Comments by "flagmichael" (@flagmichael) on "How to maintain your Toyota Part 5 Injector cleaning, Battery, Tires and Drive belts" video.

Toyota is one of the four founding members of the Top Tier consortium. I only use non-top tier brands if there is literally nothing else available in the remaining range. There are lots of low-price top tier brands: see https://www.toptiergas.com/licensed-brands/ I had a Nissan 300ZX manual transmission that developed a horrible clutch judder. I monkeyed with it for months and decided to give a top tier brand a try. Within a hundred miles it was smooth as could be. I've recommended top tier gas to friends who had clutch judder and in all but one case that fixed it. In the remaining case the springs in the clutch disk were trying to pop out (a common Honda problem).
4
On a whole different brand... When Volvo rolled out the 5 cylinder engines on the 850 model, the valve stem clearances were pretty close. It was very common for people who never went on the freeway to experience misfires, hard starting, and similar problems. (I had a Volvo at the time [shudder] and saw a lot of this on the Volvo forums.) An Italian tune-up would fix them right up.
3
@TheCarCareNut Just as a reassurance for those who wonder how well Toyota hybrids do in very cold weather, our 2010 started and ran just fine when the temperature got down to -20F. For those who don't know, use only synthetic oil in very cold winter areas.
3
@riceburner4747 Fobs can be bad news on Toyota hybrids when the car is serviced. The Car Wizard once told about a colleague who was doing an oil change on a Prius and had it on the lift with the drain plug out when the engine started up!!! The car was left in Ready and he had the fob near enough to the car to keep it active. He got it down in time but it was pretty scary.
2
For owners of early Prius (through about 2002) throttle body cleaning is an important annual ritual. The original ECUs (which can't be flashed in the generation) would crank the engine - it sounds exactly like idling - for a short period before giving up and turning on the Triangle Of Death... the scary name popularly used for the hybrid warning. The first time this happens you can get going and turn off the Scary Triangle by starting the system four times in a row. After that, you should get the throttle body cleaned. These symptoms show up when the weather begins turning cold. There were upgraded ECUS installed later but not all early Prius got those.
2
Really important with diesels!
2
@TheCarCareNut I didn't know that about the rear brakes. Thanks! Although there is no visible wear at 120K miles on our 2014.
1
@TheCarCareNut We had a 2010 for several years before it apparently became magnetized, being hit in the sides by a swerving pickup truck, a deer, and a driver who thought her seizure meds were not important all within a six month period!. It did not consume a quart between oil changes, and neither does our 2014. I use Mobil 1 at the prescribed interval (5K miles for our third gens.)
1
@TheCarCareNut A few years ago I bought a Run-Rite Intake Snake and a tube of Snake Heads. They worked great - a detergent rather than a solvent and I could leave the TB undisturbed. Now it is a professional only tool, with Snake Heads available only in quantity. Other Toyota techs have recommended the wipe down method of cleaning as well.
1
@TheCarCareNut I wondered if this was in response to the disconnection to see how the throttle body is doing. In that case, of course you don't want the power kept on.
1