What would happen if you tried to drive without coolant?

The Prius is one of the most reliable cars on the road and almost maintenance free. Why did you decide to do a coolant change? Spark plugs wouldn't be a bad idea I suppose for a 2007 with presumably more than 120K miles. But that is every car.

The only thing that really needs to be done is drain and fill the ATF at about 60K and then every 60K to 80K after that. This consists of loosening 1 plug and allowing it to drain, then closing and filling from the top hole. Done, and about 10 minutes of work with the only special tool being a funnel or hand pump depending on how fancy you want to be.

A 1997 civic is a great car too. I have had lots of Honda's of that vintage. I love my Prelude.

 

Nah. The gurgling is from air trapped in fluid.

The car overheated. I answered you before, and explained how to replace coolants yourself the right way. Now you get to dance with the dopey dealer.

 

Your ownership experience is the giant minority. I know that means nothing to you because when things happen to you, it is the worst thing in the world and the entire line is crap. That's a normal human thing.

It also sounds like whatever dealership you are going to is incompetent. If it was just the coolant problem, that alone signifies they don't have a tech working on your car that knows what they are doing. Makes me wonder if the rest of your "issues" were really just lining the pockets of the dealership. If you go to the dealership of course they are going to tell you the car is broken and has this laundry list of things to fix. They want to sell you a new car, so they can sell your perfectly fine old car and make a profit on both ends. This is standard operating practice for almost all dealerships because they are private franchises.

If you don't or can't do the minimal work yourself, you are at the mercy of shop monkeys. I wouldn't let them touch my car let alone work on the internals.

The combination meter is covered under a recall (I think covers your year?) if it was dead in the cold. That is a free replacement. If you paid for it, you get your money back.

Axle and CV well, that is probably just because they look at the age and say it is worn. Mine probably "needs" one too but I know it will work just fine for another hundred K miles without doing it.

It seems pretty simple. Either you bought a used car that was used and abused and lost on your gamble OR your dealer is so inept (or crooked) that you are doing repairs that you shouldn't have to. If you sample the forums here, which is mostly people looking for help on problems, you will find there really aren't many problems at all. These cars are rock solid. But take any good piece of engineering and let some idiot in a denim jumper smash it with a hammer for a while and it is just not going to work the same.

 

They filled it, they did not 'burp' it
I'll give odds that the MAF cleaning is BS, and after you drive a while the car will overheat again.

Too bad your time is limited, because now you are going to spend a lot of it.

 

Not even close to true. I perform the simple DIY on my car to 1, save money; 2, save time; and 3, to know it was done right (or if done wrong, to learn my lesson for next time.)

Do as you please, but do not expect us to buy your rationalizations.

 

There are a plethora of mechanics out there that will work on Prii. They are standard cars. Any mechanic, no matter how "trusted", that doesn't work on a Prius, is just being stupid and has a bias against them. What about your CV joint or axleor axle was different on the Prius than any other non-hybrid car out there? Why couldn't he pop out a trim piece like the instrument cluster and pop in a new one? I am pretty sure my mother can do that with guidance from the tech manual. Replace the battery? Again, no different. Pumps are the same like in other cars too. He is not servicing the HV pack, there is no excuse. He is either lazy or ignorant.

 

Quite true. Your choice, and I respect it. But please, do not come here to whine that a dealership is incompetent and ripped you off. We KNOW dealerships (of any car brand) are much more likely to suck than not. If you know of a good dealership in your town, it is a good reason for you to consider their car. I kept a Subaru for 18 years for exactly that reason.

Pretty much.

Nope. Trust me, I tried and tried, but I didn't like the results.

Vegan

Not a one, but I do alter and repair them.

Sorry to hear. Buying used is always a crap shoot.

 

After the money and repairs you've spent on that Prius, now you're going to sell it?!

Seems like it was a poor decision for you to buy this (possibly) abused Prius, but now a financially poorer decision to sell it and try and find a 17 year old car to drive, especially after you've fixed all of those things on the Prius, and have invested all of that money. I'd drive that turd until it returns your investment.

 

I want to correct a possible misconception that my posts may have conveyed:

I am by no means mechanically inclined. I just learned enough from the fine folks here at PriusChat to take care of the simple things my Prius requires, and not be shark bait for the dealership. Our 2004 Prius is approaching 10 years old and 168k miles, and in total, has cost about 1 penny a mile for maintenance+repairs. That includes everything -- from tyres and oil exchanges, to replacing the gear shift lever with a $60 part.

 

Your choice to buy a new car, nobody here will lose sleep over it. However as free advice, it seems like a poor decision financially. If it is emotional, then you can't put a price on that, so just do it.

If you are looking for "another Honda Civic" be forewarned that the 7th generation and 8th generations (2001-2005) and (2006-2011) have transmissions that are known for problems. The automatics generally have bad torque converters and the manuals have poorly designed synchros. Average repair cost for either is around $2200. This affects the accord and minivan odyssey as well.
If you are going with the 6th gen like you had or a 5th gen 1992-2000 years, then you have a long list of general problems there too. The internal solenoids in the tranny as well as torque converter are known for failing too. The shift cables are big ones. There is a huge list.

Also remember that Honda's of this vintage have now been used and abused by a whole new set of highschoolers and ricers who love to modify cars. Bolt on eBay finds, K&N filters that pass through a bunch of dirt into the engine, racing the car like it is a lambo burning out the drivetrain even faster than normal. Not exactly the type of "reliable" car people look for now adays.

It is hard to gauge how much of a "car person" you are, especially since you refuse to do your own work. But any car 10-20 years old will need work. A car that has been ridden hard for a good portion of its life will need more work. Hondas are really cheap to fix yourself, but just as expensive to fix in a garage as most other things.

Last summer, my 1997 Honda Prelude needed:

• New rear drum brakes because the inners locked up while driving. Made a clunk and grind sound every time you reversed
• New clutch
• New clutch pedal itself
• New clutch master cylinder
• New clutch slave cylinder
• New radiator fan
• New sparkplugs
• New starter motor
• New distributor, rotor, and wiring
• New cv joint on the front
• New shift cable
• New ATTS Unit

The ATTS unit was the only thing I didn't want to do myself because it is about an 8 hour process (if your good and have all the tools) and controls the power to the wheels during a turn on the high end SH models. It was about $3.5K for a shop to change out. I ended up doing it myself over the course of a weekend but man was that a PITA.

That was all in 1 summer. Easily a 5 figure repair bill had I went to the dealer like you.

In comparison my Prius has required $0 in repairs over 120K miles and it is driven rough. Maintenance like oil changes and ATF changes, exterior waxes and interior details probably total up to $800 or so and most of that is aesthetic waxes and washes.

 

Well, whatever shop did your coolant change needs to fix it properly, and for free. That was the original problem you paid for them to fix, they need to fix it. Then the car will be working. Why not just drive that until the next failure. With your luck that will probably be the traction battery! lol But you can find salvaged ones for a couple hundred dollars on eBay that will work just fine.

 

I recently changed out my radiator due to two slow leaks, I had previously changed out the coolant at 15o k now over 300k, I am suggesting coolant changes are a good thing-- personally will do this more often maybe every ~ 100k .
I would also advise anyone driving a Prius to use a ScanGauge or equivalent to monitor engine temperatures, especially after coolant changes.

 

Absolutely.

 

People who have no time or abilities to work on their cars should only buy new, invest in extended warranty, and sell when it expires. There are too many dealers and unethical mechanics praying on clueless people, period. I only go to a dealer to do warranty work, recalls, and oil changes when car is still under warranty (helps with warranty claims). Nothing else.

The reason we don't bake bread at home is the bakers are not scamers baking from saw dust and selling the product for $100. If they did that, you bet we would be baking at home.