The Once in a Lifetime Toyota Prius Maintenance You Will Ever Have To Do

I bought a 2001 new (had to order online) with 330,000 miles when I traded it in 10 years later because it quit maintaining highway speeds (I would have kept it but the dealer's computer would not talk to the car and they wanted me to pay thousands to replace components they were guessing were bad). I never did any brake maintenance on it and had plenty of lining material remaining. Once you learn how to maximize the regenerative braking (I used to apply then let up a little which actually made it brake harder) then the physical braking gets used only a small percentage of the time and only when the vehicle is already traveling slowly. So in my case, this "once in a lifetime" maintenance ended up being "never".

I inherited a 2006 Prius from my mother and passed it on to my nephew a couple of years ago. It's still going strong on original batteries at 270,000 miles.

I did have to do brakes a couple of times as well as exhaust. The front wheel bearings both went at around 200,000 miles. And I broke off the rear plastic trim on the tailgate in super cold weather. But that's it. No major maintenance issues at all. I now recommend the Prius as an affordable and fuel efficient choice for almost all circumstances. If it had more clearance I would have probably bought a Prius AWD to replace the '06. Instead I bought a RAV4 Prime. I was willing to take the risk of buying this 1st gen vehicle because of my experience with the Prius.

Yes. Prius was great, except when the brake booster fails and stealership want 2 k for actiator, you want the remodeled updated actuator flat topped cylinder than the original. The o rings that retain maintain brake pressure go bad. Brake barking. Also the inner gas diaphragm fails. So collapsed inside tank. I was limited to 3.6 gallons per fill up. A commuter prius

The Prius front brake pad change video featured here did a good job of showing the basic steps but left out a lot of details. In no particular order:
- Pad replacement should include checking/clean/relubeing caliper sliders with high temp disc brake lube, I've seen them get stiff in as little as 3 years, leading to uneven pad (and sometimes disc) wear - one never knows how much lube the OEM applied or whether the last mechanic checked them. Replacement sliders and boots are available if needed.
- One doesn't want brake fluid flowing back into the system where there is a risk of it overflowing the reservoir, especially if fluid has been made up as the pads wore. Another risk is that particulate or gunk that formed in the calipers or flex hose might get into the anti-lock brake block or master cylinder and cause problems. Better to open the bleeder and run a tube to a catch bottle while doing this. Also remove some fluid from the reservoir before starting the process. After (and only after) the new pads are in place, follow this with a bleeding procedure to purge any entrapped air.
- Pad replacement is a good time to flush the system with new fluid if this hasn't been done within the past few years.
- Unless the backs of the new pads and/or shims came with a low-friction coating, it might be good to apply a thin coat of high temp. brake grease to then to help prevent squeal - keep it thin so it doesn't subsequently end up on the lining.
- After cleaning up the hub (and disc if it's being reused), apply a thin coat of a high temp. anti-sieze compound or high temp. brake grease to the mating surfaces to inhibit corrosion, easing the next disassembly. Again, keep this this thin.
- When tightening caliper bolts and lug nuts, best to bring up torque in several intermediate steps (he did this with the wheel nuts but didn't mention it). I like to use a torque wrench for the final tightening of lug nuts - over torquing or unevenness, if extreme, can lead to disc warping.
- New pads benefit from a break-in procedure. Follow the suppliers directions but if there are none, a series 8 or 10 medium firm stops from ~ 30mph, spaced 2-3min. apart for cooling, will help bake the resins and reduce chances of glazing.