Service in Sydney (North)

Looking for budget but good service in Sydney (North).

Thank you.

 

I know about authorized centers of Toyota, but they are too expensive (though good).

Any other ideas?

 

Hi everyone,

Apologies for not checking in -> When everything is fine -> There is no need to bother people 8)

I was servicing Prius with local mechanic -> Yes, standard service, standard price.

After local mechanic sold his business -> I was looking again -> this time with focus on quality.

My last service was with Brookvale -> allcarexpress com au -> fast and professional (not expensive). I had to ask them whether they have dealt with Prius before -> (I hope they were honest) the answer was yes -> I am happy customer and will be there back.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
TY

 

Hi again,

Apologies if wrong thread.

The unthinkable has happened -> Red Exclamation Sign in Triangle, amber engine sign and ember exclamation sign. The car was in garage for a week (school holidays 8).
Quick check over internet -> Check aux battery voltage -> if low replace -> observe results.

After replacing aux battery -> things looked to be normal. Another week in garage (I was checking couple of times charge and was running engine to keep battery recharged).

This weekend -> decided to let car run in drive-way before going shopping (in Europe we used to walk 8). After 3 minutes -> dreadful Exclamation signs and engine lights are back. NRMA did check -> Replace hybrid battery...

So here is the math. My estimate is that my running Prius (2006) is about 7k AUD.
Toyota parts quoted from 2.3k to 2.5k AUD (depending on specialist) including GST and service estimated 440 AUD including GST. I am not sure that 2.3-2.5k included Toyota discount of 500 AUD when exchanging old HV battery for the new one. With work done by Toyota to install new battery I would expect another 8 years or 160k km of cover for HV battery.

We are planning to sell prius anyway -> time to get bigger car, though I love this one.

I have skills to replace failed cells (the bummer is shipping cost to get it from US).

Question: What is the best/optimal solution? I want to keep it save for me and next owner and not to be excessively financially punished.

Any input is welcome.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
TY

 

To avoid situation when issue is resolved and no solution was posted.

Attention, this is not an advice. Any party should get qualified opinion and professional service.

Here is my solution. My prius is 2nd gen, 2006. They were produced from 2003 to 2009. Warranty for HV battery is 8 years (they did the test and reasonably sure that most of batteries will last at least 8 years). With these numbers in mind I started search for used HV battery. It have managed to get one from wracker (use gumtree to search for Wrecking Prius). It took me 500 AUD including delivery for 2008 battery.

Since I have Engineering degree and hands-on-experience -> I checked both batteries (but first removed cut-off switch, checked voltage at all exposed parts and used care and caution) -> own and "new". In my battery one cell was reading only 6.32 volts while the rest gave 7.6 +/- 0.2 volts. The "new" one was consistently reading 7.8 +/- 0.2 volts.

I had to use my old HV cpu ("new" did not want to accept my prius 8).

Knocking on wood - prius is working as expected and have stamina of a young one 8).

Thank you.

Kind regards,
TY

 

While researching for solutions I got a recommendation. Walkers Auto Electrics were recommended as specialists in prius electronics (Brookvale).

I did not use them, but maybe someone will find the info useful.

Thank you.

Kind regards,
TY