I have a well maintained clean 2008 Prius with 190,000 miles, after a long trip multiple light displayed; E Break, ABS, (!), VCS, maint required lights now continuously on. Lite ticking sound intermittently for a few seconds repeating a few times a minute, when first started and backing up, then breaking before put into D car slows down but doesn’t stop (only when first started) I believe it’s the break actuator. Took to Toyota cert shop and told actuator assembly need replaced for $2,800. Car is old, high miles original main battery and concerned about future repairs aswell. I recently replaced the 12v battery and seemed ok for a couple months, but when I start in the am, charge almost depleted. I’ve taken good care of this vehicle maintained every mileage maintenance, new 12v battery, new tires, alignment, breaks, cat converter and headlights. Besides this issue, oil leaks 1/2 q every oil change, gas “blatter” only hold 7 gal and gas gauge not reading correctly. When gas is low car freaks out, that’s when all the light illuminated this time. Car is worth 4K in good running condition. $2,800 to fix and whatever else is in near further. What’s the best way to economically fix, sell, salvage, trade car? I wasn’t planning in driving for more then a year before newish car purchase, need to get the most $ out of it as I can without trying to get one over in anyone. Pics below and codes too. Thanks
I’m normally one to say keep the car you’ve got, but knowing that the HV battery is 12 years old makes spending $2800 on a new brake actuator seem like a tough one to swallow.
As far as the unreliable gas gauge, have you tried the 2 procedures talked about in this thread? Gas Pump does not want to pump gas and spills out gas | PriusChat
Welcome to PriusChat!! Some have reported a correlation between a lower 12v SOC and increased brake actuator activity. How many hours per week are you currently using the vehicle?
I am also having this issue, as i believe my abs actuator is failing as well (lights come on, warning lights, loss of brake power, and usually appears when im tapping on the brake on turns, though it also happened on the straight lane freeway while tapping brakes). However my car (160k) has a new CAT, and original HV battery that is still good condition, so i think its still worth spending 1.5-2.5k to fix? If you hv battery is failing i dont think it is worth it.
I'd go with disconnecting the 12v battery each night using a switch and relay, that will sort the flat battery problem. Look for someone who can swap out the brake actuator for a recon unit and drive it around till the traction battery fails. Then do a revive on the traction battery and trade in on a new car if you were planning on getting a new car soon anyway. My 2008 Prius has huge miles on it and my 2006 has quite few on the clock, both still go great, but if something serious failed on the high mileage Prius, I'd use it for my experiment in adapting the trans to all electric and find a nice light weight donor car and turn it into an EV. T1 Terry
I'm ruling out "Fix and Keep" because you say this: To me then? Well the best laid plans of Mice and Men go awry... You may of planned to drive it another year, but unfortunately your Prius isn't cooperating with your plan. I would justify fix and keep, if your plan was to drive it another 5 years. But if you were 12 months away from making a change anyway? I say cut your losses and take this as a sign that "change" day has arrived early. Unfortunately, I don't think you can get great value from the vehicle. With 2,800 worth of repair at least, I don't think you can make investment that would result in restoring enough value to return your investment in repair. So I would sell or trade in "as is", and just honestly search for the best value you can get from this definition. Which unfortunately I would imagine won't be great.
I traded in my 2008 for a 2011. I had indications of wheel bearings going out and the first indications of traction battery problems. I had 192K on the clock. Quick edit, I saw my old 2008 still on the road the other day so somebody fixed it up. It had a characteristic dealer badge on the rear hatch and some dents on the driver's side rocker panel.
Hey. I advise you to consider options with the search for an alternative workshop. Consult the wizard and options for repairing your Prius
Absolutely amazes me how people still confuse "brakes" with "breaks", especially when the annunciator light literally has the correct spelling of the word right on the dash.
