Alright gang update! Hood was difficult to open with a finicky latch. Got it open, and found a nice dirty mess, see the pic. Cleaned off everything, swapped the engine air filter out. Found 4 acorns underneath the old engine air filter. Restored headlights, see left and right. The picture is from only one buff of the passenger light. They look even better fully buffed/treated. No more yellow dull lights. Cabin filter changed finally. Blower motor removed and cleaned pretty thoroughly. Blower motor housing cleaned out big time. About 20 acorns fell out of that. Driver seat removed, vacuumed out the underneath which was nasty. Passenger seat to be removed soon for vacuuming. Wipers replaced, all windows rain-x’d. Auction marker removed! Engine oil/filter is on hand. We didn’t change it since it was raining pretty bad and we didn’t have a catch to let the old oil spill into. Good news is we found a receipt in the car that says oil change is due at 226/227k. Car is currently at 223,950. Granted, this oil is from early 2016. Key batteries on hand, need a tiny screw driver to pop out the door that covers the batteries. Odor bomb was set off in the car tonight when I locked it up. I’ll leave it closed up all night to nuke it, and open it up tomorrow! Hope you all enjoy. Can’t wait to keep breathing life into this little thing! iPhone ?
Should also mention we checked the oil. It’s filled to the right level, and is still a golden bronze color. Coolant level is also normal. Battery fan and duct will be done soon also. Didn’t get to it tonight.
when you get around to draining the oil, make sure to correlate the color on the dip stick to the color in the drip pan. Valvoline is the clearest 0 20 syn I've ever seen. So clear many times it can't be seen at all on the dip stick. currently $24 5 gal walmart
When I drain ours (6 months or 8K kms) the dipstick oil still looks like light honey, but pour some drained oil into a jar and it's pitch black. For a counterpoint: when I do the oil change on our daughter's Pilot (9~10K kms at the most, per the Honda Maintnenance Minder), the oil on the dipstick looks black as soot.
Odor bomb was set off and car sat about 15hrs before being initially opened. Car smells much much better. Use of hvac produces a crummy smell still. I might buy an ozone generator to really kill everything. I still would like to rugdoctor the interior seats and carpets as well.
There is that ac cleaner that you can use. Toyo makes one and there is some others I suppose you can also bomb again and cycle the ac and heat during the exposure to get it dispersed thru the ductwork. More power to you.!. Anything pet related esp to that event I would/could not go near...no matter the price. You are on top so keep it up and continue the endurance!
Thanks. At this rate all I care about is cleaning the interior up and doing tires/alignment. Then I’ll be able to make it my main commuter car. Would be fun to take the car to 250k and some further milestones.
Feel free to check out my first video of the Prius. Me and my goofball friend pretty much laughed the whole way to and from copart. Hope you guys enjoy a glimpse of this cars horrendous condition upon picking it up. Trying to bring her back as best I can!
In your video you comment that you don't know if this is the stupidest thing you have ever done. Teddy Roosevelt did not speak of Priuses, but he did speak of you: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
@kenmce That is probably the most noble way you could highlight the purchase of this vehicle haha. Glad to have a community forum to support the cleanup of this car! iPhone ?
Half nice person clean job but hey it gets it done. I’m probably going to get a detail job anyhow so I’m just making it liveable for now. Ozone generator was also purchased!! Ran for 1hr in the car then aired the car out for 30mins. No smell any more from hvac. Will test out throughout the week and possible run it again just for extra cleansing.
