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Prius C $2,902 brake dealer job

Discussion in 'Prius c Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Sonic_TH, Feb 16, 2021.

  1. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    I just wanna follow-up with you and your progress with your journey with the brakes. I been reading this for quite a while now. I'm just new on prius like a bit over 2 years to be exact but I use to be a 15A Tech at Buick / GMC in the late 80's and I've worked on a lot of electrical / electronic parts, clusters, twilight sentinels, early GPS and including the parts of anti lock brakes and sensors. Hydro boost system has been very complicated and expensive too since the. There was no stopping from aftermarket producing and rebuilding these units. And infact as I remembers these pumps cost over a thousand dollars even at that time. Now you can easily get the Buick / GMC Abs pumps for $275.00 rebuilt with 5-year warranty. Just to shed some light, I stumbled into this, but this s the module for a 2007 not the 2012.
    DormanĀ® - ABS Control Module for 2007
    What I'm getting into is, they should be out there. I'm not exactly sure how much is the pump for a new one from the dealer, but if its $1,500.00 vs $750.00 aftermarket with a warranty, this might be an option and something to think about.
    Maybe because I use to work for a car dealer and I got deeper in it, in some ways. I would think about paying $1,500.00 especially for an excessive moving part like a braking system. I own several cars and when 150k miles steps in, I wont be surprise if my pump blows up and needing a replacement. Going back to that doorman site, I'm haven't really followed on their newer products besides I can easily vouch they are the best when it comes to freeze plugs and other cooling products. However this company have been in business for such a long time. Looks like they excelled now and more on different products. Im pretty sure they are good too or otherwise its their reputation on the line. But for sure there are other company that rebuilds or remanufacture these units. Personally, I'm impress on what you did replacing both. That's just me. When I first got my 07 prius a little over 2 years ago, I'll just cut it short. I didn't know what I was getting into when it comes to hybrid. I started reading this site on how people are saying its a good car and some are its a money pit. The following week I wanna return the car to the dealer.. LoL. If it wasn't for the help of @Patrick Wong and a few other guys. "I changed everything that I could think of needed and that will make the car stall."
    It was an extra $1,600 more in parts and my own 3-days of time and labor.
    That changed the tide. Today I added 50k miles from the time I bought it. Not a record breaker but I can honestly express to myself that the car did what it was suppose to do and it was worth every penny.. for the high mileage work purpose and buying it as a used car. I easily made an extra $40,000 on income being reliable and on time so I can do extra work. Now I'm ready to buy another car maybe Austin Healey 3000..
    Anyways this is just an input.
     
    #41 Classic Car Guy, Feb 20, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2021
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  2. Sonic_TH

    Sonic_TH Active Member

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    I see. Well, the abs module is expensive indeed, when new i think it's $1,500 or something like that, Toyota had a manufacturing problem on these making them to fail too soon like mine, but i'm not going to sell a car as reliable as this one just because this part which had a defect from factory broke, the car is among the most reliable and cheap to maintain, but of course this fix is expensive, though is not supposed to happen in the first place. I will fix it and then i will be be problem free, since i replaced the 2 parts that give the Prius most problems, aside from the hybrid battery, but this battery i think is new on my car.
     
  3. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    There was guy at work he's got an '86 Buick Grand National. He was having a problem with his ABS system frequently. One day were all done for the day at the shop just talking while my co-worker was still tinkering with the same problem. He has done so much in the past few days even loaded a new nitrogen bottle.. Anyways that same night we all worked on it, we took off all the ABS system, loaded a regal vacuum booster, master cylinder and 2 way control valve. LoL. I still see him today and he still has that car in well kept condition. He said that was the best thing we did to his car. Never and no more problems. According to him he replaced the master cylinder once 10 years ago for $37.00. :p
     
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  4. Sonic_TH

    Sonic_TH Active Member

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    Good to know, once i replace the brake booster assembly i don't expect my 2012 Prius C to give me any more problems.
     
  5. Leadfoot J. McCoalroller

    Leadfoot J. McCoalroller Senior Member

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    Those were neat cars. My only GNX story is that I once witnessed one spit its crankshaft through the oilpan on the freeway. I don't know if that was a common problem but it sure looked harsh for that one guy.
     
  6. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    Well at that time was the American cars innovation towards the newer engine designs including the throttle body injections, multi port, cross fire.... but it was still the old 3.8 Buick V block. Its very slick for that size too. In other words, that guy has something to do too with flooring the car to glory. There were some pep talks about people slowly moving from American cars to Hondas, Toyotas. To me it was not really a competition. I had a '79 toyota corona wagon and was my everyday car. The one thing I like about it and being young at that time, I was invisible to the cops and I hate traffic tickets. But when I drive the other car on the weekend, that's where I see officer TJ hooker with a double down. Well we all had our fair share of experiences. I'm pretty sure that you had a lot too and those were realty fun days. That's why I like borrowing my stepdads car sometimes on the weekend. The roomy back seats can be a plus.
    Going back to the OP's topic, I truly hope that this will help a bit in the prius demands for ABS futures improvement.
    Honestly, if someone will come out with a conversion to vacuum boost braking system in the future. I wont even think twice.
     
    #46 Classic Car Guy, Feb 21, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2021
  7. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    Typically cars with vacuum boost for the brakes got the vacuum from the engine.

    They weren't building a car that often drives around with the engine off.
     
  8. Classic Car Guy

    Classic Car Guy Active Member

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    12vdc vacuum pump and added reservoir, maybe a larger battery too.
    Do you know that back in the early Toyota days, you can interchange almost any transmission, with a switch of the original Toyota bell housing. That goes with the third members too and 2T 1600 engines, interchangeable heads to 3T, 13T, 3TG twin cam. Same with the 18rc motors. so and so forth.....
    You can easily interchange parts then, but now theyre taking that off. Besides my small car collection, I haven't been turning wrench for a long time. Yes I did all the work on my prius even not knowing it too well. I don't even know if my 07 prius has a transmission dipstick?? I you catch my drift. But those are the things to think about. I don't wanna end up being nervous on my car when were talking about, transmission / dynamo and ABS system. As I go along the Prius threading, you guys already figure out how to deal with the hybrid battery. So that's step one.
    I work in engineering company as a designer. The only thing about it is I hardly go to the machine shop nowadays. Otherwise that would have been a very nice project and its not that hard to design it. Its really interesting.
    I gotta admit the prius is a very good modern transportation innovation.
     
    #48 Classic Car Guy, Feb 21, 2021
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2021
  9. ChapmanF

    ChapmanF Senior Member

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    They have a 12vdc brake fluid pump and pressure reservoir now. Seems a bit more direct, given that's the working fluid.

    Remember how big the typical vacuum booster is? And usually that's big enough to give you two or three brake applications if the engine stalls, before you're out of assist.

    The brake fluid pressure accumulator's about the size of your fist, and holds enough pressurized fluid for 20 to 30 brake applications.