What services you need and what you don't

Don’t forget to clean the battery pack fan! It absolutely needs to be done. It isn’t super hard, but definitely watch this video to git r done.

Don’t forget to pull the big orange battery fuse..
..and when you’re done, pull the ground off the 12v to reset, or your prii won’t start.

 

I've cleaned my fan a few times now without disconnecting either the 12 volt or high voltage safety switch. Might be leading a charmed life, but it didn't seem I was anywhere near a danger zone. Still, this was 3rd gen.

 

I’m sure the more often you clean it, the less time you have to spend sitting out the back hatch.. lol. Mine hadn't been cleaned in 11 years.. 200,000 miles. It was perty damned nasty in there.. it took a while, a lot of qtips, and some baby wipes

Yeah, I kinda thought that too when I pulled the safety switch, but I figured better safe than sorry.

Knocking on wood that the battery pack keeps rolling another 100,000!


Nice and clean now

 

I found this gem video for the gen2 transmission fluid drain/fill. I’ll be doing this in the not too distant future.

 

My 2005 120mi. Prius just had rear strut leak diagnosed at its oil chg appt.@tire shop w estimate of $1656. both. I have never had anything other than tires, oil chg &a battery needed, car seems fine, so wondering if I pay that much & current car value is only $4k, am I risking the fact that life of bank of batteries could fail soon? I would like to keep it, & pretty surprised actually I’ve not wanted newer car yet, but wondering if other more expensive things are apt to start now too. Brakes are @3mm now too.

 

$1650 to replace both rear struts??? Sorry, but that seems excessively overpriced. Find a different shop.

 

Aren't the rear shock and spring coil housed separately? At this price I would expect front and back. I replaced all of mine with kyb at 200K. Not as nice as toyota part but rides well enough.

SM-G960U ?

 

That's ridiculous... but that being said.. the mother in law got conned into paying a ridiculous amount (not as much as that though.. maybe $1k+ to get all the shocks and struts replaced with a life time warranty from American Tire Depot. I was against it from the start because you can easily purchase replacements off eBay for cheap and I'm sure there are people out there that you can pay to do it for under $200.

 

Curious if that "life time warranty" was for parts and labor?

 

It was for both. Around a month later she was having issues with the lower right strut. It was replaced free of charge. I doubt the shocks and struts are the best quality though.

 

To whom it may concern: (I just had to add my two cents to the discussion.)

I sold (yeah, right!) my 2006 Prius with 350K miles on it to my son. When my son started driving my 2006 Prius almost full time, it had 290,000 miles on it, and at that time, the cost of ownership per mile was 18 cents. (However, in that spreadsheet, I neglected to add in the cost of insurance (and the traction battery replacement and maintenance,) which probably would add about 5 cents per mile.) He has since added almost 80,000 miles, since his daily work commute approaches 90 miles round trip.

In its lifetime, the car has had the following major services: (Approx. figures since my son has all the printouts now.)

• Replaced 12V battery twice, once at less than 100K miles, and 2nd time just recently (340K).
• Four sets of spark plugs – original, 120K, 220K (TwinTip®), 330K (return to standard).
• Replaced PCV valve at same time as spark plugs, for sake of convenience.
• Brake pads and disks (rotors) – Original, 220K, 340K.
• Rear brake drums and shoes (same as above, even though not as badly worn.)
• Muffler: Original, 100K, 350K.
• Front wheel bearings (replace both, even though only one failed): Original, 220K, 340K.
• Tie rod ends (replace both, as above): Original, 240K, 350K.
• Traction battery: Emergency $1250 replacement at 160K (watching closely 1.5yr warranty*). Full in-warranty replacement, including labor, within two months.
• Traction battery module replacement (owner $60 swap by pairs, with positional adjustment):
  *After 1.5yrs. and 1 month, 2 module replacement at 220K.

• Another 2 module swap at 230K. This time, I added a Prolong® grid charger. I also bought four more modules in anticipation of future swaps. With judicious use of the grid charger, the four battery modules have yet to see action. They are being maintained periodically by the new owner, for future use.
• Always employed a full coverage silver sunshade to extend the life of the dashboard plastic.

• I also added a trailer hitch (with appropriate electronic lighting module), which has seen much use, pulling a lightweight 4x8 trailer.
• I judiciously maintained all of the under-body dust and stone shields, sometimes replacing same, probably to the tune of at least $500. Those sheets of black plastic are unreasonably costly for sure. I also replaced underbody fasteners with stainless steel, wherever feasible.
• Replaced the floor mats, with genuine Toyota replacements, no aftermarkets.
• For all other maintenance items (LOF, alignments, windshield wipers, throttle body cleaning, tires, etc.) I adhered strictly to the maintenance schedule in the Toyota manuals.
• HID headlights have been a sore point for me ever since I had the first pair replaced under warranty at 38,000 miles (luckily the exact warranty period.) Since then, I have lost count of how many pairs of HID lamps I have replaced. Enough said about that!
• Since my son has assumed ownership, he has judiciously attacked anything that may be marginal or near end-of-life in his estimation. That is why there so many actions having being taken recently.
• I forgot that I replaced my rear struts just before I transferred the car to my son. It seems that about 2 inches of the lower end of the left rear spring broke off and was lying on the floor of my garage. I recognized what it was, but could not see where it had come from. I had to take it to the dealer so he could examine it on the lift. As soon as he removed the weight from the rear suspension, a big "clunk" revealed the culprit. I replaced both struts and springs (sold as a set) myself for about $200. My memory has lost track of the exact price.

So... my old faithful green ghost (actually, the official name of the color is “Silver Pine Mica”) is still ticking! This car and my newer 2017 Prius Prime are the eighth and ninth automobiles that I have owned in the last fifty years. The other seven were either sold (4 of them), given to charity (2 more), or totaled (thanks to the aforementioned son.) My seventh car was also a Prius (used 2001 Prius bought in 2003).

My total driving miles in that 50 year period: 1,396,000. I have driven Prii for a total of 401,000 miles.

 

There's any order to flush the break lines in the 2007 prius?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Tread cautiously with DIY second gen brake fluid change. Third gen Repair Manual has a non-techstream method instruction, but second gen does not.

Dealership should not charge more than $100~ for this.

If you've got techstream and want to DIY I can post info.

 

Great post. I would like to hear your opinion on engine coolant change with an Airlift to remove air from the system. I've got a Gen 2 with 140k miles and a Gen 3 with 140k miles. Have you ever used the Airlift for this maintenance?

Pixel 3a ?

 

I've never owned a gen 2, have heard it's very finicky doing engine coolant change tho. The Lisle funnel seems a good idea, tho again I've never used one. My gen 3 is due for coolant changes this coming fall, from watching @NutzAboutBolts videos think it'll be pretty easy.

 

I’m at 166k miles, I don’t think I or the previous owner did any of these services. Are there any symptoms I should be aware?

 

I will be following your orders like the bible. I'm prob going to have a mechanic bleed the brakes though. Dont want to mess with the mini vci and techstream

 

I have a mini vci cable . Do you know where I can get a good download of techstream for my laptop?

 

I've no experience but many here do.

 

Coming up on the 180k service later this year. I plan to get it done around 177-178k. So far I foresee the things called for on 5/15/30/60k service calls. Both my independent mechanic in California and the closest dealer to me in Arizona have mentioned that they're seeing some seals that should be replaced. Apparently they're "weeping" but not leaking enough to drip to the ground. Specifically mentioned are the valve cover gasket, the front crank seal and a timing cover reseal. I can see replacing the brake fluid but what exactly is a "fuel injection service"? The dealer wants $244 for it without details.

Edit: Anything else I should be concerned about like the PCV valve? The rear brakes are still ok at 50%.