My 2007 prius with about 129k miles had to be towed to the nearest dealership yesterday. Numerous brake warning lights were flashing as well as a warning ding even when the car was turned off and the door was open. Today they put it on the diagnostic computer and told me that it needed a new brake actuater assembly.($2754) IN addition the brake fluid reservoir was overflowing with very clean fluid that they don't think is brake fluid. They said the fluid would have to be sent out to be analyzed (couple hundred). If it was not brake fluid, the whole system would be compromised and even lots more replacements would be needed. I have dropped over 2k on the car in 2024....new spark plugs, ac leak, tires, etc. I feel like it's a bottomless pit of repairs and no one in the fam is handy. So I decided to check into trading it in and getting a new corrolla for my expecting daughter to replace it. Well the sales guy ...same dealership told me with all those repairs they will just send it to auction. They will give we only 500 for the car. That will cover the $100 the state of CT charges for all trade ins and the 238 for diagnosing with me nettting about 100. Blue book value for car with problems even fr trade in has mid point of 2900. But, since there are unknowns here I get why I can't get that much... Looking for knowledgeable opinions here. I don't believe the sales guy....I never do. But, I willl have to decide this weekend because the repairs folks want a decision on Monday. Thoughts??? Thanks!
the foreign liquid sounds like baloney, but if they can show you the codes for the actuator, that makes sense. if you have to put in $2,750., then it sounds like a breakeven, and something else is bound to go wrong in the future, so a new car may be your best bet. but shop around, don't let them steamroll you
Touch finger to B fluid touch tongue should be glycol taste n smell. Brake actuator is correct. A few ways to skin cat . A car that doesn't run drive or brake is pretty much worthless to most people maybe not to a tow lot but to a human being looking a car that's not a happening thing
Any car salesman will get you into a payment and you leave your old vehicle sitting obviously but this is a pretty easy fix to keep on driving for another 15 years brake fluid coming out doesn't make any sense but it's probably brake fluid in your accumulator is bit the dust and it's just pushing a lot of the fluid back up into the reservoir because it can't stay in the accumulator any longer than it over fuels the reservoir and it runs down well goes all over the place when they fix that they'll spray it off
The options are find an independent who will replace the brake actuator for $1500 or less and then sell it gor $4k, give your car to the dealership (they will auction it and get $500) or hold out for a couple thousand off the Corolla.
Talking about trading in a car where it's into the same dealer's shop for repairs seems like a recipe for disaster to me. I had a Gen 2 Prius with over 200K miles and it definitely wasn't a bottomless pit of repairs. I agree with @bisco and @Tombukt2 that the foreign fluid in the brake system sounds like baloney to me. It's a fairly closed system and unless someone put something else in there (like an oil change shop topping the brake fluid reservoir off with windshield washer fluid) I can't think of how this would happen. Tires are consumables like gasoline. I wouldn't trade in a car because it ran out of gasoline, and yeah, there are going to be some repairs you'll have to do when the car gets over 100k miles. You won't need to do them after that for another 100k miles though. Find a decent repair shop that's not a dealer and get a second opinion. Maybe have them suck the stuff out of the brake system, refill it with fresh fluid and bleed the brakes to see what their service is like. I wouldn't pay for laboratory testing, it's probably going to be just as cost-effective as changing out the brake fluid anyway. (I'd also worry that your dealer would tell you their "lab" said something that would make you want to trade in your car anyway.) If your brake system really does need something, a decent repair shop will also make the same recommendation and give you another estimate. If you're looking for a real reason to dump your Prius for that bright shiny new Corolla, look underneath the car. CT is in the northeast where there's a heavy amount of salt corrosion that shortens the lives of too many of your vehicles. Take your Prius to a different shop, not the dealer, to have them take a look and see how much life is left in the frames, subframes and other things that get rotted out by the salt. Oh, and the dealer putting the time pressure on you making your decision is just the icing on the cake as to why you should buy your new car from another dealer.
I believe all those 2k you dumped in 2024 are all unnecessary repairs and the service guy on the desk marked you as "gullible". It's been always mentioned here why stealerships are not your first option for repairs or diagnose, worst tow your vehicle or even for a trade in. the service guy on the front desk can tell you straight in the face what unnecessary you need because they have commission for those repairs. The more they could pad in the invoice, the more $$ in their pocket.
Actually most of the work was done at an independent who the family has trusted for years. And yes, they were about half the cost. The dealership came into play when the prius crapped out on a highway far from home. We towed to the nearest dealership and were stuck with it. This tow was different. But now that it's on their lot, and my daughter needs a car pronto, I don't have alot of options. Paying to have it towed elsewhere, fixing it, and trying to find another buyer when I don't have the space for the addtl car in my driveway seems overwhelming....
That's why the dealership that you're working with is taking advantage of you. I personally would NOT reward their bad behavior. The 2007 is worth a couple of thou just in parts, so unless you're all the way over on the other coast - YOU DO have options. Getting taken advantage of just seems to be the easiest one. Good Luck!
Even in the Northeast if the cars been garaged and not parked on the street most of its life and so on these cars can do fairly well even though they're using salt on the road and whatnot when I lived up there for a while I had a garage and I could hose the car off before I pulled it in at night just took a second and that seemed to add quite a bit of years to the life of the car pretty easily now when you didn't have that and you had to park outside and you were in 4 ft snow drifts every time the plow came through and all that sort of thing quite a different story obviously
A lot depends on your financial situation - if you can afford their deal it is certainly way easier. Your daughter will get a better and safer car as a bonus.
Any fluid coming from the brake reservoir is likely due to be due to overfilling the reservoir, and then having the brake accumulator tank discharge back to the reservoir also. They likely discharged the reservoir while troubleshooting, or had power isolated to it and since the pump motor couldn't run to keep the accumulator full, it leaked into the system/reservoir. If the reservoir was at the proper level, there should have been enough excess air volume to absorb that fluid. Fluid does not just magically appear in a brake system and start overflowing. They should know that. I would be wary of their services.
Sorry for your situation, it will get worse but may have a better ending. Get it out of that dealer's lot. Was it driveable when the lites came on? Did the brakes work? Many here are driving with brake system lites on. You will lose ABS but that doesn't matter too much. Anyway, get it to the independent shop you use. Talk to them, they may have a relationship with a tow truck company. In the meantime rent, carpool or uber. I bet in 2 weeks you will have a much better option than giving it to a dealer and walking away with a franklin. One other thing, that fluid story is crap. Get a turkey baster, a pickle jar and a bottle of new fluid. Suck the old stuff out and put it in the jar, top off with fresh fluid. Tell the service rep you will have it analyzed and maybe report them to consumer affairs.
