Argh, help me reduce my hypervigilance so I can enjoy driving

I think everything you describe is normal, You could test the alignment by driving on a known smooth part of the highway (in good weather little to no wind) and lightly let go of the steering wheel and see if it will drive straight, if it doesn't you may want to get the alignment done.
As far as the ignition coil that sucks that they charged you $1000 for that. I had one go out on our VW 1.8t Beetle just last month, Cost me $31 for one coil (VW OEM ones from the dealer) so I went ahead and bought 4 and replaced all 4 $137 w/ tax.

 

Your brain's freakin' out. Remain calm. Try repeating the Lynda Barry mantra: "It's OK it's OK it's OK it's OK".

It's often helpful to get a second opinion and a second estimate for a major repair.

 

Kinare, go here, Car Talk, and hopefully find a few independent mechanics to check out with the goal of finding someone trustworthy to work on your car, please.

 

A new spark igniter has an MSRP of $90 while spark plugs should cost around $10 each. However I understand that it was unclear what your problem was, hence the mechanic had to dig around doing this and that, running up the bill at your expense.

If you have not inspected your tires, please check your tire inflation and maintain it at correct levels (at least 35/33 psi, ideally 42/40 psi). Check your tire tread depth and if less than 4/32" you should consider having them replaced although legal tread depth is 2/32".

If your tires are OK and you still feel that the car's handling is not good, at 72K+ miles it is certainly possible that the front struts/rear shocks need to be replaced. Next time you have the car raised up or have the tires rotated, take a good look at those suspension parts. If you see oil leakage on the strut/shock body, this is a good sign that they need to be replaced. They should be replaced in pairs.

 

My guess is that the dealership made much more profit on your $1,000 repair than it would make on the sale of a new Prius. So the dealer's business model is to sell cars at an attractive price, hoping to secure the follow-on service.

You'll have to decide whether your local area has any competent independent shops that specialize in Toyota hybrids. If not, then you are left with finding the best Toyota dealer service dept in your area.

 

Toyota uses some proprietary diagnostic features. Only a Prius-certified tech using Toyota equipment can make a complete diagnosis. Naturally most of them work at Toyota dealers.

 

My wife argued with the VW dealer over the price of them changing the transmission in her beetle. So she asked them how much would it cost me to buy the transmission and leave it in the crate and have me take it somewhere else to swap. They told her the price and she goes how much money do you guys make off of selling that to me. And the shop manager goes um about 25 - 40 %, then she said it sounds to me like you can waive the labor then. And believe it or not they did.

 

Funny thing is regadless of the technology in these cars the engine still works on the old suck, squeeze, bang, blow as car 100 years old. Rule 1 with a missfire is check for spark and check the resistance of the coil/s if there is no spark. Always do the easy stuff first. Where did the mechanics go wrong?

 

I, for one, will chime in and say "go to your independent, and
if he doesn't grok hybrids yet HELP HIM TO DO SO". I therefore
disagree with
.
__ Toyota uses some proprietary diagnostic features. Only a
__ Prius-certified tech using Toyota equipment can make a complete
__ diagnosis. Naturally most of them work at Toyota dealers.
.
because the aftermarket *is* getting quite a bit better, there's
plenty of training material out there FOR FREE, and no reason
anyone who understands today's automotive technology can't study
up a little and add electric motors, inverters, and HV batteries
to their repertoire. A point diagnosis often comes down to
time-honored debugging techniques -- looking and listening, feeling
for heat/cold/vibration, getting a scope onto a signal or an output,
wiggle-tests, and maybe some parts-swapping as the last resort.
.
An auto tech will likely do one of those dig-deep-into-the-
hybrid-innards problem tracking procedures less than 20% of
the time -- most often they'll be dealing with routine issues.
They just need to learn the Prius quirks, same as an owner
would, and be as facile with the vehicle's operation.
.
_H*

 

Funny you say this, I've been driving since 1994 (16 y/o) and in those days I could usually call a friend or two who knew just basics about a car, and used the question. Well what's it doing? Ok that sounds like its a problem with... If i were you I would start here, if that doesn't solve it do this. And while you are at you might as well change that too. If that doesn't take care of it give me a call tomorrow and I'll take a look. Next thing you know I learn and then even learn about things that weren't my problems.
Today its even easier you use "the google" and "car type does this..." Hey look there are a bunch of people who have the same problem. All is well.
As advanced as engines and cars have become they are just like Pat says basically the same as they were 100 years ago. Most mechanics diagnose by first getting the codes, then by something they have already seen.