What maintenance is needed for 180k neglected Prius?

No sounds like you got a lifestyle but won't let you get around the vehicle stuff and the Prius is a very low maintenance vehicle and you're not really at any serious kind of mileage You could pH test your coolant wherever you see red and reservoirs that's coolant and make sure the pH is not becoming acidic or corrosive or any of that which generally it doesn't really but you know some people and same with the brake fluid there's a way to test brake fluid and other than that you're waiting for a break actuator to fail or whatever it is it's going to fail that's going to make you get rid of the car I don't know what that'll be It replaced batteries twice so there you go shouldn't be a lot for you to really do doesn't sound like you really live in the car and all of that so should serve you well right on out to 500K pretty much less something odd happens

 

welcome!
how many miles when you got her in '08?
i would look in the maintenance schedule, do everything that hasn't been done, and throw in a tranny fluid change.
if you don't have one, sign up at toyota.com/owners. free manuals there, recalls, tsb's and etc.

 

Change the transmission fluid, bleed the brakes, change the rear brake shoes, clean the battery fan filter/ducting.
Bleeding the brakes is easy, I can write up a tutorial that's simple once I get enough posts to allow me to post a thread.

 

Change the air filters. The one for the motor is more important than the one for you.

Definitely clean the HV fan, especially if you or your passengers have dogs or cats.

Buy some pH paper or dedicated coolant test strips. If you use generic pH paper don't dip it, take a couple of drops out with a clean syringe and apply it to the paper. The chemicals in cheap pH paper are not strongly bound to the paper, and the paper itself can be friable. Neither is likely to trash a coolant loop immediately, but who knows after it has been in there for a while.

Do you have a digital multimeter? If not get one, even if it is only a Harbor Freight cheap model. Do these tests:

1 Leave the hood unlatched one evening and the next day check the voltage on the 12V at the jump post under the hood. Positive lead to the screw or copper section, negative lead to one of the clean bolt heads on the inverter nearby.

2 Test for active corrosion in the coolant loops. Set the multimeter to the 2V range (unless it is autoranging), wipe the positive lead clean, and put the metal tip into the coolant reservoir a little without letting it touch anything (don't jam it through the radiator!), put the negative lead on the nearest clean unpainted bolt head. If you see more than 400 mV replace the coolant in that loop.

3 Supposedly the same test can be done with the brake fluid. If the fluid is good there will be little or no water, no ions, and basically the measurement will be like waving the positive lead around in the air since DOT 3 doesn't conduct electricity. If it is really bad and full of water and corroding then you might get a large voltage.

Do NOT change the brake fluid yourself without doing a lot of research first. Doing that on this car is like dancing into a mine field.

Get an OBD2 reader if you don't have one. Might be a good idea to keep it in the car. The Autel AP200 has been getting good reviews in this forum. There is a thread somewhere that discusses other good models. The cheapest models on Amazon and ebay won't be able to read all the codes on the Prius.

If it hasn't been done lately, have a mechanic put it up on a lift and verify that everything still looks good underneath. No leaking struts, torn CV axles, loose bolts, and so forth. Does MN salt its roads? If so you need to check out the rust situation. (Not something we worry about in S. California - the only rusty cars I have ever seen were from out of state or lived right near the ocean.) While it is up there, rotate the tires.

Has the transmission oil ever been changed? Probably time for that. There is no stated service interval, I think, but you want it clean.

 

Probably change out the coolant, at least in the part that goes to the engine.

 

lol, I drove mine to work 2 days with only the header pipe coming off the cylinders and NO exhaust al all... would not recommend. It was ungodly loud, I smelled like an oil can mixed with un-burnt fuel all day, and my car interior smelled just as bad for even longer... but it sure did run great on the highway at WOT.

Have you done the tuneup basic essentials:

spark plugs
valve cover gasket
PCV valve
MAF sensor cleaning
throttle body cleaning
fuel injectors
mechanical engine water pump
serpentine belt
idler pulley
etc.


other considerations:

is your airbox still sealing well and not allowing un-metered air intake?