Classic Prius Repairs

I have replaced front wheel bearings, rack & pinion (when the car had approx. 30,000 miles on it) and TIRES!!! I'm always buying tires - no matter how I inflate them! The best set of tires so far have been Nokian tires but now trying Hankook winter tires. Code 3191 has popped up several times (I've had the throttle body cleaned. New codes as of yesterday are P0420, P0440, P1636 - which I'm being told means I need a new catalytic converter at $1371.72!!!! I have 179051 miles on my 2002. All of a sudden I'm finding lots of rust (the car had been rust-proofed) and have found that several other 2002 Prius in the area have rust in the exact same place - over the windshield in 2 places. I love my Prius and it will be a sad day when I have to put her down!

 

I have an '01, originally purchased by an elderly man in Indiana. CarFax shows all scheduled maintenance was completed by the dealer as scheduled. No failures reported on the Car Fax. I have had the car since Apr of '08 (86,000 miles on the odo) and it has performed exceptionally well. It now reads 107,+++ on the odo and I have had no issues with it so far. Still on the original traction battery. I replaced the 12V but just as a precaution (it still read good). I replaced one rear wheel bearing (also as a precaution because I thought I heard it humming a little). I'm about to pass it on to my 16 yr old son. Hopefully it will perform the same for him but, if not, I (and he) has all of you fine folks to help me with whatever issues may arise. I would like to thank Patrick for starting and consistently reinvigorating this post. I have learned so much from Prius Chat.

 

Me too! Absolutely Patrick gives the best advice, even more so than a dealer would.. Update: Sold the 03 but still have have the 06 prius. The 03 still ran good however, only thing the air conditioner was inop. seems to have blown a pipe inside the drivers side dash area. As mentioned before, the 03 was a great car but it was of course way out of warranty, soon needing a new HV Battery pack among other things, so I traded with the dealer (while it was still good) for nothing less than an 05 Mustang GT 4.6L V8 EFI! Talk about two extremes huh. The Mustang is only the weekend driver now at 20mpg, but sure is a blast to drive. Of course the 06 is still the main work/commute/shopping car at 52+/- mpg and only sees the gas station every two weeks! Two extremes? yup

 

from reading all these failures, it makes me wanna sell my 02 prius. are gen2 more reliable than gen1's overall?

 

Is there a way to monitor inverter coolant temp? I think the inverter failures might be caused by people not changing their inverter coolant every 30k miles and not monitoring the inverter coolant temp.

 

The HV packs are more reliable in Gen2, they don't leak electrolyte out of the pos. terminals. Also the running soc levels are higher in gen2 from my observations, the 03 always was 59 or less, very hard to get it to 60 soc and keep it there. The 06 gen2 it's easy to get over 60 soc and usually runs about 62.5, this around town. On the highway it can drop to 55 or less but always comes back up quickly from regen braking or even cruising at 65 and holding it in the mode where the ice is running the wheels but also charging, but this is a slower charge rate than braking. Example: I can get soc up to 62-65 going downhill and braking slightly in the gen2. I like to park it overnight at 61-62, it'll last being parked for days at that level and still retain a good level.

The transaxles in Gen1 are prone to failure although mine never had any problems. I did change the trans oil at 30kmi., but that doesn't really guarantee protection from failure, only makes sure there's nothing going on and you can catch a potential problem waiting to happen. The way you drive it may also play a big factor.

Saquibs: The only way I have measured inv. coolant temp as well as many other parameters was with AE scantool software and the enhanced Toyota interface. Techstream of course can as well but that is more$$. I'm sure something else can although haven't been keeping up with it. Maybe there's an Xgauge for scangaugeII by now for gen2/3 but not sure. There's a thread that has the current list of working Xgauge settings thanks to Vincent for gen1's xgauges. I'm sure there's a list for gen2..

 

Thanks...I think I'll invest in the scanguage2.

 

Well I don't think you can go wrong with scanguageII. I've had one in the 06 monitoring soc, btv, rpm, and running avgmpg. The avg mpg gauge always has a little lower avg than the mpg in the MFD. Toyota's gimmick to make it look better than it really is? Maybe..

 

One time when I brought the gen2 in to the dealer for something, I think it was the inv. coolant pump campaign, I forgot to remove the scangaugeII, and they were giving me stares and "what the heck" looks. Oh well...

 

is it possible to set up a similar survey for gen 2 cars? sorry if it already has been done...I just couldn't find it. Thanks.

 

you forgot CAT converter

 

This doesn't look too bad for Gen1's.

 

I would...I think anything over 170K with these is pretty much nearing end point.

 

Repairs
- Tires replaced due to really fast wear
- Shim required to correct axle (interesting, when I went to the dealer to discuss trades, he talked about it as a common problem asking if I had unusual wear on the particular tire that failed) That annoyed me because it was basically the dealership admitting to knowledge that it was a frequent problem. If they had addressed it or checked it, then I might have saved a couple hundred on tire replacements.
- Catalytic converter
- AC controller unit failed ($800 to fix) Been hot ever since.
- A few minor issues and fixes. Several anomalies. One due to the dealer over-filling oil a couple years back.
- $4,500 to fix the gearbox/transmission (I am presuming the dealer means the transaxle???)

 

Our '02 , purchased new, has 234,000 miles this week. Other than routine maintenance, first repair was at just under 80,000 when the hybrid system warning light came on. Dealer receipt reads shows 'Code P3190'. They replaced:
EG2002 (N/C), and wanted to charge for replacing a relay (90080-87026) which apparently required removing and replacing the fuel tank to reach. Appeal to district refunded the $626 charge.
123,000 RF Axle seal replaced (leaking)$136 (@ dealer)
173,000 front brake pads $250 (@ dealer)
198,500 Spark plugs & throttle body intake clean $270 (@ dealer)- check engine light came on)
209,600 LR Wheel bearing, V-belt /$673 (@ dealer)
219,000 Mileage dropping a bit and ICE running more than normal. Had HV battery load tested at San Francisco's Luscious Garage, where they found it "...very near the end of its useful life. At the end of the test, we see Delta SOC begin to climb, and a deviation between modules of .62 volt." They also compression tested the engine, and got the following compression: #1, 2 & 4 = 107 psi, with #3 at 104 psi. They said this was great, with spec at 106 psi, minimum of 77 psi and max deviation of 14 psi. Our baby beat that spec into the ground! (Mobile 1 since the last free oil change at 36,000). We decided to replace the HV battery with a new one (not a rebuild, per their recommendation). Cost of the new battery was $2299; with diagnostics, a transmission fluid change, and taxes, total bill was $2866.

So, guess we just have to keep running until we see 500,000 miles, or the wheels fall off and we're ready for a plug-in

 

Can we please get an update on your 02?

 

Sad to report that the final update on my late, lamented '02 can be found in this thread:

Totaled in Sedona

 

Yes that is sad. But, I'm glad you apparently had no lasting injuries yourselves. I was just going back and reading up on classic repair issues to help me decide what to do with my 01. Over the past 8 years and 107K miles the only major expense I've had was about a grand to DIY rebuild my HV battery Nov 2011. Now, it's sprung P0420 (cat inefficiency). So, since the odds are getting high for more repair and replace a this point, and I'm growing tired of researching repairs, I too may pass and go for a more reliable upgrade. Anyway, thanks for your reply. Is the 2013 holding up well now?

 

So far, so good! Still acclimating to the longer turning radius and the cool new bluetooth options (and, unfortunately, the tunnel vision out the back). Loving the mileage, too!

 

Jeesh Patrick,
You had a lot of bad luck and/or incompetent shops.

P3191 is always caused by a dirty throttle body. No need to replace ECU/ECM.
Battery failure is rare under 100k miles, but it can happen. Average I see is about 130k on Gen1's.
I've never seen front / rear suspension fail under 120k on Gen1, you must live at the end of a 10 mile washboard road.