Newb Looking at 2005 with 194k

That doesn't sound healthy to me. Could be a failed HV battery, esp with 194k miles. The cooling fan on the HV battery is often on but usually at lower speeds after the car has been worked hard. If it's on full almost straight away then it doesn't sound promising. Also, the engine will run continuously for the first few minutes until the car has warmed up and then it will cut. If it's just always on then that again sounds like a failed HV battery.

It depends how much of a challenge you want and your experience with High Voltage batteries. If you don't have a clue then you really don't want to be messing around with a 200+ volt DC battery. IT COULD KILL YOU!

It is possible to change individual cells and such like but it does involve balancing them and all sorts of stuff like that - which if you're after a project, noting the warning above, might make it viable.

Personally I'd give no more than $700 for a car in the condition you describe. But each to their own.

Good luck.

 

the high odometer reading isn't a big deal. The master warning light and associated issues definitely is. Unless you learn what error codes are stored, you are going in blind on this Prius

At 7 large, walk away from this one, better yet RUN!

 

I will second that motion 7K is too much for this car, at the very least you are facing a traction battery. Look elsewhere unless you have money to burn.

Don't get me wrong, you can fix the car and probably get another 100K or so out of it. The question is: "How much will it cost to get her back into normal operation again".

Salvage traction batteries are under a grand I hear, reinvolt supposed to be around 2K and new one from Toyota 3.5K and up. There are other expensive items on the Prius too...

The P0A80 is definitely a traction battery failure code. Searching Prius Chat reveals that it is saying one or more cells has a unacceptable voltage difference. I have read elsewhere that a repair can be made rather than replacement of the battery, but it does involve knowing what you are doing and being able to diagnose each cell in the battery, along with replacing the bad cells and further balancing the cells whereas the battery will charge and discharge properly. BEWARE, this is a HIGH VOLTAGE battery. If you don't know what you are doing, you can kill yourself working with it.

My best advice is to look elsewhere at this time. Good luck to you and welcome to Prius Chat.

 

Hi Vol96--

Depending on where you are in Michigan, I recommend giving Steve Woodruff a look. He's in Indiana and specializes in rebulding Priuses (Prii?). I bought mine there a couple months ago and it's run like a dream. He warranties his work for a year, as well.

Here's his page, it changes from time to time: Rebuildable Prius 04 up

 

WOW those are high prices.

Talk here in the UK is that the second hand values of Prii have collapsed because of the recall nonsense that happened in 2010.

It is said that my 2009 gen3 with 65k miles and full Toyota service history is only worth £7,300 (US$11,700) ! and that figure includes 20% sales tax.

 

+1 on Steve @ Autobeyours. He is awesome. My car drives like new despite over 100,000 miles. The 12 month/12,000 mile warranty seals the deal. The only problem is if it breaks, he fixes it (meaning you have to bring it to him). Michigan to Scottsburg is a haul, especially if you're towing.

 

the high odometer reading isn't a big deal.

 

get one from out of state then. They are everywhere here in California, plus the body will never have seen road salt.