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MPG drop from 65mpg to 35mpg in the last 4 weeks

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Steveurie, Jan 28, 2023.

  1. Steveurie

    Steveurie New Member

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    My MPG has dramatically dropped from 65mpg to 35-40mpg in a month. The car has been running a little rough, which I thought might be the cause, but I have just had it serviced, and the mpg is still very low. Any tips please on other possible causes?

    2010 Prius.

    Thanks
    Steve
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    have you cleaned the egr circuit? how many miles on her?

    a lot of things can reduce prius mpg, but dragging brakes is an obvious one.

    running a little rough can be plugs/coils/injectors or even a minor head gasket leak
     
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    What’s the miles? London Ontario or England?
     
  4. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Are those MPG numbers from a built-in display........or from actually dividing miles driven by gallons used ?

    It is HIGHLY unlikely that you EVER really got 65 MPG for anything but a short "perfect" drive.

    When you reset the MPG calculation, it is common to come up with an unrealistically high number for the first 5 miles or so, which then "averages out" the more you drive.

    I think your 35-40 is "normal" and does NOT indicate a problem.
     
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  5. Steveurie

    Steveurie New Member

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    I have changed the air filter, but no change. There are 100,000 miles on her. Miles are from the display, however I regularly reset it and try my best to get perfect drives where possible, and for the first few months I was getting on average 485 miles on a full tank, now I’m getting more like 350…. A huge difference. There seems to be a lot of possible causes, which will probably be quite costly to diagnose the problem, which is a shame.
     
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  6. AzusaPrius

    AzusaPrius Senior Member

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    Disconnect the 12v battery for 10 minutes.
     
  7. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    IF......you were not doing the math......miles divided by gallons.......then you are just chasing a ghost here.
    Something might have changed causing you to not be able to fill the tank completely.

    It is a shame that you actually believe that you EVER were getting a true 65 MPG.......or anywhere close to that.......because it just is not possible with normal driving.

    AND.....are you really quoting MILES per US GALLON.......or something metric ??
     
    #7 sam spade 2, Feb 1, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2023
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  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    It would be helpful of OP could clarify: London, Ontario, Canada, or London, England. The latter has a bigger gallon.
     
  9. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    It's amazing how many people have trouble grasping this sort of thing just like flipping on the consumption screen and believing you're getting 94 miles to the gallon yeah for a 1/10 of a second etc but these conversations will go on until the next big thing easy or whatever and then we'll be talking about front ends falling off cars and charging 10 times a day in the winter. Big fun
     
  10. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    I’ll
    Come back later and post my summer 67 MPG for 9,999 miles photo
     
  11. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    Sure. You do that.
    And I, for one, won't believe it for a split second.
     
  12. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    I think @Grit's on the level, but IIRC he takes some extreme measures, weight reduction for starters?
     
  13. ASRDogman

    ASRDogman Senior Member

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    IF you drive slow enough, you can get great fuel mileage...
    It's a persons normal everyday driving that counts...
     
  14. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    9,999 miles would be amazing at slow speed
     
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  15. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    especially if you have to pay someone
     
  16. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    I'm surprised no-one has mentioned fuel - moving from 100% gasoline to 10%-15% ethanol doped gasoline can cause a drastic change in mpg. Though a consistent 65 mpg average on a 3nd gen seems to be a bit of a stretch.

    I just did the math and it doesn't work out. 485miles/65mpg=7.5 gallons; 7.5gal*40mpg=300miles. 50 miles shy of the second tank full stated. 47mpg would yield the stated 350 miles a tank; which seems to be a more normalized number for a gen 3.
     
    #16 BiomedO1, Feb 2, 2023
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2023
  17. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    This was the halfway mark photo on my phone. , the 9999 miles at 67 mpg photo is archived on a computer which I’ll have to find the photo this weekend. I’m sobering up from from the purple wine staying up a bit later than usual to find the photos and searching the forum here because I posted the photo once

    D3025349-E3D3-41F1-A0EA-72C729B8498A.jpeg
     
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  18. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    Add downhill only driving also!
     
  19. nicoj36

    nicoj36 Active Member

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    Get a chevron fuel system cleaner and do this reset.
     
  20. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I guess that depends on your definition of "drastic".

    The commonly accepted figure is 3%.

    So if you were getting 45, the fuel alone could account for a drop to 43.6.
    Not quite drastic in my book.