On Wednesday, I
stopped for fuel and the Prius reported something odd, it showed 25 watt-hours regenerated
during the fill-up. If I am 100 percent
sure the engine will not be starting during the refueling process, I don't shut
the car down. However, there were only energy
expenditures during this block of time you can see it at 25 minutes ago on this
screenshot of the consumption graph. I'd
call several gallons of gasoline more than 50WH :). I'm not sure what happened there but I've
seen it before and it is unrelated to the fuel stop. When I refuel it usually shows an empty five
or ten minute graph (depending on how long I take with paperwork after the fill
and how slow the pump is).
A month before I traded my Civic, it shut down all power while
going down a large hill, but by about 100 feet from the bottom of the hill
(where I then needed to go up another hill) everything powered back up, all
with no intervention on my part. This
was weird I had power steering, zero RPMs and no electricity. I usually build up speed on a down slope so I
had enough momentum built-up to continue without incident. It never did it again and I saw it in town several
times after the trade, still looking good and clean (but with dirty tires).
What weird things have your vehicles done?
Kacey
Green www.grlt.com
"Tech with a twist of lime!"
Express yourself by posting a comment below.
If you liked this post, share it! (Digg is up top, Stumble, Tencorati and
others below [on this post's page], or tell a friend)
Several weeks ago, I got tired of the HomeLink mirror taking
too long to respond when a vehicle was behind me with its brights on, or if a
vehicle with poorly adjusted headlights was following me, I thought back to
something I read a few years back on one of the Prius forums. Their solution was to flip the mirror over, but
when I tried it last time it just didn't feel right, they said it would better
match the shape of the rear window as well as putting the light sensor in a
more optimal location. The problem was I
did not adjust the mirror vertically, because when the mirror is out of its
factory orientation the mirror mount adjusts differently.
The reason this trick works is, the light sensor for the
rear window sits in the bottom edge of the mirror along with the buttons, to
the left of the on switch as pictured above, right in line with the spoiler. The
spoiler blocks the glare from the headlights of the car behind you, so the
mirror does not adjust correctly or quickly.
When you invert the mirror, the sensor is now at the top and no longer
blocked by the spoiler's shadow.
I tried it again and had much better results for your
benefit I will give you what I didn't have, a pictorial tutorial, I had to rely
on the vague text descriptions, which can be frustrating. So here in pictures, I will explain the
process of successfully adjusting the HomeLink mirror 180°.
Especially
if you drive an Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Toyota, or Volkswagen vehicle.
Since the summer of 2004, I have been recommending top tier
gas to everyone I knew who drives a BMW, GM, Honda, or Toyota product. These manufacturers got together with oil
companies and created a fuel standard, in response to the damage poor quality gasoline
was doing to their customers' engines, the companies had been replacing engines
under warranty and it was getting expensive.
Toyota even has set their fleet maintenance interval to 5000
miles; many of their vehicles such as the Classic Prius (NHW11) were sporting a
7500-mile maintenance interval. But for
2004 the new Prius, which has the same engine(1NZ-FXE) as all previous Prius,
they ratcheted that down to 5000 miles between servicing, because that's what
the fleet standard is (I'm sure it doesn't hurt that they stand to make money
off every oil change).
Three cars have worn the Prius name badge:
Toyota Prius NHW10 (1997-2001) |JDM Prius, Original Prius, First Prius
Toyota Prius NHW11 (2000-2003) |Classic,
1.1, or 2nd Gen, First US Prius
Toyota Prius NHW20 (2004-Present) | 2nd
Gen, 3rd Gen, 2.0, or Hatchback
Anyway, the automakers got together and set a standard for
all fuels to meet in order to carry their certification, the first retailers to
meet the standard were Chevron and Quik Trip.
For short while Shell was promoting the Top Tier Gas initiative in their
television, print, and radio advertisements; later they started promoting it
has something unique to their own brand, dropping the Top Tier label.
The trip to Gainesville was a nice one and allowed
for Traveling Companions 3, 4, and 5.
My brother and I trekked to Gainesville so the band could
record for their new album and for the concert on Saturday. Before we even started the trip, a dark
Honda Accord Hybrid crossed in front of us when we were exiting a shopping
complex; regular readers will remember how hard it is for me to spot these bad
boys in the wild. Like many of my hybrid
encounters, the driver could not see the lettering on my car, the look on her
face was as though she was wondering, "Who the heck is this person, why did
they wave at me all friendly-like." The
other type of encounter is one with others like me they wave back! (This is the preferred reaction.)
Once we were underway things were looking like it was going
to be a smooth trip, we were rolling along and making great progress, until we
go on the freeway.
Today's posting is just to let everyone know I'm headed to Gainesville for Saturday and Sunday. I would really like to write Travelling Companions 3, so if you see me, wave or join me for a short distance.
The Ups will be having a show Saturday at 1982 bar and lounge you're all welcome stop by if you are in the area. 1982 is an all-ages venue. See www.gainesvillebands.com for details, show starts at 2000 (8pm). If you didn't know my brother is the bassist for the band, looking forward to seeing some of you out there.
In case you forgot the vehicle, its a silver 3rd generation (hatchback) Prius, with lettering on the front and back windows.
I have been practicing driving for high gas mileage in hilly terrain since I arrived in South Carolina; it is not as easy as driving on flat terrain but at times, is easier than driving for efficiency in Gainesville. My biggest obstacle is when I start the car cold there is a fair uphill slope in all directions that lead out of the neighborhood from where I live. In Florida, I would regularly achieve a 63 or more miles per gallon (MPG) average per fill-up. This is way up from the first week with the car where the best mileage was 40.5 MPG, in the Civic (2003 Honda Civic LX), the very best tank was 62 MPG (I wish I'd paid attention to technique that series of trips) but average fills were 39-42 MPG. The best fill in the Prius so far was 75MPG.
As with driving in flat terrain, the key to good performance (efficiency) is to make all changes smooth, and to maintain momentum. Is you make large quick movements of any of the inputs the car tends to go into high performance mode giving you more power than is needed for cruising. The inputs you need to be careful with are the steering, braking, and accelerator, it doesn't hurt to use moderation with the HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) controls either.
A photo gallery would be a fine place for me to post all the club related pictures I've been collecting. A gallery where the users can submit would allow us to share pictures. The submit feature would be limited to registered users.
Please take a moment and vote in this quick poll and let me know what you think. Feel free to use the comments section to let me know how you feel about this idea, all constructive feedback is welcome.
Especially
if you drive an Audi, BMW, GM, Honda, Toyota, or Volkswagen vehicle. 
I have been practicing driving for high gas mileage in hilly terrain since I arrived in South Carolina; it is not as easy as driving on flat terrain but at times, is easier than driving for efficiency in Gainesville. My biggest obstacle is when I start the car cold there is a fair uphill slope in all directions that lead out of the neighborhood from where I live. In Florida, I would regularly achieve a 63 or more miles per gallon (MPG) average per fill-up. This is way up from the first week with the car where the best mileage was 40.5 MPG, in the Civic (2003 Honda Civic LX), the very best tank was 62 MPG (I wish I'd paid attention to technique that series of trips) but average fills were 39-42 MPG. The best fill in the Prius so far was 75MPG.
