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Grill shutter replacement - Damaged by parking curb

Discussion in 'Gen 4 Prius Main Forum' started by Badabing, Jul 21, 2024.

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  1. Badabing

    Badabing Junior Member

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    The wife ran over a parking curb and bent or damaged the grill shutter. No way I'm going to spend $1000 to have it replaced, along with a bunch of other parts, when I can probably fix this or buy affordable part/parts online. Does anyone know of a video that might show how to gain access to the grill shutter? Last thing I want to do is start unscrewing and removing things that don't need to be removed. It stuck almost shut and I am getting noticeably worse mileage. Thanks!
     
    #1 Badabing, Jul 21, 2024
  2. Badabing

    Badabing Junior Member

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    UPDATE: I removed the plastic pan directly under the grill shutter area, easy, but a bigger problem has revealed itself. The Aluminum bar that goes across the area is bent... much more involved than I initially thought... calling the insurance company in the morning :(
     
    #2 Badabing, Jul 21, 2024
  3. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Was the parking curb regular height? With our 3rd gen you've got to stop short of any-and-all concrete wheel stops, the kind at the head of parking stalls. I wised up after repeatedly tearing up our front plastic (at least less catastrophic than active shutters). Another Toyota design fail.

    see attached. That’s my favourite tape measure btw; body adds exactly 3”, nice round number.
     

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    #3 Mendel Leisk, Jul 22, 2024
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2024
  4. Badabing

    Badabing Junior Member

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    Yea, that looks like mine underneath. Very low. Not sure the curb height but it definitely hit!! Just heard from body shop... gonna be $4200. Yikes! but Insurance Co. is on-board. I wish Toyota would add a front facing low-level parking Cam. Seems like many vehicles could benefit from this!
     
    #4 Badabing, Jul 26, 2024
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk EGR Fanatic

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    Or just raise that front end plastic about an inch.
     
    #5 Mendel Leisk, Jul 26, 2024
    Falcon6v likes this.
  6. Badabing

    Badabing Junior Member

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    Yes that would definitely help! But it might affect aero-dynamics and cause lower MPG. The Grille Shutter being stuck closed has caused my MPG to drop betweent 4 and 5 MPG. I'm very curious to see if it goes back up when the repairs are completed.
     
    #6 Badabing, Jul 27, 2024
    Mendel Leisk likes this.
  7. Badabing

    Badabing Junior Member

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    L Eco
    UPDATE: All repairs complete, grill shutter working again, MPG has not improved. Must be the Yokohama AVID Ascend LX tires. It came with Bridgestone Ecopia from Toyota. Hard to believe a tire change could actually make that much difference (47 mpg vs 52 mpg).
     
    #7 Badabing, Sep 8, 2024
  8. ColoradoBoo

    ColoradoBoo Senior Member

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    Glad you got it fixed! I hate scrapping the front of the car on those cement blocks in the parking lot. (Which I'll do if I've been driving my Tundra, out of habit.)
    Glad she's fixed!
    In my old Tacoma, I backed into a fire hydrant (couldn't see it) and it dented my chrome bumper. I asked a body parts place to order me a new one, and I'd pay for it, and they inspected the truck and said it, also, had something bent back behind the bumper and ended up being almost $3,000 so had insurance help pay for it.
     
    #8 ColoradoBoo, Sep 8, 2024
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