When to call it quits?

I have a 2008 Prius with 279,000 miles. I have owned it since 2012 and have taken really good care of it. I replaced the transaxle in 2015 (with a used one) and a refurbished drive battery back in 2016. I have replaced miscellaneous parts here and there over the years as needed as well as changing the oil with synthetic every 5000 miles.

Recently I had the ABS brake module replaced with a used one for about $700 and then a few weeks later I got the dreaded P0AA6 code of a high voltage short. I took the battery out and tested each cell to try and diagnose it myself. Unfortunately I couldn't find any shorted out cells and so I took it to the same mechanic that replaced the transaxle in 2015 to be properly diagnosed. They said it was the transaxle (again!). I got 100,000 miles out of the old one, and the car is otherwise in really good shape, so I opted to pay $2700 for them to put in a used transaxle with a 1 year warranty.

Here is where things get complicated. After driving the car one day it threw the P0AA6 code again. I was able to drive it back to the shop and they have been troubleshooting it for 3 days. Finally today they said it was the drive battery and they offered to install a refurbished one for another $1300 (their cost). I have already sunk $3400 in this car this month and now I'm looking at another $1300. This would be fine if I had some confidence the car could go another 4 years as I was going to hand the car over to my daughter when she starts driving next year. But now my confidence in the reliability of this car isn't there. I'm afraid of it stranding my daughter someplace. I'm frustrated because I have put so much money into it already and now I'm looking at even more money. The car may be worth $4000 tops, if everything was working perfectly.

So my question to the collective wisdom of Priuschat is when to you call it a day and stop putting money into the car? 279,000 is a long, long life for almost any car out there. It has served me well and I have avoided car payments for about 6 years. Should I just cut my losses and get a newer car or bite the bullet and put another battery into it? Like I said, it is in good shape otherwise. In fact the mechanic was impressed with its condition considering the miles on it.

What would you do?

 

Thanks everyone! I'm going to talk to the technician at the shop today to get a better idea. If it is a matter of replacing a few bad cells, and I can know which cells to replace, I may just try that. I've taken the battery out before myself so I'm not intimidated by the job. I can get 5 cells on ebay for $140. That may be worth a try. Even if it doesn't last the full 4 years (until my daughter graduates high school), I can always do it again down the road.

What sucks is I have been on top of all the maintenance in this car for as long as I've owned it. The inverter pump and control valve has been replaced in the past two years. The tires still have another few years in them. The brakes have been done on all 4 wheels. The car ran and drove great prior to the triangle of death.

I keep going back and forth. Cars are expensive no matter what. We pay on the front end with a newer car with fewer problems, or we pay on the back end with an older car that is paid for and more expensive problems. I have been window shopping for a newer car since this all started and so part of me is eager to get into a nicer and newer car. But my daughter is almost 15 and will be driving in a little over a year. So getting a newer car now still leaves me with the issue of getting her a car. Once my Prius is repaired it would be hard to find another used car for her as cheap as it for her. The only big issue is I don't want her getting stranded in it.

 

I'm in Phoenix AZ. The shop has been very honest with me in the past. I do want to know if they can confirm that my old transaxle had a problem. It does suck pretty bad. If I would have known it was both the transaxle and the battery I would have scrapped the car. If it wasn't the transaxle that was the problem it sure would have been nice to simply install a new (rebuilt) battery instead. I'll see what they say today.

 

With nothing to lose I opted to try and repair the battery myself. I completely took it apart and tested each cell outside of the pack. I found the culprit. Two cells were leaking and causing a short inside the battery. They each had plenty of voltage however which is why I missed them the first time. I have replaced those cells for $85 and reassembled everything. I have only driven about 40 miles on it now but no codes and everything is behaving normally. I just hope this fix buys me enough time. If need be I can replace more cells down the line since I've done it now and it isn't as scary as I first thought.

Here is hoping for 300,000 miles and beyond.