2004 Prius buying advice

After years of salivating over a 2nd gen Prius, I finally found something in my price range: 2004 Prius with 162 K mi for $2500-3000 (clean title). It spent the first 10 years in Maryland, so has some rust on the undercarriage. Also, the engine vibrates more than usual sometimes during the start.

It drives well, but has a lot of carbon build up on the exhaust pipe (even a 1/2 inch black "ring" on the outside of the pipe).

I found out that during the last oil change (3K mi ago), they overfilled it about 1/4 inch above the max mark. I drained it down to about half way between the marks, so will see tomorrow if it improves the engine start.

Also, I saw a few drops of water (coolant?) in the 2 cups of oil I drained - is that a cause for concern? The oil itself was not too dark on the measuring stick, but what drained appeared much darker.

Battery seems to be ok (doesn't discharge too quickly) and it passed the smog.

The steering wheel seems to be a little harder to turn than other prii I've driven - any way to test if it's normal?

The seller says he'll cover up to $500 in fixes/maintenance. Besides compression test, what other tests/repairs would you suggest to do before I commit to buying it?

Thanks!

 

Thanks for all the input. I'll try to do the compression test tomorrow and let's see what the results are.

Any ideas for an easy way to set the 2004 prius into the compression test mode (cranking the engine, but not starting it), using the Techstream software? I could not find the option. Thanks!

 

A quick update on that prius. I ended up buying it after doing a compression test. The results showed anywhere between 125 to 145 psi in dry and 165 to 245 psi in wet tests. The difference between the cylinders was 5-10 psi. There was quite a lot of deviation when measuring the compression in the same cylinder several times (120-140 psi dry and 165-200 psi wet) though.

Anyway, it looks like the reason for that much carbon deposit on the exhaust pipe was overfilled oil. My understanding is that the increased pressure pushed the oil into the combustion chamber through the valve seals.

I drained the oil so it's between the max and min now and cleaned the carbon deposits on the exhaust pipe and after about 300 mi the exhaust pipe is still very clean.

So, the moral of the story is always check the oil level and don't let it go anywhere close to the max level. I hope the catalytic converter wasn't damaged too much when trying to clean all that oily exhaust.

 

Those are some useful numbers - thanks! I couldn't get the Techstream (with Mini VCI) to spin the engine using the "compression test" mode (there was always some sort of error message). After fiddling with the software for half an hour, I just turned the car on with the "start" button and let it crank for 3-4 seconds.

I'll try entering the "compression test" mode with Techstream again - maybe it works this time. Any specific instructions I should follow? Thanks!

 

Thanks a lot for the detailed write-up, I'll try it in the next few days.