"it's the tranny. $4,800 bucks".

Before this noise started had there been any work done on the car? Has it ever been in an accident? Or have you just had regular maintenance up until this point?

 

Very good news. I thought they would take care of you under the circumstances. When they did the same thing for me, I knew I would only own Toyotas in the future. I don't think any other manufacturer would do that for a customer.

When my service advisor asked Toyota for asssistance with mine, they asked him if I was a good customer, and had I done all the scheduled maintenance. They said fix it! I think in cases like this it is very inmportant to have a good relationship with your service advisor/dealership. If they don't like you, they are not going to help you. To show my appreciation, I buy my service advisor and quick lube person lunch when I go in for service. It goes a long way.

 

Color me skeptical. Straight from the dealership's mouth, if I may guess ?

 

If you are not a good customer and have not done the scheduled maintenance, why should they fix it? They are not obligated to do anything. I am not understanding what you are getting at.

 

A bearing is what I'm thinking,

 

riverside toyota? i heard they were the worst. that's great news, congratulations!

 

The stealership is not obligated to fix your car period. They do it for money. As for paying through the nose in hopes of buying a fair weather friend, it is your money.

As for me? No. Hell no.

 

A promising thread is thus ended.

 

All's well that ends well, but notice it is also one more example of money wasted on an extended warranty.

 

Had Toyota not stepped up and offered to replace the OP's transmission, the OP would have had a choice of many, many junkyards close to Corona from which to choose. And a low-mileage Gen II transmission will typically be much less than $1,000 in the Southern California area, from a local source.

You might want to lower your prices to competitive levels before you go hunting on the forums again.

 

I don't know about this. LKQ charges about $700 + tax for a grade A trans with low mileage. Freidawg's quote might have been towards the high end, but to call it uncompetitive is harsh. There is some value-added here, given that delivery was included and they specialize in hybrid salvage. When it comes to salvage parts, you get what you pay for.

Overall, this was a very informative thread, showing that it is possible to convince Toyota step up and make an appropriate goodwill gesture, while also setting real world expectations of $1500 - $2000 for getting a salvage transaxle installed if warranty coverage has expired.

 

Yes, and that's a lot less than $1000, as I had mentioned. 30% less, to be exact. I've seen low-mileage examples for $400 to $500. That's about 50% less. Might take a bit of hunting, but they are out there, especially in the OP's area.

No, it's an honest assessment. To begin with, what will the OP do if the transaxle arrives damaged? Ship it back? When a component is that unwieldy and that heavy, it really makes sense to shop locally first, in case there is an issue with the replacement part. Freidawg is in the business and knows this, of course, but didn't point it out. I'm not terribly surprised, but that omission isn't doing the customer any favors.

I disagree. The fact that delivery was included did not make the price competitive, as you can see above.

And I don't see any value added because they specialize in hybrid salvage. Their advice is often incorrect. It's just a junkyard with some hybrid parts, IMHO. It's also important to note that forum member freidawg pops up to offer parts regularly when new members comes to the forum with a broken car. These poor folks are looking for independent advice, not salesmen.

It may occur to you at some point that these are supposed to be non-commercial forums. Indeed, PriusChat is happy to accept paying advertisements from legitimate businesses. Such advertising helps support PriusChat, of course, but freidawg doesn't want to pay, so he cruises user forums, hoping for a sale. When he is called out for such activity, he is horrified. After all, he was just trying to help. Right?

When I evaluate a vendor, I look at their business practices as well as their product and price. If the business practices are sketchy, I move on. Integrity can't be faked, and the world is full of used parts.

I agree.

 

I just have one more thing to say, and I wonder how or if you will even respond.

I recently took delivery on a salvage traction battery from a typical junkyard.

It arrived with the orange service plug installed!!!

The terminal voltage was 235V. This could have killed the guy that pulled it at the salvage yard, countless handlers at the shipping company, and myself when I opened the crate.

Thus, in my opinion, there is value-added to dealing with a reputable hybrid dismantler. At the very least, I know that Adopt A Part or AutoBeYours isn't going to ship me something that could kill me before I get the box open!

 

As you know, the traction battery case contains the system main relays which open both the positive and negative connections to the terminals. I am surprised to see that you were able to measure this voltage at the terminals and am wondering whether this is indicative of electrolyte leakage to the metal battery case, bypassing the open relays.

 

not likely the dealership had anything to do with it. they submit to corporate for warranty work and corporate pays the dealer, so the dealer still got their money

not surprised. one of many examples portrayed here where Toyota has gone beyond the "dotted line" to insure a great customer experience

 

Hah! I've dealt with those internet junk dealers twice before with 2 bad results -

1) 2005 Corolla seat ordered out of yard near Sac .... low cost $135, supposedly Grade A Result - seat frame bent at bottom (obviously car was in big sideswipe accident)

2) Another 'Grade A' seat shipped out of Utah to Stockton LKA or LKQ whateva. I must drive the 60 miles to pick it up.

I get there, flip the seat back, look at underside ... total and complete rust bucket under there. At least they refunded.

Buyer beware with junk dealers. That's what they are - junk, salvage part dealers.

I had much better luck personally inspecting a part before puchasing, but that requires a fairly local yard.

 

Why wouldn't I respond?

Okay.

Yes, that's part of the assembly. Did you remove the plug? It's really easy to do.

What were you expecting?

How? Read Patrick Wong's reply, then describe to me the points at which you measured the voltage, then describe how someone could have closed the circuit and killed themselves. And when the package arrived, what did you think was in it? Had you forgotten that you had ordered a hybrid battery pack?

I agree.

Let's back up. You had said "reputable hybrid dismantler." Although AutoBeYours fits that description, Adopt A Part (forum member freidawg) has no significant reputation regarding hybrids, other than posting to sell parts. In other words, Adopt A Part doesn't meet the standards that you have proposed.

It appears from his posts that he has opinions, but no special knowledge other than that which is available to a casual reader of these forums. Moreover, he has offered parts to folks whose vehicle hasn't yet been diagnosed. And as we have seen, these parts aren't exactly bargains.

He's been asked repeatedly to to stop advertising in PriusChat's non-commercial forums, but has ignored such requests. In addition, it appears that he is now using PriusChat's PM system to troll for customers.

If you think that type of conduct is characteristic of a reputable vendor, then more power to you.

And now I have a questions for you. Would it be reasonable to propose that forum member freidawg is likely to conduct his business with the same regard for ethics that he has displayed in these forums?

 

Indeed. And returning a faulty part to an online junk dealer requires paying for shipping and waiting. But as these vehicles age, we'll proabably see more folks like freidawg around here. Caveat emptor.

 

Honestly, there's no distinction between a "hybrid dismantler" or otherwise, all junkyards nowadays carry hybrids and even though a majority have no clue the technical aspects of the Prius I guess they are all like us on the forum here, learning as they go along.

I picked up two traction batteries from two separate junkyards in Miami, FL one of them for 150 bucks, when I picked it up it was missing the battery ECU and some of terminals on the SMR were burnt and visible burn marks on the case itself, I guess it goes to show the lack of knowledge about the dangers of high voltage batteries. The second battery I bought on the other hand was perfect with no issues the service plug removed and it seemed like this junkyard took safety seriously.

And yes if you can deal locally because shipping costs are ridiculous for heavy and bulky items.