Prius Maximum Mileage

[PatW]

Hi all,

I've got a 2010 Prius which I've owned since new, and it's just had it's 100K mile service.

I was thinking in the last couple of years that maybe I should replace it soon, probably because I have some odd rule in my head that you should replace your car before it hits 100k.  I have no idea where I got that from so I probably just made it up years ago or someone in the pub said it or something!

However frankly, I like it and it's never caused me any issues.  I've also ridden in taxis numerous times which were an older prius than mine and appeared to have 200k or even 300k miles on them, and the driver told me it was still on the original Battery.

Therefore I'm hoping maybe to just keep this car going for a few more years.

I'd be interested in any feedback from anyone with 100k plus Prius usage as to whether I can expect increased maintenance bills in the future?

Generally I've been very impressed with this car, hence why I haven't changed it these 9 years.

[PeteB]

I had a 2002 Mk 1 Prius for 9 years, by which time it had 163,000 on the clock.  It ran just fine, but the A/C was playing up, a problem those arose during a year of limited use.  The A/C should be more reliable in subsequent versions because while the Gen 1 used a conventional engine driven compressor, all more recent ones had a sealed electric compressor (which also means they don't need to run the engine on a hot day just for the A/C.

Last I heard the car was still in daily use, but needed a few cells replaced in the HV Battery at around 180k.

[Catlover]

Do remember that a Prius can run a lot of the time on Battery, which means whilst the running gear is in use all the time, the engine is not. During the summer my Prius is about 54% on Battery, therefore 46% on engine. So apply that to your 100k mile Prius, the engine has only done 46,000 - so thats still young. The HV Battery should be good, do you get it Toyota tested every year? with the extra 1 year warrant that gives you? If so thats the HV battery sorted.  Tyres, exhaust, wheel bearings, brakes are all conventional wear products, actually, thinking about it, the exhaust is conventional as it will only be gassed up 46% of the time. Logically, a lot of life left in your Prius, just like those taxi drivers cars.

[PatW]

1 hour ago, Catlover said:

Do remember that a Prius can run a lot of the time on battery, which means whilst the running gear is in use all the time, the engine is not. During the summer my Prius is about 54% on battery, therefore 46% on engine. So apply that to your 100k mile Prius, the engine has only done 46,000 - so thats still young. The HV battery should be good, do you get it Toyota tested every year? with the extra 1 year warrant that gives you? If so thats the HV battery sorted.  Tyres, exhaust, wheel bearings, brakes are all conventional wear products, actually, thinking about it, the exhaust is conventional as it will only be gassed up 46% of the time. Logically, a lot of life left in your Prius, just like those taxi drivers cars.

Yes I have had it serviced by Toyota througout.

Thanks for the comments.

One question - how do you know that your Prius runs exactly 54% on engine in the summer - is that average data supplied by Toyota or is there a way to download that information form the car itself?

[PeteB]

1 minute ago, PatW said:

...how do you know that your Prius runs exactly 54% on engine in the summer...

It's on one of the many screen of data available on the Gen 4 Prius.

It's likely earlier generation of the Hybrid system did slightly less time on electric only, but still enough to be significant.

[PatW]

Just now, PeteB said:

It's on one of the many screen of data available on the Gen 4 Prius.

It's likely earlier generation of the Hybrid system did slightly less time on electric only, but still enough to be significant.

OK thanks - I guess my earlier version doesn't have that screen.

[PeteB]

12 minutes ago, PatW said:

OK thanks - I guess my earlier version doesn't have that screen.

No, Gen 4 was first.

Alas, it's not on the new Gen 5 RAV4 I'm waiting for either, sadly far fewer screens of info compared to even much earlier Prius.

[Catlover]

23 minutes ago, PatW said:

Yes I have had it serviced by Toyota througout.

Thanks for the comments.

One question - how do you know that your Prius runs exactly 54% on engine in the summer - is that average data supplied by Toyota or is there a way to download that information form the car itself?

As Pete B said, its something that can be seen on a screen on the Gen4, but I did have a Gen3 before that, I bought it, as my first Prius, with 100k on the clock, previous 2 years it was a taxi in Liverpool and had done 50k in those 2 years. Loved it so much 6 month later with 105k on the clock I traded it in against a nearly 2 year old Prius Excel.

[Anthony Poli]

From personnel experience, 100,000 isn’t much these days. I have only replaced my cars when something really expensive was required. Mpg falling is a sign that you might consider changing cars.




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[PeteB]

6 hours ago, PatW said:

...how do you know that your Prius runs exactly 54% on engine in the summer...

 

5 hours ago, PeteB said:

It's on one of the many screen of data available on the Gen 4 Prius...

This one - you can get stats for Trip A/B, Odo (since reset) and since start.

[QuantumFireball]

My 2012 Plug-in logs the EV Driving Ratio too, which is currently around 38% - but this doesn't take into account when running in HV mode (like a normal Prius) with the ICE off.

At 100k miles I think it might be good to clean out the EGR valve pipe and cooler, as these tend to get blocked up and have been known to lead to head gasket failure if they're seriously blocked (due to excessive temperature in that area). Probably worth checking the intake manifold too as they can get fouled with oil.

It's fairly well known that these engines suffer from poorly designed piston rings (fixed sometime around 2015), so keep an eye on oil consumption.

I see a lot of American Prius owners talk about changing the transmission fluid - does anyone bother over here? Toyota claim it's good for life, but many are not so sure about that...

[PeteB]

6 minutes ago, QuantumFireball said:

...American Prius owners talk about changing the transmission fluid - does anyone bother over here? Toyota claim it's good for life, but many are not so sure about that...

 

[Gerg]

2 hours ago, QuantumFireball said:

I see a lot of American Prius owners talk about changing the transmission fluid - does anyone bother over here? Toyota claim it's good for life, but many are not so sure about that...

I did change the transmission oil in our Auris a couple of years ago as per this link:-

The old oil looked a bit dark.  I did leave it to settle in a container for about a month or so, and it did become two distinguishable layers!  I wasn't able to draw any debris to a very strong magnet placed against the bottle, though.

In a conventional auto I thought it was the brake bands that were locally overheating/stressing the oil, eventually turning it the dark brown colour that indicated that it had got too hot (bad).  On a normal auto box I always took brown oil to be in indicator of a change required. 

Obviously, that isn't the case in this transmission,, there are no brake bands etc. But then this oil is also serving the differential as well, so extra work for the oil there.   By way of a (strange) comparison, I have an old MX5 NC, when I changed the diff. oil on that for the first time (very early - 25,000m, about 0.8 litres iirc, scheduled oil change is 40K, maybe 50K), the old oil had a really surprising amount of fine metallic debris, and yet those gears are in a constant mesh, and this wasn't a limited slip differential either.  I made a mental note that I would change it again before schedule (this has not happened yet!).  By comparison, the manual box on that car had its oil changed for the first time at the same mileage and it was really clean,  Not what I expected .  When I have changed transmission oils in other fwd cars, the amount of visible debris is disappointingly small; there hardly seemed any point to it. I'd say the Auris, judging by the oil in the picture, was a worthwhile job by the same scale.

Maybe the HSD oil does get worked/loaded quite hard in spite of its simplicity?  I am probably going to change the oil on a 55,000m Auris hybrid soon, a first time change, I'll let you know what the oil it looks like.  The genuine Toyota oil is available for £10.50 a litre delivered, the fill/drain plug washers are about £4 a pair fwiw.

I think one change, at least, is worthwhile just to remove all the particles from running-in.  I have no doubt that the transmissions will not fail without it, but I have been in some high-mileage Prius taxis with whiny transmissions, I'd think an oil change would've pushed that noise occurrence further along the line for these cars.  By the time you hear a whine, you've left it too late.  The transmission's serenity is one of the high points of this car, I like working towards preserving it, and changing the oil is all I can do.

Excuse the getting sidetracked.

HTH.

[PatW]

3 hours ago, QuantumFireball said:

My 2012 Plug-in logs the EV Driving Ratio too, which is currently around 38% - but this doesn't take into account when running in HV mode (like a normal Prius) with the ICE off.

At 100k miles I think it might be good to clean out the EGR valve pipe and cooler, as these tend to get blocked up and have been known to lead to head gasket failure if they're seriously blocked (due to excessive temperature in that area). Probably worth checking the intake manifold too as they can get fouled with oil.

It's fairly well known that these engines suffer from poorly designed piston rings (fixed sometime around 2015), so keep an eye on oil consumption.

I see a lot of American Prius owners talk about changing the transmission fluid - does anyone bother over here? Toyota claim it's good for life, but many are not so sure about that...

Shouldn't these jobs be done by the Toyota dealer as part of regular servicing if they are needed?

[FROSTYBALLS]

21 minutes ago, PatW said:

Shouldn't these jobs be done by the Toyota dealer as part of regular servicing if they are needed?

Checking the EGR has never been part of Toyota's standard service regime, and the same applies to other marques we've owned. Certainly if problems occur they can be checked at additional cost.

[TonyHSD]

Intake manifold, egr are common problems on some cars that are mostly driven in towns on short journeys infrequently, and may require cleaning more often than a cars that are regularly used on motorways and long hours of driving like taxi etc, however with the time and mileage in both cases cleaning will be needed. Toyota dealers doesn’t do cleaning but change and it’s expensive. DIY person can save some cash doing it itself or take a car to independent garage for cleaning. I don’t think there is any maximum mileage that so far been reached buy many drivers and their cars are dead, with proper maintenance and carful driving I think those cars are able to go long miles before major repairs are needed, and this is the most and number one reason Toyota hybrids are so popular with taxis around the globe.

Cheers