Hybrid News

My brother & I are going on short road trip from Sedona to Fox AR. And back. We both are 6-2, & 280 about. We each have one travel bag about 45lbs each. I am renting a HyCam, what kind of millage can we expect, ball park please. The rental Co. Tried to talk me into a Tahoe hybrid.
Leaving next week for 7 days or less.

Holiday shopping provided an unplanned test of my TCH’s rear bumper as I cautiously attempted to merge at an intersection after stopping.
The driver behind me may have been distracted by his way-too-loud bass amplified sound system, cell phone or both.
For whatever reason, he ignored the stop sign.
Just as I let my foot off the brake, he accellerated into me.
I did not have time to get out of his way and the impact moved my car a few feet forward.
He apologized, saying he "thought I was gone".
Fortunately, there was no damage.
Good bumper.

So I’ve been having a strange problem lately…

For some reason, the NAV doesn′t think I’m on the road anymore, so if I try to get directions to somewhere, it doesn′t think I ever "proceeded to the highlighted route" even though my car is clearly traveling the street highlighted in blue.

I’ve tried calibrating the GPS to get my car perfectly aligned with the road, powering off the NAV unit so it reloads the system, a different Map disk, but still, no dice.

Anyone have any ideas?

Usually around this time of year, when you use the heat, when you’re at a standstill, your engine will warm up to heat the car and the MPG meter will go to 0 MPG

So when the gauge reads 0 MPG, what exactly is that supposed to mean?

Is the car just burning fuel indefinitely until it thinks it’s warm enough? Is it burning more gas than when I would floor the gas (which usually shows MPG around 5-10)?

CNBC Video

I have a 2007 TCH…
Keep it garaged. Of course the temperature in my garage was probably around 30-40 degrees. The temperature outside, here in Lex, Kentucky, was about 4 degrees when I got up this morning, and 7 degrees by the time I pulled out of the garage.

AS I was driving, I noticed the RED "BRAKE" light came on and stayed on, all the way to Louisville (60 miles). Every now and then, it would flash.

Once I got to my work office… the car completely flipped out…

P/S light came on,

The Red Exclaimation Point indicator came on

The Yellow Exclaimation Point indicator came on

The Engine Light came on…

The ABS light came on

and then Check VSC indicator came on in the DISPLAY

The car seemed to lose power slightly, and I could feel the steering wheel get extremely heavy…

I was able to coast into the parking lot on the EV mode…

And then I parked the car, and shut everything off.

I waiting a few seconds and then started the car back up, but only in "accessory mode (no engine)" same warnings came on.

I shut the car down, and there was a sort of loud shuddering at the tail end of this…

I then started the car back up… same errors…

Shut it off, no shuddering this time…

Started the car up a 3rd time, and the errors all went away…

Any suggestions?

I cannot find Mobiй 0w20 anywhere in my area. Is everyone having this problem? :confused: Does Mobilϳ have a 5w20?

I heard hurricane Ike damaged the facility where it is made and there is a shortage currently.

I cannot find any brand of 0⺐ in the Indianapolis area currently.

Looks like 5w20 Pennzoil synthetic or Castrol synthetic since that is all I can find. Thoughts on these? I used Castrol synthetic exclusively in my Dodge truck for years with no problems.

Has anyone found Valvoline or Pennzoil synthetic in 0w20?

I was wondering what should I expect my 20,000 mile service should cost me from my Toyota dealership?

The reason I ask is, when I had my 5,000 & 10,000 service done by Toyota, it was reasonable. I can’t remember exactly, but it was in the range of $60 to $80. But when I made a appointment for my 15,000 I didn’t stop to ask what the cost was going to be and when I showed up and signed the estimate at the beginning before service I was shocked that it came in at $250+. I was so dumfounded, shocked and embarrassed :embarass:, that I just signed it since I needed the service, I was there and didn’t want to go hunting for someone else to do the service that day. The only thing that they did that was different from the prior services was rotate the tires. What really got me was even though they were already charging that much for a simple service, they also charged me extra to top off the windshield washer fluid! I guess they figured that they had a sucker on the hook. Obviously I should have spoken up at the time, so that was my fault.

Well, this time I am going to ASK when I go to make an appointment, what the cost is going to be. And if the cost is high, what are they going to do for that amount of money.

So my question to all of you is, what do you pay Toyota to do your 20,000 mile service? What should I expect to pay and what should they be doing for my 20,000 mile service?

Thanks for all of your help on this!

Rod

Ok, I’ve been reading and posting a lot about oil, filters, and changes, but I’ve got a new question:

My first three changes, I just went with my Toyota Service Center’s oil and filter. I noticed the last time, the oil level is higher than the two notches on the dipstick (is that a problem?!) This time, I got my own 5w-20 Pennzoil Platinum (since I couldn’t find any 0w-20 that was reasonable) and a Purolator Pure One filter. I gave them 5 quarts and requested the half quart back. I got it back, so this verified they put 4.5 quarts in, like the manual states it should take.

Long story short, I checked the oil level right after the change and then today (I’ve put on about 300 miles so far) and it is the same as before, higher than the two notches, not within them.

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it a problem? If so, how much oil should I have them put in?

Thanks guys, you’re very helpful all the time! :shade:

I have been trying to figure out exactly what does it mean when I have a symbol of 1/2 a car, an entire car, or sometimes a car and a half on the mpg screen.

I have a new 2009 TCH and none of my three Garmin GPS units will work in the car. I found that if you hold them out the window the signal picks up. Garmin claims that a metallic substance in the car interferes with radio signals. My Toyota dealer contacted Toyota Canada who said it was to prevent interference with the radio ignition if you were parked near a high power radio transmitter like a radio station.

Toyota never released this information even to the dealer and I would have bought the OEM gps if I had known. Other than installing an ugly exterior antenna with more wires I seem to be out of luck.

Has anyone had this problem? Have a solution or model of GPS that works?

Thanks

Would a rear spoiler lower my mpg’s any?
I love my 08 TCH, currently getting 37.2mpg (was as high as 37.7 during the summer).
I’m thinking of pimpin’ it out a little.
Any thoughts?

The other day I went through a drive through car wash to get the terrible looking snow and salt off of my black TCH. I have gone to this car wash for almost 6 years now and have never had a problem.

This time, however, I went through, got out and drove home, and then noticed that the glass on my exterior passenger rear view mirror was cracked. It ended up not being a huge problem because I told Toyota it just happened as soon as it got cold out and it is now covered under warranty (there was no impact mark to be found).

Anyways, I am wondering if anyone else is having or has had similar problems with their mirrors. Like I said I have taken my cars to this place for over 6 years now and never had a problem. On top of that I have NEVER heard of anyone this has happened to at ANY car wash. I don’t know if this is the place and I got unlucky or if there is some faulty manufacturing in the mirrors. So let me know what you all think and if anyone else has had similar problems.

Hello,
I replaced the oil in my Camry Hybrid. However, the owners manual does not tell me how to reset the maintenance required warning that shows up on the display.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.