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Reacquainted with an old friend

Discussion in 'Generation 1 Prius Discussion' started by pshawfocus, Sep 23, 2018.

  1. Itsmeonprius

    Itsmeonprius Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2018
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    Location:
    Scotland
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Model:
    Active
    Oh and it's a hands free kit too and is very clear.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  2. mroberds

    mroberds Member

    Joined:
    Nov 6, 2010
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
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    I think I've only seen this once on mine, in a similar condition - running downhill in the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. Top speed wasn't that much, maybe 35 mph (55 km/h), but it was steep. I also earned the most regeneration "stars" I've ever seen on the bar graph.

    It sounds like the state of charge of your traction battery did drop relatively low - enough that the control system decided to charge it for longer than usual. Once it satisfied itself with the long charge, it went back to what it was doing. This is just a guess, though.

    From the time I got mine in 2001, my policy has been to take it to a Toyota dealership as little as possible. I did take it in for the 5 free oil changes it came with at the beginning, and was not impressed with the local dealership service departments. (One of them refused to replace the cabin air filter, UNDER WARRANTY, because they had to "take apart the entire dashboard" to replace it. Another one handed me the same line, so I asked if they would at least give me the new filter so I could do it myself. The service writer said yes and then I never got the part.) I have taken it to independent shops (tire shops, a mechanic) to do things that I wasn't prepared to do myself, or couldn't figure out.

    In the US, tires come with a date code molded into the sidewall, and Googling a couple of UK tire shops indicates that tires sold there have the same code. Usually it's in relatively small letters (maybe 6 mm high), close to the wheel. Sometimes it's only on one side of the tire, so check both sides. It will say "DOT" followed by some letters and numbers - the group of 4 numbers together is the date code, two digits for the week and two digits for the year.

    You need the cable and a PC for sure. You can obtain the software from a link here. (The cable I bought came with a CD of the software, but I used the software from the link here instead). My experience in equipping for Techstream about a month ago is here: Attempting to get our original 01 Prius back on the road | PriusChat

    I had an old XP desktop, so I hauled that out to the car. I am told that Vista or 7 also works, but it helps if you have the 32-bit version, and not the 64-bit. The local Craigslist has sellers offering laptops that will run XP from the equivalent of about £25 to £40. If I didn't mind paying a little more, there is a local store that sells used PCs that probably has something suitable. If you get an old PC and you intend to run XP, try to get one that still has a Windows XP license key sticker on it; that's the simplest way, at this point, to get a working XP install.

    Good luck!
     
    pshawfocus likes this.
  3. pshawfocus

    pshawfocus Picard would own a Prius...

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2011
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    Location:
    London, UK
    Vehicle:
    2001 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Booked Harry in for a hybrid health check at the Toyota garage who serviced him during my previous ownership. And....inflated the tyres as having checked the pressures they were all pretty low (I know, car maintenance 101...). That's certainly improved the lightness of the steering! I'll report back on what the garage say but thus far, Harry continues pootling about without incident.
     
    Itsmeonprius likes this.