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Mileage dropped from 51 to 43??

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by klitchfield, Nov 24, 2009.

  1. klitchfield

    klitchfield New Member

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    2009 Prius
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    Hello everyone...new to this site and hoping you can help or give me ideas as to what else I can check to see why my mileage has dropped. I bought a new '09 in May, I was consistently getting 50 mpg. I was stopped at a light and when the engine went to electric it made a noise I had not heard before and had a hard time shutting down. Since then my mileage is only 43 to 44 mpg. It's not cold, tires have the correct pressure, filters are all good, batteries are good and I drive it the same way as I always have. I don't get it.

    Something else that happen...I was going 45 miles per hour, the speedometer jumped to 87 mph and slowly went back to 45 mph.

    Another question, when you let up off the accelerator it feel like it has friction and not the 'glide' feeling someone else was talking about.

    Thank you in advance for any info I can get:confused:
     
    #1 klitchfield, Nov 24, 2009
  2. nerfer

    nerfer A young senior member

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    You don't have a check engine light on do you?
    The first time on each drive that the engine turns off (technically not going "to electric", but the electrical system remains with the engine off), it can do so with a bit of a shudder. After that it's smoother, not sure if that's what you're talking about it, or was it a one-time event?

    Mileage will drop in cooler weather, sometimes significantly if you have a short commute (<10 minutes). So don't expect what you've seen over the summer to remain the same, although in Oregon there's probably not a wide variation in temperatures.

    The speedometer thing is troubling. Maybe a sensor went bad, but I wouldn't expect it to recover. It's possible this is interfering with an engine control that's affecting mileage.

    About the friction/glide thing - to get into the actual glide, you need to leave just a little pressure on the accelerator. If you take your foot completely off, there will be light regenerative braking, in theory to simulate the behavior of the old-fashioned ICE-only vehicles.
     
    #2 nerfer, Nov 24, 2009
  3. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Where is Molalla ?
    One thought: new tyres ?
     
    #3 SageBrush, Nov 24, 2009
  4. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    Another thought. Do they change to a "winter blend" gas in Oregon?
     
    #4 uart, Nov 24, 2009
  5. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Oregon.
    I had to Google it. Probably a native American name. Spent time in Medford, Salem, Brookings, Bend, and Grants Pass . . . but I ain't NEVER heard of Molalla.
    But WELCOME to PC !
    :welcome:

    It's the weather my friend. Snow on the ground means mileage goes down.
    Hey ! Poetry!
    Search threads on "grill blocking" ... the install it, and your mpg's won't drop as much. Same with a block heater.

    .

    .
     
    #5 hill, Nov 25, 2009
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