Huntington Toyota Clinic
April 4, 2007
Huntington Toyota graciously hosted a clinic at their Service Dept on April 4th, 2007. In attendance were:
- Nick Garguilo – Service Director
- John Eric Pinero – Parts Manager
- Walter Wright – In house Toyota Prius technician
- 2 Toyota Engineering Factory Representatives
The event was well attended by LIPOG members who found it a very informative and enjoyable experience. Nick provided a very nice catering of food and refreshments for the event. At the conclusion of the clinic, each participant was presented with a goody bag of some very nice souvenir items – including a free oil change. We look forward to working with Huntington Toyota in the future.
Two of us are due for the 10K maintenance, and since we got a free oil change (on the back of Nick’s business card in case you missed it), we are making our appointments.
Q & A
- Oil Level: Should follow dip stick marks. Anywhere between empty and full is fine. The engineer admitted that over fill of oil is a problem that they see on a regular basis. Over filling will cause error codes and can trigger the check engine light. Toyota is aware of the problem and issued TSB on this. We tried to pin him down on just how much of an overfill will cause a problem (since most times after an oil change the level is about ¼” high on the dip stick), but we could not get a definitive answer. Huntington Toyota has their own standard of 3.75 qt fill level for the Prius. This goes a long way to alleviate the overfill problem.
There are 2 US TSBs on the P3191 code. One has to do with using the incorrect grade of oil or the incorrect fill quantity (US TSB EG050-04)
- BT Plate: The engineer was not familiar with the plate and questioned
the effectiveness. A Prius was put on the lift for him to see its installation.
His immediate comment was that the mounting location on non-structural part of
the car will not make any difference to the handling. IF the plate was mounted
to the structural rails that are about half foot away from each side of the BT
plate mounting points, then it MIGHT make a difference. The Toyota Technical
Adviser also stated that the OEM plate was there just to make a connection. If
the car is driven without the OEM plate, it will not matter. This is a hotly
contested matter on PriusChat, and it was good to get their input.
- NAV System: Several questions came up about the NAV system. One was the $300 price of updates. It was explained that the map data is collated from two different vendors in order to achieve greater detail. The software itself is proprietary, in that Denison developed it to Toyota's specs. This brought up some of the shortcomings of the NAV including that you can only really find places in a radius around your current position, and not within a distance on either side of the currently programmed route. He was not able to come up with work around solutions that would address this issue. There is no solution to the problem that was presented. (See below for suggestions on how Toyota can be informed of needed changes)
- Next generation Prius: most likely Lithium-ion batteries will be used
in the next generation Prius. Toyota has the batteries and they are currently
under test (see
BusinessWeek article). The Toyota tech reps have not heard anything related
to PHEV for the next Prius, and heard no other details.
- Dealer Scantool: it's a new scan tool they are rolling out. Windows
base in the Panasonic ToughBook. One of our members wanted to know if there was
an option to have the car lock the doors automatically when shifting to D from
P. The Toyota engineer hooked up the Scantool to the car and could find no such
option.
- Hybrid system reliability: The Toyota engineer said that the hybrid
system is very reliable. Most of the problems he saw with a Prius are not
related to the hybrid system, but were the typical problems that are common with
other cars.
SIDE BARS:
- - Huntington Toyota would like to host future meets of LIPOG. Details are being discussed. It would most likely be a week night when hosted at the dealership. We might arrange occasional weekend meets for members who are unable to attend week night events.
- - The engineer said that Toyota regularly monitors the forums for customer comments, but that they do take what is posted with a “grain of salt” since anyone can post anything on the internet. What he suggested was that the group comments be written up as individual customer incidents (including date, VIN, and specific complaint). These are sent directly to the design engineers in CA for review and carry much more weight than what is posted on the forums. This is what leads to design changes. This came up in the discussion concerning the lack of adjustability of the seats, the NAV problems, and the dim steering wheel illumination. He will gladly write up these incidents at future meetings.
- - We will work with Huntington Toyota on a flyer that they will distribute to their customers introducing our group and inviting them to attend our meetings. This is an opportunity to expand our group and answer questions from prospective Prius buyers who want more information before they make the commitment.
- - Eric in Huntington Toyota’s Parts Dept. is also interested in expanding the line of Prius accessories they carry to include the LED signal mirror covers and the Engine Block Heater. If you have parts that you are interested in obtaining, or are looking to make a service appointment, the number for Huntington Toyota is 631-423-6226
- Wayne (FireEngineer from PriusChat) stopped by on his way to NH to install an Engine Block Heater. He showed a Hybrid Battery from a Gen1 Prius and explained the venting and monitoring systems that Toyota employs. He also displayed an EBH and explained the install process. This cuts down on the time that the ICE needs to run in the morning. A 3 hour warming brings the internal temp to about 110 – 140 degrees F with the heater. Also, because the engine is already pre-warmed, cabin heat is instantaneous.
- One of the Toyota engineers that met with us was the same one that fixed Horacio’s Hybrid ECU a couple of years ago at a different dealership. They had the opportunity to check out the PHEV conversion and spent some time with Horatio.