That would seem to be fairly conclusive evidence that the guy at the dealership didn’t lie.
post #13 says they replaced battery. post #16 you complained about replacing battery? first off, what battery did they change? the 12v starter battery or the hybrid battery pack? was it $100 or $2000? easy to keep track of that
I would do the air filter. At 50k, if it has never been done, it could be screwing up your
gas mileage.
This has one of Ford’s ‘lifetime’ air filters, supposedly good for 100k+ miles.
@Texases I live in NYC, this winter has been pretty rough. @Cavell the battery replacement is around $100 but part of the cost might be paid by the warranty. I suspect it is the small power battery, not the electric battery. He said a few calls died in it and suggested a replacement and I agreed given that the car stalled multiple times. Although it hasn’t for a while. But I did warm it up periodically every few days when not driving. I did not get the car back yet and hopefully will get tomorrow. I will check the paperwork on what type of battery was replaced.
That’s the 12V battery, guaranteed.
Cold temperatures wreak havoc on fuel economy for hybrids. Your rear defroster, heated mirrors, windshield wipers, seat heaters, all use electricity and are operating overtime in your climate these days. That electricity comes from the battery, which in turn is charged by running the engine.
The warm air in the car comes from the hot coolant circulating through the powertrain. It can take an engine twice or three times as long to get to operating temp in cold weather like you’re having. And once the coolant temp is in range, the engine will have to run more often to keep it warm, despite the technical advances for heat retention they have made.
Your catalytic converter (an exhaust emissions device) needs to be up at operating temperature to function, and the car maintains that heat by running the engine more.
It takes much more effort (energy) to drive in the rain and snow than it does on dry pavement. Try pedaling your bike through the snow or even through some shallow standing water. You’ll be surprised at the difference.
You also stated somewhere that you did warm up the car periodically when you weren’t driving it. Warming up a car gets you 0mpg and that alone will drastically alter your average mpg.
I don’t think you can get any sort of reliable mpg calculation until the weather warms up considerably.
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In the other tread you stated that the estimate was $270, I’ll guess that the battery replacement is $170 and the deductible for the warranty repair is $100.
Last week I replaced the 12 volt auxiliary battery in a 2010 Lexus RX450h (hybrid), the battery cost $280 plus labor. With that in mind your battery replacement is a bargain.
You may find a number of ways to bring your fuel economy up to normal, it generally has to do with driving habits and environment. To discontinue operating the engine when you are not driving should make a big difference.
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That, combined with the terrible weather we’ve had this winter, may well be the reason(s) you’re mileage isn’t close to advertised. Driving environment makes a huge difference. Dense urban driving and freezing weather are each brutal on mileage.
I’d recommend getting the tuneup, taking real-life actual mileage measurements, and maybe a cross country trip to find out what your car’s actual mileage is. I’m only partially kidding about the trip.
You can get aftermarket aux batteries for Toyota hybrids for about half that much. Funny thing though, I replace them about twice as often!
You don’t need a $500 tune up. Driving In New York City and frigid temps mean your mileage will bear no relationship to EPA estimates. Fill your tank, take a road trip and fill your tank again. I think you will find you mileage respectable.
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$270 includes the battery and the replacement of a faulty door latch actuator. He said something about it would all cost around $700 without extended warranty
That was for an AGM battery in the cargo area of the SUV, I see an Optima available for $235. The previous generation, RX400h has a conventional battery in the engine compartment that lasts about 2 years in the desert, retail about $120.
I told him to do diagnostic first to see what is causing the low mpg. I said that I asked expert advise online. He got angry and testy with me, telling me he know what it is and can only be one thing that it needs a tune up where the spark plugs need to be changed. But I wonder if I can do that myself since they seems to be pretty cheap online?? But he is not a mechanic that worked on my car, he just the person I explained my situation and gave me the statement when I brought in the car. How would he know for sure? I asked his boss who contradicted him and said it could be a number of things.
At this point I just want to get my car back. He has been giving me excuses every day on why they are holding my car and have been holding it hostage. I had to talk to his manager who finally told me to come and pick up my car. I plan to get my baby back today. I hope they did not mess it up in any way. They have not been the most professional for me so far. That is why I have no confidence in their quality of work.
When you receive your invoice you will be able to see how much the battery costs. Your warranty deductible amount should be shown in your contract, that will be listed on the invoice also.
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@texases quick side question as an owner of the same vehicle, is there a setting or a button that toggles the autolock when driving ?
You mean the door locking? I don’t think so. It might be an option in the settings.
That argument can be countered by asking to check the manufacturer schedule for the vehicle maintenance. Spark plugs are likely to be around 90-105K miles replacement interval.
Now, given your statement “But I did warm it up periodically every few days when not driving.” and the fact you live in NYC, you should not expect MPG anywhere close to the EPA numbers, multiple posters pointed to this above this thread.
To get any numbers closer to the reality, you have to measure it in highway driving mode and see if it goes way off EPA numbers, only then you have a case of anything wrong happening, otherwise you will not get any basis for comparison… and stop “warming up” you car, unless you let it sit for weeks, it is not doing it any good.
If doing new set of measurements, do not forget to reset MPG counter, otherwise numbers will be skewed off by the prior driving statistics. Usually it is a long press on the “stick” on speedometer, some cars have other ways of doing it. Car’s manual in glovebox is a good source to look it up.
If you want to be paranoid-accurate: mark mileage at full tank right after filling up, then drive your test stretches (should be tens/hundreds miles, not one or two), then fill tank to full and mark how much fuel was spent, divide miles per galons and get your real MPG. The longer your run distance, the more accurate the MPG measure will be, as it will be variation how much individual gas pumps would be able to get to your tank.
I strongly suspect, you will get something in ballpark of EPA estimate if you check your real MPG by one of these methods.
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Even if you don’t agree with the service adviser a statement like that will annoy the people at any shop.
Normally that’s true, but in NYC an engine can easily have as many hours on it in 25,000 miles as it would have in 100,000 miles elsewhere, and most of them at idle.
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