Pushing Engine Too Hard?

There's no rpm guage, and no engine temperature guage (in my '05). So how do I know if I'm pushing the car too hard? We drove from Denver to Glenwood, which involves some serious uphill sections, and I noticed the engine noise getting pretty whiny at times...

Thanks! Chris

Reply to
Chris Shearer Cooper
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There's a temperature "idiot light" that will come on if the engine starts to overheat. You can monitor (to a degree) the battery's state of charge in the Energy screen of the MFD.

Reply to
Michelle Steiner

I've considered it nearly impossible to push the engine too hard. The speed limitations of the motor/generators puts an artificial limit on the engine speed that is well below the red line. Your engine temperature light won't come on unless something is actually wrong with the cooling system; few modern cars are designed that close to the edge any more. We've pushed our '02 up the long climb north of Phoenix in the summer with a full load and A/C on, and never had any problem.

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I've got an '02 with 88000 miles and have used "impulse" driving for most of that time. (That's the floor-it-to speed and back off method). I've never had a problem with the engine, still have the original brakes, and mileage has been a measured 45mpg ofer that time. I don't think you can push it too hard. Too many electronic controls in place. When you press the acelerator, you don't connect to a linkage like most cars; it goes to a computer input which tells the car what to do.Also, remember that the engine was designed to start and stop a lot, so its more robust than most. The CVT will also make the engine whine due to how it works; it likes to optimize RPM/power to the situation. Relax and enjoy one of the greatest cars ever made!

Reply to
PriusGeek

With the eCVT, the sound of the engine does not correlate with your speed, but with the power that you are requesting from the car.

It will get loud (high RPMs) when you are asking it to go up a long/steep mountain, or heavy acceleration. But, going downhill, the engine may not even be burning fuel (essentially off).

The gasoline engine is RPM limited at 4500 (Classic) for 5000 (2004-current), so it never gets to a red-line situation.

Don't worry, and just drive it! (unless you actually get a high temperature warning light, but I've never heard of that happening unless the car was already having mechanical difficulties and was in

110+F degree weather for several days...)
Reply to
mrv

Late last month I drove my new ( There's no rpm guage, and no engine temperature guage (in my '05). So how

Reply to
Cox

The computers don't let anything bad happen to the engine. If the computers fail you're screwed instantly anyway, so there's no point in worrying about it. Just remember to pull over and stop immediately if you ever see the triangle of death.

Reply to
richard schumacher

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