PriusDIY.com: The Toyota Prius DIY Resource

Welcome to PriusDIY.com, the Toyota Prius DIY resource! The goal is to provide a comprehensive source of DIY information and web resources. Most importantly are my in depth how to do-it-yourself picture tutorials. Most of my tutorials are not that difficult and can be done with basic tools. You might be surprised at how many essential maintenance and repair jobs you can do yourself which can potentially save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

I am loosely basing this site off of my popular Lexus LS400 DIY site LexLS.com, check it out to see how many things you can do yourself, it's been around for almost a decade. My goal with PriusDIY.com is to get at the level of my other site or higher. Yes I did previously own a gas guzzling V8. When that reached the end of its life (an accident) my wife and I decided we needed a more efficient vechicle - the answer was a Toyota Prius.

We searched and purchased our 2008 Prius in October of 2010. Since I own a 2008 most of the information on this site applies to second generation (2004-2009) Prii. This site is continuously under development so please check back often for new material. I would love to convert our Prius to a plug-in and I am currently researching that option.

As with my other site I am providing this information FREE of charge. However, the development and tutorials listed on this site take a significant amount of time to research, document and put together. So, if you like what you see please help support my site by either clicking on ads/product links that interest you or make a donation. Enjoy!

• 10/23/23 - Tutorial #24: How to convert HID headlights to LED.
• 01/13/19 - Tutorial #23: How to inspect & replace the drive belt.
• 01/31/15 - Tutorial #22: How to replace the spark plugs. I also updated the headlight bulb replacement tutorial. A few kind PriusDIY users respectfully let me know I was neglecting to note that 2004-2005 Prii use D2R HID bulbs (thank you guys). I try my best to provide the most accurate information as possible but I missed that and apologize for the mistake. If something is wrong please let me know so it can be fixed!
• 01/25/15 - The ballast died in our second Prius due to water condensation. I updated the ballast replacement tutorial a bit with more info.
• 01/24/15 - Tutorial #21: How to replace the PCV valve. Using a method without removing the wipers and upper pan.
• 01/19/15 - Tutorial #20: How to remove the air filter assembly.
• 03/23/13 - Tutorial #19: How to replace the 12v auxiliary battery. Many hours went into this one and I feel it's the best compliation of info on this to date.
• 03/20/13 - Tutorial #18: How to check the 12v auxiliary battery health. 12v battery replacement tutorial is up next, and I still have more pics in the queue to process and create tutorials for...
• 03/10/13 - Tutorial #17: How to install the OEM cargo net. Optima Yellow Top 12v batteries coming in this week.
• 03/07/13 - Tutorial #16: How to change the key FOB battery.
• 02/25/13 - We purchased our 2nd Prius this evening! It's a 2009 with ~95,000 miles and it came with a set of winter tires & rims (on in the pic). This will be MY Prius, the Driftwood Pearl 2008 shown in most pics here is my wife's Prius - we're all in Prii! Why? Well, our 2008 Prius has served our purposes so well we decided to get rid of our 2002 Lexus ES300 that was great but only got about 20mpg, and replace it with another Prius. By doing this we're cutting the fuel bill on our second car by more than half, my wallet likes that :)
• 02/24/13 - Tutorial #15: How to change the transmission fluid. Also, Prius #2 may be coming home this week...
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09/26/12 - Tutorial #14: How to replace the HID ballast/computer/ECU. I think this is a big fix for many owners with the HID package. Even the repair manual doesn't clearly describe how to replace this part. This is the longest tutorial to date I believe.
09/24/12 - I've been working on a HID ballast replacement tutorial for a few weeks on and off now. It's in rough draft form now but hopefully will be complete and posted soon.
09/06/12 - Tutorial #13: How to remove the headlight assembly (HID & Halogen) without removing the bumper. Another method for changing headlight bulbs & pre-quil tutorial for other jobs, much easier to do than it sounds.
09/02/12 - Tutorial #12: How to replace the headlight bulbs (HID & halogen). A simple job with lot's of references and some videos as well. Thank you to all who have put info out there previously, this is my version.
08/23/12 - After looking more into the tutorials subdomain thing I realized it's not the best thing for my site. I have converted and believe the site to be OK internally. However, if you have any direct tutorial links to my site (from the old URL's) they may not work, I will be doing redirection shortly but am exhausted (2.5 hours after a full work day)!
08/21/12 - Tutorial #11: How to install trailer hitch wiring. Ok, so it wasn't next as I said on 8/16 but #10 is a prequil to so many other jobs including this one.


08/18/12 - Tutorial #10: How to remove the rear cargo covers. A pre-req for many jobs, trying not to rehash things too much or at all if possible, will be linked to in future tutorials.
08/16/12 - Tutorial #9: How to install a trailer hitch. I can finally haul my bikes! Hitch wiring tutorial to come next.
08/14/12 - Reorganized categories.
08/10/12 - Tutorial #8: How to remove the front engine bay cover. Boring but needed stepping stone tutorial for many other jobs.
08/06/12 - Tutorial #7: How to clean the throttle body.
08/04/12 - More Prius links added.
08/01/12 - Tutorial #6: How to clean the MAF (Mass air flow sensor).
07/30/12 - All pages up but need more content. It's great to have the foundation now!
07/29/12 - Links, support and contact pages posted. If anyone has a tutorial or link they would like added see the support link let me know.
07/25/12 - Finished template for tutorials index pages and have posted all pages so all 5 (and growing) tutorials are now orgainized by category/section.
07/24/12 - Tutorial #5: How to check & replace the engine air filter.
07/23/12 - Tutorial #4: How to check & replace the cabin air filter.
07/22/12 - Tutorial #2: How to change the engine oil (it's so simple on this car).
Tutorial #3: How to turn off the MAINT REQD light. Anything that deals with the MFD or digital dash will be going under the MFD category.
07/21/12 - Finalized URL coding, subdomains and some backend access stuff that's completely boring to you but I made some coding breakthroughs. Definitely not a complete site yet but it's getting there one page at a time! You may run into my error 404 page because many pages don't exist yet. Also started processing images for more tutorials. Unlike my other site I will be adding larger versions of each picture in case you want more detail, just click on the picture for the larger version. If you want to save the pictures for your own personal use, I give you permission to do so. Just don't use them commercially.
07/20/12 - PriusDIY.com goes live with this very page and the first tutorial! Still working on some templates but I'll be adding tutorials as I do jobs and as time allows. I've had my Prius since 10/2/2010 now so I've already built up many photos. More to come...
Tutorial #1: How to remove the wheel trim rings.
03/23/12 - Color schemes finalized, basic template complete, so much to do!
03/19/12 - Basic coding begins for PriusDIY.com

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