Long story short our 2011 Prius got totaled last year and we missed having a hybrid. Only thing we did not miss was the payments. So the search to find an older one at a decent price to buy straight out and figure do work on it if needed. Found one scouring the net and found one really cheap that needed a battery pack and little bit of body damage and they back out of the deal and wanted to get it repaired and keep it. So another one catches my eye, a 2004 Prius with a capped odometer 299,999 Aprox 313,211. Went back and forth with what problems it has and only needs a catalytic converter maybe an o2 sensor and the mfd display would not connect to the car. Only reason he was getting rid of it was because of price to replace the cats outweighed what he wants to put in the car. Got the service records and shows that he had it dealer maintained its whole life and it hit 299999 around June 2015. Some of things things he had done last 100k LUBE OIL AND FILTER CHANGE WITH MULTI-POINT INSPECTION AND SYNTHETIC OIL, TIRE ROTATION AND SET TIRE PRESSURE TO PROPER SPECS every 6-7k miles REPLACED FRONT BRAKE PADS AND MACHINED ROTORS 276,118 REPLACE RT FRONT WHEEL BEARING ASSEMBLY 269,524 REPLACED REAR BRAKE SHOES AND MACHINED DRUMS, SERVICE INVERTOR COOLANT, COOLANT SYSTEM SERVICE WITH NEW ANTI-FREEZE0, REPLACED DRIVE BELT, REPLACE REAR STRUTS 241,980 SCAN TEST, CODE P0505, IDLE AIR CONTROL SYSTEM, INSPECTED AND CLEANED/LUBED THRO 214,540 SERVICE DIFFERENTIAL, ENGINE TUNE UP 189,994 So the wife and I figure go out and take a look at the Prius on Saturday. I grab my obd2 dongle and got torque setup on my tablet and see how well the battery packs discharge/recharge and see if there was any variance in voltage between all the battery packs. All the cells read almost the same when discharging and recharging. We test drove the car for a long time and decided to buy her. The car itself looks great on the outside and only has a very few little bitty door pings. The inside is just as nice with just a little bit of wear. What we got the guy down to, it was a no brainer on picking it up even with such high miles. Sunday I took out the MFD and resolder the bad connectors and is fully working now. Also order a mini vci techstream for toyota so I can see the data better on a laptop for cats and misc future repairs that may pop up. Also the Prius has the package 4 option "Wiper, Intermittent Rear; Entry System, Keyless Remote Smart; Theft Deterrent System, Security Alarm; HomeLink Universal Transmitter"
Enjoy. Good Luck. Sounds like this is clearly a 2nd car or back-up vehicle. So depending on buy in cost?- What much do you have to lose?
With plates, title and tax we are still south of $2000, we may hit $2000 matters on price of a cat and having it installed. lol will be buffing out the headlights when this snow melts again. Also forgot mention has brand new tires also.
the cheap techstream programs are loaded with virus and spyware, install it on a junker laptop with XP and disable the wifi..
Thank you about warning me about the software, found some other places to download the software also. I have a beat up laptop that doesn't have WiFi so that is all good also.
Still driving nice and strong. Just reprogrammed my combination meter today so meter reads 13,991 miles will affix a sticker in door jam to show cluster been changed. Also just received my direct bolt on cats with resonator in mail yesterday but of course they forgot my gaskets ,so should be next week new cats installed.
Until 2004, a neighbor friend bought a new car every 5 years. His wife still trades in for a new model every five, but he is still driving his 2004. I think he's passed 199,999 and nothing but routine maintenance. He says it's the best car ever built.
Update New cats installed today. Will say it was a pita to break free the bolts at the manifold. If that was not bad enough putting it back together was even more of a pita. We bought the Bosal 096-1692 Catalytic Converter so we will keep updated on if it fails early and such.
Hi there congratulations on your prius bargain it sounds similar to the prius we purchased last year with a few issues, there's nothing quite like buying something for a bargain price and fixing it up yourself, its good fun and saves you money! plus you get to learn all about your new car, a no brainer if your handy with stuff. I have become accustomed to only buying cars with problems its good fun! and the bliss feeling of success when you fix it. Can I ask one thing, did your prius ping under mid load or suffer bad detonation before you changed the cat, but not after? ..our 08 has about the same miles as yours and alike needs a cat P0420, it detonates really bad under mild load regardless of fuel octane used I am thinking it might have something to do with the cat. Cheers Matt
We had no problems with detonation or pinging under any load before we replace the cats. Of course i have a degree in electronic technology and industrial electricity, so a prius is perfect for me to play around with. Definitely felt great repairing the display and reprogramming the combination meter myself. Only wish I get to drive it more, wife decided she likes it more.
Ok thanks for your help, must be something else more than likely carbon buildup ..family members love pinching the prius its common practice
