2001 Prius transaxle failure OR a/c compressor failure in disguise?

Unless you can find a shop to put in a used one, I think that car is history.

 

I would probably find a used one and put in there, mainly because if it's not fixed it will be hard to sell for anywhere near pay-off. But once you get it fixed, you could sell it or keep it and drive it.

 

Do the garages do a scrappage deal over there? We have a deal where some garages will give €2-3/4k for a car against a new one. Makes the deal alot sweeter!

 

You should have no problem running without an AC compressor other than getting hot in the summer and maybe slightly worse defogging of the windshield in the winter. I would DEFINITELY go back to the dealer and ask Wth?

 

Close call! Well done! Who was the real mechanic?

When someone does something good, we like to pass on word-of-mouth recommendations.

Bob Wilson

 

Toyota will sometimes offer parts clearly labeled remanufactured to their own standards; take the normal part number and stick -84 on the end to find out.

88320-47040-84

-Chap

 

I'd like to second the praise for Atomic Auto. I had my own debacle with a 2002 last year and after dealing with several local shops that were either utterly clueless, deliberately trying to rip me off or both, I finally found Atomic and was immediately impressed by Travis. Have dealt with them several times in the past year and they've consistently been wonderful -- smart, knowledgeable, competent, honest and courteous.

My Gen 1 debacle involved another shop trying to charge me $2400 for a replacement HV pack when it was actually the transaxle at fault. Atomic was the only shop I found locally that knew how to replace only MG2.

(also the photo set as my profile photo was taken during one of my visits to them...)

 

I'm sure Eric, Paul, Aris, and the other independent Prius shops can appreciate this:

I sent a note to Travis with the URL to this thread and he gave me the OK to share his reply:

Been about four years now since I met this woman who changed my career. Her name is Carolyn she owns a hybrid shop in San Fran (I imagine you know whom I speak of.) I am a 25 year master tech and shop owner (9 years in business) who specialized in Saab/Volvo. Saab went the way of the dodo and I was looking for a future that could sustain my 22 bay shop, met Carolyn, and decided to learn the Prius. The simplicity of the transaxle design and my interest to learn new stuff like three phase sealed the deal.

So I started working with Jack Rosebro on training myself and staff, and here we are. The more prii we fix the more I am astounded by the crap that comes out of shops with complete misdiagnosis, misinformation, and just general understanding of the cars and basic science. Jack and Carolyn have been great mentors to me and I respect both of them because of their ethos and desire to get to root causes of problems, not just swap stuff.

TIS says "Generator Seized" for P3120 inf 240. Well how does it know? MG1 cant turn. What else could be wrong? I was very proud of Chris who is a newer staff member but really wants to learn these cars.

My shop has been built on complete honesty. If we cant fix it or dont know we will tell you so. With LeBlancs car the question I always have is "what would have happened after the dealer put a tranny in it?"

Consumers distrust of shops is partially the fault of our industry. My crusade is for Atomic to be honest and the best we can be.

I have briefly checked out prius chat, and have limited bandwith sometimes, but if there's things you think that I could do to help the Prius community in general I'm probably quite willing.

Thank you so much for reaching out. Our business is tough and it's always great when the customer wins and we learn something. It's what keeps me going every day.

Just don't get me started on battery conditioning ​

Sounds like my kinda Prius wrench. <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

Ok you called me out! Thanks everyone for appreciating what we do. Its always nice to get hugs instead of being spat on Always glad to help if I can! Thanks Chris LeBlanc, Chris Vague (my tech who did this job,) Kate Harvest for support, and Jack Roseboro and Carolyn Coquilette for getting me up to speed on these suckers!

 

Good to know of a place I can refer people in your area.
Keep up the good work Travis!

 

I had a Gen1 customer that the dealer told them "they needed a new gas engine" ~$4000. The engine sounded like a rod was about to come through the block. The Gen1 A/C compressor was the culprit. Replaced belt with a gen2 belt to bypass the compressor, engine purred like a kitten. It's worth getting a 2nd opinion on big repair estimates, especially with Gen1's since they are not as easy to diagnose.

 

Wow, that's two A/C failures managing to sound like Armageddon, the one in this post and the one 3prong saw.

(OP, what would you think about changing the title on this thread? People will only think it is about a transaxle issue and won't know what it's really about.)

Was the noise/badness only when the A/C was running (suggesting the compressor itself, ouch), or present all the time (meaning it could only be the compressor clutch or pulley bearing)?

Pulley and/or clutch make for a much easier repair, less money and no need to evacuate/recharge the system.

-Chap

 

In my customer situation noise was all the time, sounded really awful. BTW, Gen1 is traditional belt driven compressor, like a normal car. Gen2 and newer have electric compressor, no belts.

 

If the noise was constant (even when the compressor clutch was disengaged), that acquits the compressor itself and convicts the clutch/pulley alone (the only part that's constantly turning whenever the engine is on). A simple clutch replacement should have made the customer good to go in half an hour.

Interesting that there seem to be two different clutches, one of which costs 50% more, I'm guessing they depend on whether the compressor P/N ends in -47030 or -47040.

The more expensive clutch by itself is only about $80 less than a genuine Toyota reman complete compressor ... but in terms of labor, you just pull the old clutch and put on the new one, no opening the system, reclaim, evac, recharge, none of that specialty stuff. Easy backyard project.

-Chap

 

... I guess there could be an exception if it ran that way so long that the pulley bearing really seized ... the bearing just sits on a 'snout' formed on the compressor housing, so I suppose in the worst case you get the old clutch off and find the snout has been chewed up and won't snugly fit a new clutch.

Still, I'd expect that to be in the 'sh*t happens if you leave the repair too long' category and otherwise just changing the clutch should be all that's entailed.

-Chap