never have had a check engine light. Autozone pulled the codes for me. I have driven 1280 miles since Sept 1 and only about 10 miles in gasoline mode. Autozone suggests replace the Iridium spark plug for starters and drive at least 50 miles in gasoline mode which should reset monitors and so forth. They say the next step is to replace the coil. They only offer them as a set of 4 for around $360 plus tax.
    So much for Iridium plugs lasting 120,000 miles. Of the 66,000 miles driven I estimate 41,000 miles in electric only mode. 14,348 miles driven since last State inspection Sept 2020. Nine of those 12 months show a displayed MPG of 999.9 per month, 1 @ 993.1, another @ 904.1 and the final month was last November 1454 miles @ 283.5. Less than 10 gallons of gas burned in that period. Dipstick shows oil right @ full. I estimate oil to be very clean based on visual inspection.

    My lifetime MPG per dashboard is 175 MPG.

    Ironically my 2010 Prius had a severe problem with cylinder 4 misfire and was just getting only 300 miles per quart of oil when I finally sold it. I spent over $1,500 trying to fix it. Toyota said I should be happy with all the miles I logged. I noticed on line that the 2010 Prius was flagged on the internet as an oil burner after 100,000 miles. As you might sensed, I have never gotten over it

    My next car will certainly be all electric. No more internal combustion engines for me.

    John

    2001 Prius w/ 345,500+ miles; 2 2010 Gen 2s one 287,000 miles and the other around 175,000. 2018 prime premium 66,508 miles. Over 900,000 Prius miles driven . . . .

    Time to move on?
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Have a look at the plugs? I suspect they’ll be fine.
     
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  3. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I would suggest that you should first burn through a whole tank of gas.......or near to it.
    The transient misfire might have been due to the gas in your tank "aging" badly.
    A dose of Techron might be a good idea too.

    Then see if the code is still active.
     
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  4. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    how far back do the inspection computers look?
     
  5. johnamerc

    johnamerc Junior Member

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    Toyota does have a caution in the owners manual about gas aging poorly. I will just bite the bullet and go for a long ride after the battery is at 0% charge and then expecting the code to be cleared.
     
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  6. johnamerc

    johnamerc Junior Member

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    I am very curious about the answer to your question. Will be talking to my favorite mechanic in the morning to see if he can shed any light on the answer to your question.
     
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  7. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    There's no need to put your EV range at 0. unless you want to do it that way. If you push the EV/HV button the ice will fire eventually and keep running if you're at hwy speed like I-81 to Binghamton and back. That should get you down between 3/4 and 1/2 a tank.
    I also doubt there is anything wrong with the car. but you never know.
    Might want to get the inspection at the dealer as long as Autozone didn't clear the code,
    If the dealer was who failed the car forget going back to that one.
     
  8. CooCooCaChoo

    CooCooCaChoo Active Member

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    If it is bad gas that has been sitting simply because it wasn't being used by the ICE, you could try to use a fuel stabilizer.
     
  9. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    NYS inspection must be more thorough than ours to be able to pick up the historical code that did not even trigger the CEL. Our state inspection usually does not even bother with OBDII connection. As long as no light is lit up on the dash, it's good. I think if the CEL never came on when the misfire occurred, my feeling is that resetting the code with any OBDII code reader would erase the past history. And if misfire never happens again after the reset, with new gas and running the engine on HV for a good while, then you may be good to go for the re-inspection. That's what I would do before spending $$ on other things.

    BTW, this topic should be placed in the PRIUS PRIME Maintenance subsection.
     
    #9 Salamander_King, Oct 4, 2021
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2021
  10. FuelMiser

    FuelMiser Senior Member

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    Or can't you just put it in CHARGE mode and it will run continuously, no matter the speed?
     
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  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    in mass, we hook up to obd. you don't have to warm up the engine anymore. i just don't know what history the computer is looking at.
    but after 9 years of mostly ev driving, it has never failed an inspection.
     
  12. ETC(SS)

    ETC(SS) The OTHER One Percenter.....

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    Depends on what your goal is.
    Trading a $20,000 PHEV for a $40,000 BEV because the PHEV failed a state inspection on a technicality might not be the best move juuuust yet.
    I'd at least try to leg things out another year or two in order to see if there might be more government cheese that you can squeeze out of a BEV purchase.

    The economy is kinda stumble-stepping right now, and car supplies are being throttled by supply chain issues.
    That's good news for selling the Prime, but bad news if you're looking at a new BEV.

    The notion that you need new plugs or even a coil-pack doesn't bear inspection for an engine with less than 25,000 miles on it.
    I think that you're dealing with bad gas.....

    Good Luck!
     
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  13. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    And new car itch.
     
  14. vvillovv

    vvillovv Senior Member

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    @FuelMiser Yes, for about 45 minutes or until the traction pack reaches it's cutoff voltage at %80 SOC or somewhere around 355 volts.
    The engine can also be stated (most of time) by pressing the Defroster button. or activating it on the big 11" screen (MFD) in the models that come with that.
     
  15. johnamerc

    johnamerc Junior Member

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    So . . . turns out that the Technician failed to put the new sticker on the windshield and did not print the NYS Inspection report. When I finally got the lowdown 3 days later he printed the "Pass" receipt. All systems fine!

    Mr Sunday was a B. S. artist. Made up the story of the emissions failure.

    One misfire was not enough to fail the emissions test.

    Apparently NY does not fail without a check engine light coming on.

    My car runs flawlessly.

    About 50 miles this month in "Gasoline" mode. More likely as winter sets in here.

    My regular mechanic says " stay away from National Service companies that begin with M." We Have Mavis, Monroe and Midas here.

    My Prime Premium does fill my needs most days.

    I an excited to hear Hertz is buying 100 K Tesla Model 3's. Hoping there are some fairly close to me or near Philly as one son lives in Collegeville and I could take a long trip in EV mode starting there.

    Some fun features are: The heating and A/C systems work when charging. We have maybe 50% of our charging stations here are still free. On a hot day I have been known to visit one of then and press the A/C button on my key FOB and enjoy 10 minutes of coolness. Maybe press it more than once! Combined with two windshield shades (one front and one rear) and the cool down is quick. I place these shields on the outside of the glass and close the doors on the edges to dramatically speed the cool down. This process works well with heat on cold days.

    When I wake up in then morning I press that famous "A/C" button on the FOB once or twice and my car is toasty or cool as needed when I pull out. It only takes 30 seconds to remove both windshield shades and stow in back.

    Unless some unexpected windfall comes my way I am set for now.
     
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  16. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    congrats!(y)
     
  17. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    I don't know about NYC smog laws; but out here - it's very difficult to fail a car for a pending code. If a smog shop is afraid to pass it; they'll tell you to go away and keep your money. This would be a honest shop.
    Years ago, on my old Honda prelude - with dual side draft carbs and miles of vacuum lines under the hood; didn't pass smog. I couldn't believe it didn't pass. I drove it a few blocks to makes sure everything seem to be working correctly and had it tested down the street at another shop. It easily passed; when I compared the two computer readouts it was obvious that someone pulled a vacuum line between the low rev. and high rev. test. Thinking back I remembered that the mechanic was under the hood during the high rev. test. The first shop that failed me, offered to fix the problem for an additional $100. I went back to the first shop and demanded a refund. At first, the owner refused and I asked him who holds the smog license for this shop? Another guy shows up and looks at my computer readouts - neither of them did the smog on my car. I pointed to the other guy in the shop and asked them; are you willing to loose your business and smog licenses over that guy? They promptly refunded my money.
     
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