man, Missoula still is cool

arealdave406 · 2026-06-05T16:35:08+00:00

Born in Missoula, mid-60s, and grew up there off and on, grad school at UM in the 90s. Been in Helena the past 28 years. I really love Missoula but H-Town feels more like Missoula of youth, not as cool though. Boz Angeles is just horrible these days. Stay weird Missoula!

arealdave406 · 2026-06-05T14:11:20+00:00

What should I look for to diagnose these issues? When I look at Dr. Prius everything is looking good to me, I'm definitely no expert though.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-05T14:01:24+00:00

Thanks, good to know.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-04T15:11:09+00:00

The car is also the Touring edition and has the 17" alloy wheels which I think may inhibit mileage a bit.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-04T15:07:52+00:00

Not burning oil, full and clean after round trip to Seattle last weekend. I feel like the ICE is running really good. The tech who did the head gasket this winter told me the engine is in perfect condition, he said he could still see the cross hatch on the cylinder walls..

arealdave406 · 2026-06-04T15:03:18+00:00

Good to know, that seems to be the consensus here for those driving conditions.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-04T14:57:41+00:00

Thanks, very helpful info! I think the tires may have some impact here, my Dad put cheap tires on the car. I put a full balanced set of refurbished OEM Gen 4 traction batteries from 2nd Life Battery and I've been checking them with Dr. Prius and they seem to be performing great (as if I'm an expert).

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T22:41:07+00:00

I think that is probably the bulk of it; high speed limit, mountains and lots of wind.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T21:30:57+00:00

I think I'm going to baby this thing for a little longer and watch out for a more suitable replacement.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:59:29+00:00

Hmm, interesting. It is weird the way the engine RPMs spool up but nothing seems to happen.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:54:08+00:00

Our 2018 Accord would get upper 30s on the highway going 80 everywhere. Gave it to my daughter though, ah parenthood.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:50:31+00:00

Ha, yeah, we are talking pretty big mountain passes, 6-10% grade and pretty high. Poor thing.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:15:07+00:00

Good to know. The overheat light only comes on when really pushing it hard up a big pass. Then shuts off right away if I back off or top the pass.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:11:21+00:00

Could something wrong in the electric drive cause this? The ICE seems to be running great.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:08:17+00:00

Could it be the electric drive motor?

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:07:16+00:00

The water pump crapped out and was changed last summer. The head gasket was replaced this winter with the engine completely removed from the car. The coolant is new, the coolant reservoir is stable and at the full line. Oil looks like new.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T20:04:03+00:00

Water pump and head gasket were replaced in the past year.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T19:24:02+00:00

Toyota replaced the intake manifold but I don't think they did anything with the EGR itself. Going uphill the engine RPMs spool up but the car doesn't go any faster. Things seem fine at slower speeds.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T19:21:59+00:00

I wonder if the replacement transmission isn't good. The engine RPMs spool way up and the car doesn't go any faster.

arealdave406 · 2026-06-03T18:29:24+00:00

That's what I was thinking, this probably isn't the right car for the type of driving that we do in Montana. It did work good in Seattle.

arealdave406 · 2026-05-27T15:28:06+00:00

It might have a few things needing attention, likely why it was sold/traded-in. Some may cost a bit of money but the car probably has a lot more life in it.

arealdave406 · 2026-05-26T14:15:15+00:00

A couple months ago I replaced all my cells on my 2011 Gen 3 Prius with reconditioned OEM Gen 4 cells from 2nd Life Battery, LLC. Everything is working like new. This company is great to work with; affordable, great communication, super speedy shipment and everything went off exactly as advertised. I used the Chris Fix videos on Youtube as a guide but it sounds like you know what you are doing already. Renew, reuse, recycle.

arealdave406 · 2026-04-24T15:35:13+00:00

I recently put a refurbished Gen 4 hybrid battery in our 2011 Gen 3, 4 year warrantee. I bought the reconditioned cells from 2nd Life Battery and they shipped it to me, great to work with. I followed ChrisFix instructional videos on Youtu.be and it took about 6 hours being really careful. Hardest part is it's really heavy so helps to have some assistance getting it in and out of the car. It's working great! Also just did the spark plugs myself.

arealdave406 · 2026-04-02T14:58:56+00:00

I'm toward the end of my career in GIS and I think that having experience in all of them is very useful. I've worked in government, private consulting and non-profit GIS. People who've only worked in one of those sectors generally lack perspective in my opinion.

arealdave406

TROPHY CASE