If your 3rd gen Prius is approaching or passed the 100,000 mile mark, it’s time to replace the positive crankcase ventilation valve (PCV valve). If your Prius is consuming noticeable amount of motor oil, say 1 quart every 2,000 ~ 3,000 miles, the PCV valve may be clogged with carbon build-up and may need to be changed. It’s definitely a…
DIY: How to De-haze Your Faded Headlights (Quick Fix)
If your car has plastic headlights and you do any type of constant long distance commute in a year, chances are, your headlights will become hazed and foggy. This occur because the headlights are being blasted against the atmosphere as the car travels at high speed, oxidizing and fading the surface layer of the headlights’s plastic covers. You can pay…
120k Mile Recommended Services For The 3rd Gen Toyota Prius
So I just took my 2012 Prius Four into the local dealer to perform the routine major service (done every 30,000 miles) as it was approaching 120,000 miles and I received a recommended laundry list of pricey maintenance work. Spark plugs replacement was suppose to be on this list, but I replaced them myself and saved ~$300. Here’s the list…
DIY: Spark Plugs Replacement On a 3rd Gen Prius
Spark Plugs Replacement on a 3rd Gen Prius My 2012 Prius Four has reached 120,000 miles and symptoms of rough idle, cold start rattle, decreasing fuel efficiency and sporadic loss in power (especially during acceleration), has become almost a once-a-week routine. I figured it is time to replace the spark plugs. I am having major service as recommended by Toyota…
Back to the South Bay!
A lot of things has happened in the past two and a quarter years since we’ve relocated to the Inland Empire. Wife no longer commutes to Orange County to work. In fact, she stopped commuting since Fall of 2015. Her company set her up with a sweet home office set up, saving us tremendously on transportation fares. Despite my daily…
Thoughts on ALIEN: Covenant (mini review)
<nerdiocity> Minor spoiler on ALIEN: Covenant ahead. ALIEN: Covenant royally took a massive dookie on the whole Alien lore, mythos and mystique surrounding the Space Jockey and Xenomorphs we’ve grown to admire and that which have spawned over three decades of wonder, fantastical imagination, arts, creativity, fictions, comics and graphic novels from fans across the globe. I am not sure…
Xentec HID Lights Finally Failed – Xenon Depot Extreme H11 LED Review
So after close to five years of service, my driver side Xentec HID headlight kit has begun to intermittently fail. The bulbs still work perfectly, no clouding or purple tinge, to my surprise. The ballast sporadically emits a high pitch buzzing sound and doesn’t fire up the HID bulb. This appears to occur randomly while the passenger side set up continues to…
Joined the 100,000 Mile Club!
As of two Saturdays ago on our way down to SeaWorld San Diego, April 15, my 2012 Prius Four has joined the 100,000 mile club! I put in approximately 50,000 miles in just two years! I will be keeping my Prius for as long as I can. It’s paid off, it’s dependable, it’s reliable and it’s fuel efficient! We are…
DIY: How to Change the Tail Lights On a 3rd Gen Prius (JDM Valenti LED tail lights)
Here’s a new DIY guide on how to remove and swap out the tail lights on your 3rd generation 2010-2015 Toyota Prius. For this guide, I decided to swap out the OEM “double hockey” 2012 Prius tail lights for a pair of aftermarket JDM Valenti Jewel LED tail lamps in clear lens/ red chrome finish. I’ve applied gun smoke Lamin-X…
Valenti LED Tail Lights, Lamin-X Protective Films, DIY in the Works
Our 3rd generation Prius is approaching its 5th year anniversary and to commemorate, I decided to give it a minor exterior upgrade. Over this weekend, I’ll swap out the OEM double-hockey stick tail lights with a pair of brand new chrome red Valenti LED tail lights. I wanted to get the smoked chrome version, but I could not find them…
Yakima SkyBox 16 Carbonite on a 3rd gen Prius
With the addition of a baby, we need to expand the Prius’ cargo space to accommodate for the new little member of the family when we hit the road for road trips. Since I was not able to discuss the Yakima SkyBox 16 Carbonite in as much detail as I would like to in a previous post (First “Real” Road…
The Prepd Pack Lunchbox, Review and Unboxing
Updated April 11, 2017 – see end of article for new information added The Prepd Pack Journey This is an account of the journey of my first crowd funded project. Well, I was not exactly part of the original crowd funding campaigns on either Indiegogo or Kickstarter, but I’ve been eyeing and following the Prepd Lunchbox project since I first learned about it…
Fuel economy of medium Yakima 60″ JetStream vs. small Yakima 50″ CoreBar
I have recently acquired a set of Yakima 50″ CoreBar crossbars for use with my existing Yakima BaseLine towers bare-roof, roof rack set up. My previous set up consisted of Yakima 60″ JetStream on Yakima BaseLine towers. I’ve had the opportunity to test out the two different set ups and their effect on the Prius’ MPG this past few weeks.…
First “Real” Road Trip With Our Infant in Our 3rd Gen Prius
Many parents we’ve conversed with said that once our newborn enters the world, our favorite pastimes and routines will all go out the window. Instead, sleepless nights and nonstop exhaustion will take their place. While I do not 100% dispute that statement at all, I don’t agree with it completely either. Sure, our daily routines will be altered to accommodate the…
A Tour of Our Completed Nintendo Super Mario-themed Baby Nursery
Our Vision When we found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child, we wasted no time planning and designing our future nursery. Planning out a baby nursery proved to be challenging, especially not knowing the baby’s gender. Nonetheless, we eventually both agreed to a Nintendo theme, particularly Super Mario. We chose a Nintendo Super Mario theme because it briefly…
