How many miles on your Gen 3 and what Repairs / Maintenance have you done?

People can believe what the want. It doesn't matter.
Whether you believe something or not, it will not change the facts.
There are people who think you can go 20,000 between oil changes, and think there will
be no damage to the engine....

 

2012 Prius 4, 111k miles, about 40k mostly highway since I bought it with 75k July last year. It needed a 12v battery soon after I bought it, it may have been original. $200 I think at Battery Plus.

At 93k miles I think the inverter went out and gave me the check hybrid system warning. Luckily Toyota covered it under the ZE3 extended warranty thing. Gas mileage actually went up after that fix, getting 52mpg indicated fairly regularly.

It had a full 5k oil change history on carfax when I bought it, stuck to that. Those have been the only repairs, I'm due spark plugs and transmission fluid.

Hoping to keep driving it another 10 years. If the battery ever does go out I'll buy an aftermarket one for $1,000, the interior and exterior are super clean and I love the car.

 

Had you got the software update to protect the inverter under sudden acceleration, prior to the inverter failure?

We got the software update, and afterwards found it went into electric-only propulsion easier. I noticed it, didn't say anything about it, and then my wife mentioned she'd noticed it as well. And I would think that could improve mpg.

 

I assume it did, didn't pop as recall work that needed done on my vin. It does seem to pop in and out of electric only mode easier now that I think about it. It's almost like it automatically does the pulse glide thing on the highway. I regularly can hit 52mpg on a tank driving between Florida and Virginia doing 70 on the highway. Consistently hitting around 470 before low fuel comes on.

 

2011 Prius with 240K miles with 98% miles of Hwy driving and about 500 miles of gnarly washboard / gravel routes, single driver
Standard maintenance items at factory recommended intervals (Oil Change every 10K, Engine & Inverter Coolant Service, Spark Plugs Replacement, Transmission Drain & Refill, Air Filter, Cabin Filter Replacements)
Replaced tires at 70K & 160K
Replaced front and rear struts at 190K
Still running original sets of brakes that came with the car. (I use "B" mode quite often to slow down)
Knock on wood, everything works well, besides the regular replacement of head & tail lamps, wiper blades.
The only issue thus far has been the TPMS in a couple of the tires and engine oil consumption of about 1 quart every 2-3K miles

I know I've gotten my money's worth many times over (Car purchased new in 2011 for $24K)

 

So far, at nearly 136k miles, nothing other than normal maintenance items, replacing the disintegrated rubber window trim seals (the things that are supposed to prevent rain and tree trash from falling into the doors), and unclogging the weird drainage path through the taillight. I cleared out the EGR passage of the intake manifold, although that turned out not to be needed much yet.

 

Cool. Engine braking > regenative breaking.

 

At 50k, had the oil catch can system installed.

At 63k:

EGR, Intake manifold, intake ports, Throttle body and EGR Valve cleaned Genuine intake manifold gasket installed EGR to manifold gasket Engine coolant changed with genuine Toyota Antifreeze Coolant New genuine Toyota Denso Spark plugs Transmission Flushed Invertor Fluid flush using genuine Toyota.

Brakes inspected every 5k, still have plenty of miles to roll with the original set.

Oil changed every 5k since hitting 10k. Oil catch can and 63k repairs done by the Hybritpit crew!

Lamarr

 

I just kinda assumed he did it, forgot to mention. But you may be right. Perhaps he should get on it, before the penny drops?

 

I usually wait till 200,000 to replace the shocks and struts on Prius. It makes an enormous difference. I always wish I did it sooner. Replace the sway bar links sway bar bushings the strut and stops and boots while you're there

 

Get a strut spring compressor from harbor freight and do not buy quick struts use your old springs

 

It is best to replace the complete assembly. And the cost is less then buying seperate parts.
The bearings do wear out. And the bumper and strut cover break down over time and heat.
The spring also weakens with age and use.
Should you decide to just replace the strut, you can rent a spring compressor from autozone.
And get your money back when you return it.
It will depend what your money situation is. But the whole assembly is the smart way to go.
And quickest, and safest.

 

Original Owner
212k+

-Software updates (e.g. inverter)
-Head gasket covered under warranty
-replaced 12 volt battery under 175k
-replaced engine water pump at about 175k miles
-thermostat (175k for peace of mind)
-replaced brakes and rotors just under 200k miles
-replaced suspension with Blitz Coilover kit.
(Wish I stuck to the original stock with TRD springs. More comfortable ride).
-other suspension upgrades….

Change all fluids before Toyota scheduled intervals. Including:

-oil changes
-Transaxle fluid
-Engine coolant
-Inverter coolant

change all filters before Toyota scheduled intervals including:

-oil filter
-Engine air filter
-Cabin Air Filter

Prius is running welll after 10 years. Scangauges showing Battery fan and temperature running high on Power Mode and getting less than 40 MPG. I switched back to normal driving mode and I’m now getting at least 45+ MPG and the battery compartment is running cooler with the battery fan running at lower speeds.

That’s it for me!

 

1) No I did not notice much difference after the shocks and struts were changed. I did it preemptively as I did not want to be stuck on some of the access trails / fire roads that I used to frequent. I've known the Prius wheel bearings are not the toughest so did drive slowly on these trails.

2) No Intake manifold or EGR service or whatever; I stuck to the factory recommended service items.

3) The item I did forget to mention is that I replaced the 12v battery somewhere around 170K

4) Up to 190K, all maintenance was done at the Toyota dealership, which I felt was reasonably priced for the area, with prices comparable to the local shops. Whenever the dealership tried to upsell me, I would tell them I am cheap and only want exactly what the factory recommends. After 190K, the dealership ownership changed and with new ownership came higher prices and seemingly lack of attention to detail. Since then I switched to a local shop that seems to get the job done.

5) I am not the Prius driver that goes for hyper miling or fuel efficiency. Instead, I feel like I am constantly late to wherever I need to get to and need to move along expediently in the fast lane.

 

Have a look at the EGR "pipe", the stainless steel pipe between EGR valve and intake manifold, it'll give you some idea what the rest is like. Takes about an hour.

The EGR passages in the intake manifold, and the EGR cooler, tend to be more socket in with carbon than the pipe, fwiw.

If you dive in, see first link in my signature.

I was just checking the pipe, a couple of days back. I’m going to do the plugs soon (12 years coming up), it requires taking wipers and windshield cowl off, so figure it’s an opportune time to revisit EGR.

 

If you didn't notice the difference in ride quality with new shocks I'm guessing you didn't get KYB Excel g did you