New here with a new Prius (2004)

congrats and welcome! sounds like your hybrid battery is fine. the 12v has a date code, if you want to find out if it's been replaced. unlikely to be the original, but anything is possible. all the best!

 

Knocking under load is not good. Be aware your car probably eats alot of engine oil so important to monitor it closely till you get a feel exactly how much oil it is eating. Check the oil first thing in the morning before starting the car as all of the oil will have drained back. Drive the car with low oil and it turns the engine dash light on from low oil pressure and its done.

Lots of posts about high mileage "dealer serviced" Prius with blown bottom end bearing assy's. This engine bottom end is splash lubricated like most engines. Oil level below the full line= poor or no splash. They knock under load because the piston /connecting rods have failed from lack of lubrication as the previous owner ran it low on oil. That causes the knock and makes alot of noise like bad exhaust.

Dealer service oil changes are the worst thing ever imho especially on a Prius that starts to get high miles. They will never tell you the oil was low when you roll in so watch it as they don't check the level first and they use the crappiest dino vat oil ever and they always over fill the hell out of it. And your not getting the line tech changing your oil there either.
And lastly and this is the worst since its "dealer serviced" it totally removes any responsibility in the owners mind to crack the hood and check yourself. Why should I? Its dealer serviced.

Go to toyota.com/owners and register the car and using the vin you will see all the dealer service reports the car has ever seen.
See what the car was traded in for.

 

You believe a car salesman? The guy selling you the used car? A full synthetic change at a dealer is about $75. If it was prepaid maintenance its getting the vat. If its the $29.99 expose me to every upsell you got special it got the vat.

Trying to help you here.
Go to toyota.com and see why the car was traded in and you can see the oil change history too.

The Gen 2 1.5 motor is a really tough little motor and runs great. It should never knock. You drove out of there with a car that has alot of issues. Bad issues. Take it back now and have them address it.

 

With a perfect hybrid battery, you should not be seeing the top two and bottom two charge indicator bars under flat and city driving conditions. But it sounds like what you'd expect for its age and mileage. Listen for fan noise coming from vent at the right side of the back seat. If you hear that under normal driving conditions, it's another sign of a failing hybrid battery. If you really like the car, you should probably budget a hybrid battery in the coming years. The nice thing about that is its portability--you can move the battery to another older Prius with a failing battery. There's good salvage value.

The 12V has probably been changed, maybe twice, by a DIYer or non-dealer. Try to find its year code. Barring that, get it load tested.

There are some reports of exhaust leaks on this forum.

 

How are you checking the oil?

 

Yep, just something to be aware of in the coming months/years.

I drove a Prius for 130K miles in desert mountains. Heat and cycles are a battery's worst enemies. That pretty much toasted the battery, and one of the signs was increasing cooling fan operation, as well as rapid charge cycles in the mountains. The car never left me stranded, and I was able to shop around and salvage a good pack from a wreck for $500 (after selling my old core for $300). That battery is still running fine 50K miles later.

 

Considering the car has 174K miles, it sounds like it is doing well. Congrats on your purchase.

1. The traction battery appears OK based upon your description of the state of charge indicator. A failing battery would show rapid changes in that indicator and a warning icon would appear in the upper left corner of the MFD. When you run the AC compressor, it is normal for the SOC to drop down to one or two bars as the battery gets depleted.

2. The Prius engine sounds like a sewing machine when idling. Your engine probably has some wear associated with the odometer reading. Don't worry about it, but keep an eye on the engine oil level until you understand its oil consumption rate.

3. Get under the car to have the exhaust system inspected, do not delay on that inspection. If you live in an area where winter salt is applied on the roads, it would not be unusual for corrosion to develop.

4. The original 12V battery has a date code located at the center of the battery top, which is obscured by the battery bracket. Measure the voltage across the 12V battery after the car has sat overnight and see what it is. 12.9V is a fully-charged AGM battery, 12.1V is discharged. Obviously, the higher the reading you get, the better. The battery life depends upon the car getting sufficient usage to keep the battery charged or the owner supplementing the charge with a battery charger or tender. If the battery is not taken care of, it may last only 4 years.

 

If you bought this car at an authorized Toyota dealer I assume it was a CPO car you paid extra for.
If CPO they would be more than happy to look at anything your concerned about.

Its rare for a Toyota dealer not to charge a CPO fee for a used Toyota. If at authorized dealer I would have been very suspicious if no CPO was offered.

 

The gen2 requires periodic valve adjustments. Out of spec valve(s) can cause an audible ticking noise.

 

i think you'll be fine. i would go, enjoy the trip, no worries. check your oil periodically, until you're comfortable that it's not losing too much between changes.

 

Valve adjustment is a very involved process including removing camshafts and replacing lifters. Checking the adjustment only requires removal of the valve cover. A good mechanic with a stethoscope should be able to tell you if it's worth even checking. Out-of-adjustment valves could lead to burning a valve and loss of engine compression. It does not seem to be a problem with these engines. There's discussion about it in a "sticky" on this forum about what services are required and what are not.

 

Given the age of the car, you should probably begin setting aside money for a replacement Hybrid Battery. It's not a case of IF it will fail, it is a case of WHEN. A hundred or two dollars a month should get you in a good position before the battery goes. Better to be prepared rather than get stuck without having the money set aside.

 

The single most important thing to get consistent high MPG's is tires.

You need to ensure that when you next get new tires to make sure they are LRR (low rolling resistance) type and are well respected as LRR - it usually means forgoing cheap tires, but not exclusively. Some tire manufacturers like to throw in the LRR label, but in reality they do not perform economically. This thread has some good pointers: Low Rolling Resistance replacement tires: Current List

The next thing to do is get in the habit of checking your tire pressures on a regular basis. People who do not check their tires will usually find they are and have been running under-inflated. Most people find that the Toyota placarded pressures of 35 PSI (Front) and 33 PSI (Rear) are too low, and you will see an MPG benefit (and feel a difference when you are gliding) if you increase the pressures to 39 PSI (Front) and 37 PSI (Rear). After this there is a diminishing return and you will start to see uneven tire wear due to over-inflation. As always it is not an exact science and you may need to vary slightly around these numbers for a number of reasons.

Hope this helps.

 

You probably find that the noise is due to the initial valve setting which is deliberately set to run the engine lean for the first 50 (or so) seconds during the first stage of hybrid warm up. This is to get the engine temp up quicker, and during this stage the car is primarily propelled by the electric motor, unless of course you floor it, which if at all possible should be avoided as a rule.

To that extent, the noisy engine at start-up is normal. Some describe it as the sewing machine stage.

You can read about the "Hybrid Warm up: 5 modes of Prius Operation" by clicking the link in my signature.

Hope this also helps.