What was your most expensive Prius repair?

Repairs? You mean some people have had to actually REPAIR a Prius? AMAZING!

For me, other than maintenance (oil changes, tires) cost has been ZERO. Well, if you count the stereo upgrades, leather interior, the tint and the custom stripes it's about $1200 total. Oh, and the "aftermarket" 15" ultra-light wheels, which are hiding behind every Prius wheel cover are also FREE (remove the stupid plastic covers).

EDIT: Uh oh, just added new tires for about $400. Much quieter, better ride, better handling (calmed down some of the dartiness) very little hit in mileage. And an oil change is due, about $70 tomorrow (I know, I should do my own, but I don't have a convenient place plus I'm a stickler about recycling the oil - and I use Mobile 1, which accounts for a lot of the cost).

 

I got the oil changed at 8Mm, no other costs, unless you count mods (floor mats, scangauge, ebh, rear bumber guard, centre mount for my cell phone and scangauge, colour matched door bumper strips.... I gotta stop buying stuff for my toy!)

 

I had to replace the MFD at about 80K miles. Although it was under extended warrantee, it would have cost on the order of $800.

No other warrantee repairs, only normal maintenance, the biggest of which was the tires, about $500 or so from Costco.

 

I had the auto leveling light sensor die on my a week after my warentee went out. Cost to replace was around 450$.

 

Well, we finally had our first true repair on our 2003 Prius.

Previously, we had done all the scheduled oil changes, and at about 20,000 miles we replaced the OEM tires . There were no other repairs during the last six years.

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a slight squeaking sound on that seemed to emanate from the just beneath the steering wheel. There were no other symptoms, and the steering felt as solid as ever.
It sounded like something that could be fixed with a squirt of oil, but I figured that the dealer would know the proper place to aim that squirt, and I was not inclined to take my steering column apart.
Well, the local dealer decided that the rack and pinion steering mechanism needed replacement, and insisted that was indeed the source of the little squeak. Two days later I was told that the first set of replacement parts did not solve the problem.
So then the dealer was advised by some higher level of Toyota tech support that they should order another rack and pinion, plus the Electronic Control Unit for the steering.
Getting those parts would take a few days, so I was given a loaner car over the July 4th weekend.
The second rack, pinion, ECU seems to have fixed the problem, and the car is once again driving the same as ever, without any squeak.
The cost of all this was around $1800 here in California (including the 5-day rental of a brand-new Camry).

Fortunately, a few years ago I felt that the car was still "new technology", so somewhere around 30,000 miles I purchased an Extended Warranty from Troy (everyone's best friend), and I think that extra warranty cost about $700 at the time.
So, in my case the entire $1800 repair bill from the local dealer was paid by Toyota Extended Care.

By the way, our 2005 Prius also has about 60,000 miles at present, and we have repaired nothing, just done the scheduled oil changes. There are no squeaks. I did replace the OEM tires at the time of purchase on that car.

And, I forgot to call Troy until after the car had 45,000 miles, so I could not buy an extended warranty for the 2005. But I don't really mind, because the car has been so reliable.

Hope this information is of some help.

If there is some other preventive repair to which I should pay attention now, on either car (2003 or 2005 - both at about 61,000 miles) then I hope someone here will let me know!

(Hmm... I seem to recall that my old Camry was finicky about replacing about timing belts every 60,000 like clockwork???)

 

Warranty covered replacement cost (about $500) of a brake actuator assembly on our '07. The original was noisy.

Spent 50 cents on a roll of scotch tape so I could use half-inch pieces to cover the bolt holes under the side mirrors on the '07 and '08. They whistled with a high pitch at higher speeds.

I don't like noise. I love the car.

 

My most expensive repair was when someone modified my door and I was none too keen on the mod. Cost my insurance company $4500 to fix.

My only other repair was $25 to fix the MFD, otherwise just normal running costs.

 

Prius does not have a timing belt; instead the engine has a timing chain so you don't have to worry about periodic replacement of that part. If you haven't had the transaxle fluid changed, I suggest that should be done now. Toyota ATF WS for the 2005 and Toyota ATF T-IV for the 2003. Capacity is 4 qt for the 2005 and 5 qt for the 2003. The drain pan on the 2003 should be removed and cleaned out, so a new drain pan gasket will be needed. If you are present when this is done I think you will be impressed by the amount of muck that has accumulated on the bottom of the drain pan and the little rectangular magnet on the floor of the drain pan.

 

Head light bulbs,, under warrantee,,, $0.

Other than oil changes and tires,, 40,000 total cost $0

Icarus

 

Question:
When & if the battery on my 2005 [104k miles] fails, will it stop running or continue
to run on gas? Also, what will replacement cost?

 

$1800 after someone ran me off the road and into a curb (managed to avoid hitting him).

right front hub and bearing assy and knuckle (carrier)
right front lower balll joint
right front inner and outer tie rod ends
idler arm assy
New Alloy wheel and re-mount tire
Re-alignment

 

Written like a true engineer.

 

I have paid for no repairs. I expect that the most expensive will be to replace the driver's Sunvisor, which now takes more than one push to stay in the up position.

It will stop. A Prius cannot run without a traction battery. Replacements now are roughly $2000. But if it is not damaged or abused the battery might be good for another 200,000 miles. Prius taxis have run farther than that without replacement.

 

1400.00 for a new computer and 500.00 for a water pump and serpentine belt at a Toyota dealership for my 2003 Prius

 

Well that seems like an interesting combination. How many miles were on the car?
I can understand that a water pump and/or its belt could wear out.
But why would the computer be affected and need replacement?

 

According to post at AutoBlogGreen by Mr. Sebastian Blanco on
on Jan 1st 2009, the cost of the battery pack would be $2300 o $2600.

 

$722 to replace 2 coils and 2 plugs after water "mysteriously" entered the engine compartment. Picked up car and noticed new caulking over the gap in the cowl - dead center - directly over the failed coils and plugs. Went back to dealer and showed them the caulk - service manager told me it was TSB for water infiltration into the cabin, not the engine compartment. Will be writing to Toyota next.

 

No, it was for water pooling on top of the motor and entering the spark plug coil packs

 

delete

 

I had to replace the MFD on my 2004 to the tune of $820 (part was $600 and labor $220) The dealer wanted $920 for a rebuilt part plus 2 full days of labor (one was to "diagnose the problem"). I found an independent toyota mechanic - gave him a printout of how to do the replacement from PriusChat - and he had it fixed in 4 hours.