Hybrid Maintanence

[k9master]

So today I overtook a prius driven by a moron with his windows down when it was nice and cool. Talk about lengths people go to save gas... anywya, after he got a splash of the Old Alfa Juice overtaking him next to a puddle, I am sure he will drive with his windows up from now on.

What a dick.

[toyota sucks]

So today I overtook a prius driven by a moron with his windows down when it was nice and cool. Talk about lengths people go to save gas... anywya, after he got a splash of the Old Alfa Juice overtaking him next to a puddle, I am sure he will drive with his windows up from now on.

What a dick.

Next time i see one i'm doing the same so prius owners u won't save enough by using natural air condition to do an interor cleaning

[dilku]

I have one big big question.......

In the Sri Lankan context, what will be the resale value of a hybrid?

Those 2007 Hybrids that are being imported to Sri Lanka are on the way to die .Considering how the sri lankan chaps using those without agent's backing it will die within 6 months time.So no resale value at all.Who is going to buy an almost dead DOLL ?

[rover]

Thanks all u guys for the comments and advice, though still i'm optimistic that I can get away with a low cost repair, although the bearing noise is not present allways and only heard when turning a sharp corner at high speed. I can get a couple of hundred miles more to see if the situation worsens.Any way 4 u r information, i did 3 months of reserch before buying my prius so i knew the pros and cons of owning a hybrid, and my final conclusion from all facts and figures that I collated during these months is that the prius is a low maintenance vehicle compared to other types, no matter what people say. Anyway it is true that we cant expect the same durability in conditions like Sri lanka and the prius is still under test in this country so we can see the outcome in a few months time.

So I finally solved the problem. And the cost for me was Rs 00000.00/-.And less than an hour of my free time at home.

The noise was in fact a scraping noise coming when the car is making a sharp turn to the left, So i removed the right front wheel to investigate by myself, and what i found was that the deflector plate(A thin plate which I think is there to sheild the brake disc from splashing water or other stuff, correct me if I'm wrong) which was slightly touching the brake disk. I bent the plate little away from it by hand, and that solved the problem.

So finally it was a zero cost repair for me, and I'm off for my long weekend trip downsouth. Adios!

Edited May 6, 2011 by rover

[Californikan]

Does anyone knows a reliable place for maintanance and checking of hybrid cars like the prius. I heard that toyota lanka are planning to open up a special workshop for these vehicles. I'm asking this is that i have recently bought a toyota prius and i'm suspecting that one of front wheel bearings needs replacement.

Oh dear. That bearing is a killer to remove and replace. I head that it may cost up to USD700, plus you need to add the oil seal, locking ring and spring washer also. Besides I doubt if anyone here has the press to pop that sucker out.

Besides when you do any repairs on a Prius you need to keep it inside a Faraday cage to prevent the delicate electronics from frying due to static grounding.

Why do you think despite it's global success, Toyota Lanka never brought them down all this time>? The initial outlay just to support a Prius far exceed that of selling them.

oh i see.... man.. so the PRI-ASS has hidden costs... ohhh... hope the owners will not have to resort to selling thier A** to maintain thier PRI-ASS's....

No matter how solid or proven Toyota technology and quality is, whole hybrid technology, from the engine (atkinson cycle) to the tire are new inventions and being tested and improved, I say it again, being improved. That's why the Gen 3 is somewhat better than the Gen 1 so to speak. Whilst agreeing to charitha's comments about the usage or in automobile manufacturer's term, it's terrain. Countries like GB are classified as Soft Terrain and Sri Lanka is classified as Hard Terrain, Dusty Atmostphere. So, what you import from UK are the ones made for soft terrains and that shows why it fails in hard terrained, pothole filled roads in SL.

DAMN!...I fail to see the 'savings' you get from the hybrids in SL.I mean they cost as much as an Axio/3,sometimes even more.Then the spare parts are nearly twice as expensive.Surely the money saved from its great fuel consumption alone cannot compensate for all those extra expenses...tell me people are not the that stupid.

So I finally solved the problem. And the cost for me was Rs 00000.00/-.And less than an hour of my free time at home.

The noise was in fact a scraping noise coming when the car is making a sharp turn to the left, So i removed the right front wheel to investigate by myself, and what i found was that the deflector plate(A thin plate which I think is there to sheild the brake disc from splashing water or other stuff, correct me if I'm wrong) which was slightly touching the brake disk. I bent the plate little away from it by hand, and that solved the problem.

So finally it was a zero cost repair for me, and I'm off for my long weekend trip downsouth. Adios!

[Pericles]

You better hope you are right on the purpose of the thing. If its there in relation to the regenerative braking function.... Coz I'll tell you, I've never seen any brake disk that needed shielding from water splashing. Generally there are things to cool brakes, air ducts for vented disks, etc. But who knows, maybe the hybrid likes hot brakes to reclaim energy from or summin.

[jdnet]

californikan, are you trying to prove that prius' don't need repairs, by qouting peoples posts? you are more retarded than I figured you out to be. It is a fact that parts for the prius cost a lot more and it is a fact that repairs will arise. Probably about 75% of our roads a crap, with pot hole after pot hole and leads us all to change out suspension parts lng before people in other countries do. It is also a fact that cars such as the prius are more delicate and have higher overall damage in low-speed collisions (the most common here) and since what we have in our market are not designed for us, the rate at which parts such as ball joints, shocks, etc. will wear is higher.

On top of all these spare parts for hybrids cost a lot more than their counterparts, it is in part due to the low availability of non-toyota parts and people setting higher prices for parts just because it's a prius. This is something neither you nor I can change so when one buys a hybrid it is to be expected that he would pay more for replacing wear parts and pay a lot more in case of an accident (both high and low speed).

Considering the cost of everything I would only expect the prius or similar models to have a higher chance of bieng condemed after an accident.

Before you try to qoute people to make is seem like hybrids are cheap to fix please do some fact checking without acting like a complete retard. I know you must think you are some eco-hero-wannabe thing but the fact is that you are an idiot who just googles pictures of cars and posts it on the ste and act like you know how about the mechanical side of cars. The fact is that you probably don't know a the difference between a drive train and a train that travels on rails.n If I were you I would just stick to googling pretty pictures of cars and leave the car mechanical talk to the rest of the members on the forum.

[MasterDon]

Yeah I was wondering where he was going by quoting our posts.Well lets hope that all Prii can be mended by bending a plate.

So I finally solved the problem. And the cost for me was Rs 00000.00/-.And less than an hour of my free time at home.

The noise was in fact a scraping noise coming when the car is making a sharp turn to the left, So i removed the right front wheel to investigate by myself, and what i found was that the deflector plate(A thin plate which I think is there to sheild the brake disc from splashing water or other stuff, correct me if I'm wrong) which was slightly touching the brake disk. I bent the plate little away from it by hand, and that solved the problem.

So finally it was a zero cost repair for me, and I'm off for my long weekend trip downsouth. Adios!

If I were you I'd wouldn't DIY anything on my Hybrid yet.Considering the delicate technology,the scarcity of spare parts.Wait atleast a couple more years for them to establish themselves here,then atleast you'll be ok If you cocked up.

[harshansenadhir]

californikan, are you trying to prove that prius' don't need repairs, by qouting peoples posts? you are more retarded than I figured you out to be. It is a fact that parts for the prius cost a lot more and it is a fact that repairs will arise. Probably about 75% of our roads a crap, with pot hole after pot hole and leads us all to change out suspension parts lng before people in other countries do. It is also a fact that cars such as the prius are more delicate and have higher overall damage in low-speed collisions (the most common here) and since what we have in our market are not designed for us, the rate at which parts such as ball joints, shocks, etc. will wear is higher.

On top of all these spare parts for hybrids cost a lot more than their counterparts, it is in part due to the low availability of non-toyota parts and people setting higher prices for parts just because it's a prius. This is something neither you nor I can change so when one buys a hybrid it is to be expected that he would pay more for replacing wear parts and pay a lot more in case of an accident (both high and low speed).

Considering the cost of everything I would only expect the prius or similar models to have a higher chance of bieng condemed after an accident.

Before you try to qoute people to make is seem like hybrids are cheap to fix please do some fact checking without acting like a complete retard. I know you must think you are some eco-hero-wannabe thing but the fact is that you are an idiot who just googles pictures of cars and posts it on the ste and act like you know how about the mechanical side of cars. The fact is that you probably don't know a the difference between a drive train and a train that travels on rails.n If I were you I would just stick to googling pretty pictures of cars and leave the car mechanical talk to the rest of the members on the forum.

very well said JD and this hero wannabe was completely silent about the mechanical issue the owner came up with and replied to the thread as if he was eagerly waiting for the OP to reply and probably would've kept on checking this thread every 5 minutes time. OP could be lucky or as Peri said he had only seen the tip of the ice berg and got away with it for the time being. Whatever said and done, it's a FACT that mechanical, electrical expertise to maintain/service hybrids is not available locally and no one can deny that FACT, so all who jump into the band wagen now must be with shivering knees on the huge pay off if anything goes wrong, best example is my friend's car which is still with agents.

[jdnet]

If I were you I'd wouldn't DIY anything on my Hybrid yet.Considering the delicate technology,the scarcity of spare parts.Wait atleast a couple more years for them to establish themselves here,then atleast you'll be ok If you cocked up.

You are absolutely right. The prius is not a DIY car. a lot of bad things can happen if you go in without knowing what the heck you need to do. Also any work requires the

This almost makes me want to open up my prius shop manual and find out what he bent. Too lazy right now. though.

For those of you trying to play hero for the love of god take out the fuse before meddling with the car.

[The Don]

I think in a general sense, everything will depend on how popular Hybrids, or a particular model of Hybrid prove to be and if the agents decide to officially support it.

Just because something is a new technology and that people and our mechanics don't currently understand it does not mean it will be a failure in our market, or impossible to live with in the longer term. When fuel injection systems first came in, and automatic transmissions were introduced, we had exactly the same problems, and judging by how popular autos have become things may yet work out for the hybrids in the longer term.

But a few things we can't get away from are.

1. Hybrids will on most cases require expert care when they brake down. Even for mechanical repairs at the initial stages, it will require people who are familiar with the technology and the vehicles to work on them to resolve problems. But this is an issue that will get resolved over time as expertise is developed and becomes widespread.

2. The battery will require replacement. How quickly the batteries lose their efficiency only time will tell.

3. The parts for current hybrids are quite expensive. This is a problem overseas as well. I noted on Warranty direct that while the Prius is a very reliable car, when it does go in for repairs the bill is a lot higher compared to conventional vehicles of the same class (I am not talking exotics here). Now this will obviously improve as Hybrids become more main stream but for now this is a problem.

So I do not quite agree with people who promote Hybrids as the ideal vehicle, though I'm a little more optimistic than some who believe they will be a complete failure and utter menace to live with.

And to Rover, mate, I'm glad you resolved your problem and you were lucky it was something simple (and I say it in a general sense, not because your car is a prius) !

[jdnet]

@don. I think you may have misunderstood us a bit here. We were in no way saying that hybrids will not be popular or there won't be people to fix it in the future. What we are saying is that at this moment the cost of spares and the lack of experienced mechanics wll make it a bad investment right now. In a few years that will all change, but, what people should be worried about is the fact that there isn't any qualified person to fix their car should it break down this evening.

[rover]

You better hope you are right on the purpose of the thing. If its there in relation to the regenerative braking function.... Coz I'll tell you, I've never seen any brake disk that needed shielding from water splashing. Generally there are things to cool brakes, air ducts for vented disks, etc. But who knows, maybe the hybrid likes hot brakes to reclaim energy from or summin.

It was the stone guard that I was refering to (just googled and confirmed it), and dont say that other ordinary cars dont have it cos my previous cars had it. All the components which I saw after removing the wheel was same like in any other car(brake discs, ABS, drive shaft, boots, shocks,etc etc..) and the regenerative braking has nothing to do with the wheels, It is only when you apply brakes lightly the electic motor acts as a generator and converts kinetic energy into electricity and stores it in the battery for later use. The life time of the brake pads in a hybrid is much more than in a conventional car because of this.

[Californikan]

californikan, are you trying to prove that prius' don't need repairs

Absolutely not. Of course, the Prius and all cars need repairs, duh.

Before you try to qoute people to make is seem like hybrids are cheap to fix please

Again, I never said or insinuated that. You are now making things up.

you are more retarded than I figured

do some fact checking without acting like a complete retard.

you are an idiot

Here we go again. Once again you bring this forum to a new low with your hostility and name calling.

Long time members of AL said in that other thread said they stopped posting on AL because of the negativity of some posters. Yet you don't seem to be capable of stopping yourself from calling people names. It's a shame because you have good knowledge, but you ruin it with your intolerance, hostility and anger.

And this is the point of my quotations: Just to highlight how the OP asked a legitimate question and SOME posters mocked him, made fun of him, and called him names, and as we learned, jumped to all kinds of incorrect conclusions.

The truth is no one know what hybrid reliability and maintainence costs will be over time. It'll take at least a year if not a few years to get a clear picture. So instead of jumping to conclusions and name calling, lets have an open mind.

[Californikan]

very well said JD and this hero wannabe was completely silent about the mechanical issue the owner came up with and replied to the thread as if he was eagerly waiting for the OP to reply and probably would've kept on checking this thread every 5 minutes time. OP could be lucky or as Peri said he had only seen the tip of the ice berg and got away with it for the time being. Whatever said and done, it's a FACT that mechanical, electrical expertise to maintain/service hybrids is not available locally and no one can deny that FACT, so all who jump into the band wagen now must be with shivering knees on the huge pay off if anything goes wrong, best example is my friend's car which is still with agents.

Actually, the OP's question about Prius wheel bearings was answered quickly on the first page of this thread...

are hybrids' wheel bearings that much different from normal cars' wheel bearings?

as far as i know the battery system is the only different. Wheel bearings is same as a normal car. ...

I don't think there will be special service centers for hybrids.Other than the hybrid system, almost everything not having a major difference from a normal sedan.for your wheel bearings replacement, any reliable place who does that work will be fine.

Not sure why you didn't notice this before writing that speech on the other thread about how no one helped this guy

[harshansenadhir]

Actually, the OP's question about Prius wheel bearings was answered quickly on the first page of this thread...

Not sure why you didn't notice this before writing that speech on the other thread about how no one helped this guy

do you think the quoted posts were of any help to OP? since you were desperately promoting hybrids I was expecting an equivilent level response in helping OP and was highlighting that. BTW, do you own a hybrid? before advising anyone else to buy ?

Edited May 6, 2011 by harshansenadhir

[toyota sucks]

All the components which I saw after removing the wheel was same like in any other car(brake discs, ABS, drive shaft, boots, shocks,etc etc..)

So you saw ABS when you removed the wheel.

I've never seen it in any of my normal vehicles.

So the drive shaft or brake disk must be made from ABS plastic in the P-Use (prius) vehicles

Edited May 7, 2011 by toyota sucks

[rover]

Absolutely not. Of course, the Prius and all cars need repairs, duh.

Again, I never said or insinuated that. You are now making things up.

Here we go again. Once again you bring this forum to a new low with your hostility and name calling.

Long time members of AL said in that other thread said they stopped posting on AL because of the negativity of some posters. Yet you don't seem to be capable of stopping yourself from calling people names. It's a shame because you have good knowledge, but you ruin it with your intolerance, hostility and anger.

And this is the point of my quotations: Just to highlight how the OP asked a legitimate question and SOME posters mocked him, made fun of him, and called him names, and as we learned, jumped to all kinds of incorrect conclusions.

The truth is no one know what hybrid reliability and maintainence costs will be over time. It'll take at least a year if not a few years to get a clear picture. So instead of jumping to conclusions and name calling, lets have an open mind.

Amen to that!

[The Don]

The truth is no one know what hybrid reliability and maintainence costs will be over time. It'll take at least a year if not a few years to get a clear picture. So instead of jumping to conclusions and name calling, lets have an open mind.

In that case stop blindly promoting a technology and a vehicle when nobody knows the long term implications of purchasing one in Sri Lanka yet. Remember in Sri Lanka most people think of vehicles as investments not mere machines to go from point A to point B. You are guilty of the same thing you are accusing everybody else of !

One must remind themselves, unlike in Europe (where Toyotas are sold with a 5 year warranty, a separate warranty on the battery and a guaranteed buy back value after the expiration of the warranty)these vehicles are being sold with NO warranty and no support from the official dealership in the country. While as some might consider the benefits outweigh the risks and decide to purchase one that is their call and they might well be proved right in the coming days !

But what we should be doing is helping them make an informed decision and giving them a balanced view not bombarding them with propaganda which is frankly what you are doing !

Enough said !

[jdnet]

Absolutely not. Of course, the Prius and all cars need repairs, duh.

Again, I never said or insinuated that. You are now making things up.

Here we go again. Once again you bring this forum to a new low with your hostility and name calling.

Long time members of AL said in that other thread said they stopped posting on AL because of the negativity of some posters. Yet you don't seem to be capable of stopping yourself from calling people names. It's a shame because you have good knowledge, but you ruin it with your intolerance, hostility and anger.

And this is the point of my quotations: Just to highlight how the OP asked a legitimate question and SOME posters mocked him, made fun of him, and called him names, and as we learned, jumped to all kinds of incorrect conclusions.

The truth is no one know what hybrid reliability and maintainence costs will be over time. It'll take at least a year if not a few years to get a clear picture. So instead of jumping to conclusions and name calling, lets have an open mind.

About making things up: then tell us why you qouted those posts please.

As for what those long time members said while I agree with them, you are a special case. You are one of our resident retards so the usual rules do't apply.

Stop playing the innocent little p***y part. You have been posting useless propaganda about hybrids since you joined this site. You did not help OP with his problem but when the OP said it's a simple fix you just started qouting people to make it seem like hybrids are problem free. You are a special kind of idiot and I really wonder what your motives are.

BTW if you think I have a personal thing against hybrids, you are wrong. I've been studying about them for quite sometime now. Actual mechanical and repair stuff, not useless pictures like you do, so I think I know a little more than you about the topic. I'm not saying I'm an expert right now, but I'm probably once compared to you.

Anyway, you can swing this any way you like. The fact remains that you are a R-Grade member or this site.

[Californikan]

About making things up: then tell us why you qouted those posts please.

As for what those long time members said while I agree with them, you are a special case. You are one of our resident retards so the usual rules do't apply.

Stop playing the innocent little p***y part. You have been posting useless propaganda about hybrids since you joined this site. You did not help OP with his problem but when the OP said it's a simple fix you just started qouting people to make it seem like hybrids are problem free. You are a special kind of idiot and I really wonder what your motives are.

BTW if you think I have a personal thing against hybrids, you are wrong. I've been studying about them for quite sometime now. Actual mechanical and repair stuff, not useless pictures like you do, so I think I know a little more than you about the topic. I'm not saying I'm an expert right now, but I'm probably once compared to you.

Anyway, you can swing this any way you like. The fact remains that you are a R-Grade member or this site.

Can you read? Can you absorb what others say?

Let me repeat what I said:

And this is the point of the quotations: Just to highlight how the OP asked a legitimate question and SOME posters mocked him, made fun of him, and called him names, and as we learned, jumped to all kinds of incorrect conclusions.

The truth is no one know what hybrid reliability and maintainence costs will be over time. It'll take at least a year if not a few years to get a clear picture. So instead of jumping to conclusions and name calling, lets have an open mind.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Californikan

[harshansenadhir]

Can you read? Can you absorb what others say?

Let me repeat what I said:

its you who can't absorb things or understand what others say. In this same post you accepted that hybrid maintenance aint established yet and it'll take time, all senior members saying is its not the right time for hybrids and Don very well illustrated why.

Read those posts, try to absorb those without blindly promoting hybrids. Further don't think that hybrid thread are all yours and you can play chicken on those. Its most of senior members duty to correct misinformation, biased promotion for the betterment of rest of the community, so them and moderators will always try to correct those and avoid misleading others.

[Californikan]

I'll just state the obvious.

That in order for adequate hybrid support services (parts, mechanics and garages who are knowledgeable, etc) to develop in Sri Lanka there has to be a certain number of hybrids on the road.

It's pure supply and demand. If there are ten hybrids in all of Sri Lanka then, of course, shops aren't going to stock parts and mechanics aren't going bother to learn about servicing hybrids. But when there are thousands being imported, then demand is automatically being created for expertise and support services and the market will respond with supply - stocking parts and garages learning about servicing hybrids.

So the doubters and naysayers are correct in saying that the thousands of hybrid owners are being early adopter guinea pigs.

But what they are not saying is that these new hybrid owners are also the ones creating demand for the development of hybrid expertise and support services in Sri Lanka, and paving the way for the future in Sri Lanka.

[The Don]

I'll just state the obvious.

That in order for adequate hybrid support services (parts, mechanics and garages who are knowledgeable, etc) to develop in Sri Lanka there has to be a certain number of hybrids on the road.

It's pure supply and demand. If there are ten hybrids in all of Sri Lanka then, of course, shops aren't going to stock parts and mechanics aren't going bother to learn about servicing hybrids. But when there are thousands being imported, then demand is automatically being created for expertise and support services and the market will respond with supply - stocking parts and garages learning about servicing hybrids.

So the doubters and naysayers are correct in saying that the thousands of hybrid owners are being early adopter guinea pigs.

But what they are not saying is that these new hybrid owners are also the ones creating demand for the development of hybrid expertise and support services in Sri Lanka, and paving the way for the future in Sri Lanka.

I don't know whether you figured this bit out, but the only reason why there are Hybrids is because the technology does not currently exist for batteries to hold enough charge for full electrics to be practical for most people. Once this technological hurdle is overcome full electrics will take over as this is the logical progression for this technology.

So frankly the hybrids are just a stop gap solution in the same way glasses based 3D TVs are. Already Nissan has started selling the Leaf in UK which is the first full electric from a mainstream manufacturer.

Also read this article while you are at it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1384129/Diesel-cars-better-hybrids-fuel-efficiency.html

Conventional diesels are already in existence which gets mpg figures on par with Hybrids and on the CO2 frontier. Our country has not benefited because of our crazy tax system.

So this is the balanced view. Hybrids being the future is not a foregone conclusion. It is possible hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles might become the preferred option or we might simply elect for full electrics ! At best the Hybrid is a stop gap .... what we don't know is for how long.

In the end each individual has the right to spend their money whichever way they see fit. But do so after considering facts not propaganda.

Edited May 6, 2011 by The Don

[Californikan]

I don't know whether you figured this bit out, but the only reason why there are Hybrids is because the technology does not currently exist for batteries to hold enough charge for full electrics to be practical for most people. Once this technological hurdle is overcome full electrics will take over as this is the logical progression for this technology.

So frankly the hybrids are just a stop gap solution in the same way glasses based 3D TVs are. Already Nissan has started selling the Leaf in UK which is the first full electric from a mainstream manufacturer.

Also read this article while you are at it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1384129/Diesel-cars-better-hybrids-fuel-efficiency.html

Conventional diesels are already in existence which gets mpg figures on par with Hybrids and on the CO2 frontier. Our country has not benefited because of our crazy tax system.

So this is the balanced view. Hybrids being the future is not a foregone conclusion. It is possible hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles might become the preferred option or we might simply elect for full electrics ! At best the Hybrid is a stop gap .... what we don't know is for how long.

In the end each individual has the right to spend their money whichever way they see fit. But do so after considering facts not propaganda.

Don, I have to tell you I enjoy reading your posts, even if I don't agree with everything you say. Your posts are balanced, considered, well thought out and take the 'big picture' perspective.

Yes, I am aware of what you wrote about above. I have posted in other threads how hybrids are only an interim solution to an eventual zero-emissions electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicle future. And I have driven the Nissan Leaf (in the States). Unfortunately, mass adoption of electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicles are a long long way off in Sri lanka. We don't have the money for the infrastructure and, anyway, almost the entire worldwide electric vehicle and fuel cell vehicles production will go to major markets for the foreseeable future.

Yes, some modern diesels offer similar fuel economy to hybrids. However, the plug-in hybrids that are coming onto the market now offer much better fuel economy that even the best diesels. The Chevy Volt for instance gets real-world fuel economy of 47km/liter (133 mpg-imperial/111mpg-U.S.)

Believe it or not, I personally don't care about hybrids that much. But I do care about the worsening air pollution problem in Sri Lanka that is coming mainly from vehicle emissions. Hybrids are an immediately available solution to Sri Lanka to curb this worsening vehicle emissions problem.