Newbie, bought 2002, are horror story's true?

Yeah, I think you have psyched yourself out. I almost did the same thing reading a "consumer complaint" website. There are no guarantees when dealing with a used car but I just bought a Prius with the miles you expect to have in five years but has a nearly new battery. I paid slightly more for it. Its a 2003. Before I saw one I already scared myself out of it. I was terrified of five hundred dollar light repairs and skidding off a snowy mountain path on the way to Yosemite. But in driving it and speaking to mechanics. I found my fears rather unfounded. Your car still has a lot of warranty left in it you dope. I almost wish I had run into an owner as chicken as you when I was shopping last week. I would have probably snapped up your car if it was as clean as the one I bought.

I have only owned this car since Wednesday and it has saved me $50 in gas in the last four days. I drove 250 miles home from Las Vegas to Los Angeles on three and a half gallons of gas averaging nearly 75-80 MPG with the a/c on. I just drove home from my sisters house tonight on a dollar fifty in gas averaging 59. In my truck the same trip would have cost me five or six bucks. What if my Prius saved me that much money every four days? That would be $4500.00 at the end of the year. Obviously I am not driving to Vegas every few days. But it sort of tells me the car can potentially pay for a lot of its own repairs. And what about not having to go in for and pay for smog checks and emmisions repairs? I don't know if you got Hybrid vehicle stickers, but if it did

The funny thing to me is I am starting driving a car with 120,000 miles. The only difference between us really is state of mind. I'm enjoying the hell out of my Prius and you are still terrified. Classic glass half empty. You just want to get your car to where I am. For 7500 bucks what car is it you are about to buy instead that has over two years and 80,000 miles left on the drive train warranty?

 

Did you read my signature?

 

Oops. I didn't see the the thread was three pages until today.
I missed the part where you turned the corner.

I guess you live in North Carolina. Here in California the car has 15 years and 150,000 miles just because its in California. So strangely enough both you and I have only 30,000 left. I figure you have coverage til at least January 2011.Depending on when the Carfax would say it first took to the road you might have more. But that still isn't bad for a fairly cheap used car. And I think there still might be a couple other parts on yours still covered that aren't covered on mine. It was very common among both Prius an Honda Insight owners selling their cars is they didn't know they were selling a car that still had huge transferable time left on their Hybrid drive train warranties.

Fortunately my car has a one month warranty from the dealer for those things. I have to say he has been just great about picking up little issues that cropped up after the sale. He's fixing an unnoticed stone chip I spotted on the windshield, getting me the missing owner's manual, and my drivers side doorpull stopped pulling. Sometimes its not the big repairs that spoil the new buy. Its the little ones. I'm just lucky I bought it where I did.

I was definitely where you were until the day before I bought it.
I'm currently in a mild state of relieved euphoria. I think I need to
take two steps back to find reality. But this friggen mileage game
where you can finesse the car into getting sixty to eighty miles a
gallon is just incredible fun. I'm silly with excitement.

 

i bought a 2002 used (ebay even) sight unseen (from a dealer tho) in 2005.

it had 65K miles. Now it has 145K and i am handing it down to my daughter and i am driving a 2010.

at 79K miles the cat converter triggered a code and the dealer said it might be bad but we could wait, and i said ok but note the code so when it goes, even after 80K miles, its under warranty, and he decided right then to do it to avoid that later hassle. That was about $900 saved i think. Your warranty is 8/80 on the cat converter i think.

i changed the oil every 5K miles at jiffy lube.

i did the 90K service at 140K miles. I paid for a new oil pan because the grease monkeys at jiffy loop stripped my threads so bad - that is not on toyota

at 140K i also had to change the front brake pads as the original pads were done. I also had the rotors turned. i thought toyota built quality.

oh yeah - at 110K the original 12V battery went and i dropped $130 at the dealer and installed it myself

so that's my 65K to 145K story with a 2002 prius - YMMV

 

Keep the car. Drive it. Drive it more. THen when you think you are done....drive it some more. I am new to forum, but i picked up a 2001 and it has over 220,000 miles....and returns 54 to 57 mpg on a daily basis. Every car on the road has the chance of developing a problem. I bought a spankin new 1991 Mustang GT that was in the shop 8 times in 6 months for front end problems....ate a steering rack at 1000 miles, wouldnt hold an alignment, brakes were junk.... it happens to everyone at some point or another.... Quit worrying and enjoy it. If it makes you feel better, take it to the dealer and have them look it over. I took mine in and they are amazed at the miles and how clean it was....the techs were suprised the car didnt have a single drip or leak underneath and was clean as a whistle. Just drive it and enjoy it. after a year, trade it in on a new prius.....

 

Joeman, the SLLC coolant is spec'ed 100k miles 1st time and 50k thereafter in the 2004-onwards Prius. I adopted the same schedule in my 2001 Prius. Toyota did not say I could

The brake fluid will absorb water over time in any car. Some people change it frequently and others about never. I suggest that both these approaches are wrong. Let a brake shop test the water (or copper) content with color-change paper or other equipment. If it tests bad, replace the fluid.

Prius can be all wheels down for all fluid changes. Procedures are described in various Priuschat threads. Engine oil is dead easy. Coolants are tricky only because of the air bleeding endgame. Transaxle fluid is easier if you remove some plastic underbody pans.

I don't agree with waiting until 120k to change transaxle fluid. We have fluid analyses showing it deteriorates rather more quickly.

Yes the PCV is hard to get to.

If you prefer to have the car higher while crawling under it, just take precautions not to get squished.

Fred/Jiffy Lube - no comment.

 

change the transaxle fluid now.

 

As with any other car...if you start reading through the forums, you can start to get a little worried. Glad you have decided to tackle the nomal maintenance items. Once you get the car lined back out, im sure you will feel a lot better when you are driving it.
I picked up a 1995 impala SS last year, with 80k miles on it. Bought up in Missouri and drove it back home to little Rock. On way home, you guessed it...check engine light. It can happen to any car. Doesnt matter if its a Prius, or a Mercedes, or Chevrolet Chevette. (Well, it was more of a all the time thing with the chevette..LOL) I think most people worried if the check engine light was OFF on those cars..HA!...
On the impala, it turned out to be a cracked Left side exhaust manifold....simple fix...but thats how the ball bounces....
And NO! I never owned a chevette! But my x wife did when we were dating. Circa 1987. Why wasnt the internet available back then....i could have really used the techdata to work on that car! Oh the pain....Oh the agony!

 

This might help:

2003 Prius - Cold Weather and Transaxle
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Also check the web. Hobbit has a good web site on doing it too.

Bob Wilson

 

just gasket. no sealant