New Hybrid battery or electrical issue??

We have a 2005 Prius which died while I was driving it to work and I had it towed to the Toyota dealership in the town I work in (Colorado). The car has 171,000 miles on it. We would like to keep the car and wanted to get it fixed. The dealership said the hybrid battery had died. They happened to have a new battery they had installed in a car where the owner decided not to purchase it which they said they would sell us at a discount. They installed the battery in our car and are now saying it won't 'communicate' with the charging system because they believe there's some type of wiring issue. There's a fuse that they say was missing from the car and when they install a new one, lights, the horn and other electrical items come on. They say it will cost $1000 - $1500 to further diagnose the wiring harness by going through each wire and determining whether it's bad. They also are not sure if the battery is bad or just the wiring. They've had the car for almost 4 weeks and we think their service stinks. It seems like it's been a struggle to get info from them.

Any thoughts on other options for us? Is there any options besides the 'we buy junk cars' companies we could sell the car to?

 

The car is in Fort Collins, Colorado. I work here and it died here. I live in Longmont.

 

I feel like they're focusing on the missing fuse because they think it's related to a wiring issue that is causing the system to not charge the battery. They put a good battery in it but it won't stay charged. The fuse was missing and when they replaced it, 'odd' things happen, like the horn comes on and won't go off. I wasn't aware of the missing fuse, but it must have been missing since I've owned the car (3 years). I don't understand how it would be related to the issue either. Yes, there's a strong possibility that the battery is not bad.

 

Thanks, I've contacted him.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I am towing the car to another shop (3prongpaul). The dealer is removing the battery they installed and I'm towing it elsewhere. I hope to have good news to report after he looks at it.

 

Kudos to 3prongpaul!! Found the problem with my Prius in one day and fixed it in two! The dealership had my car for 30 days, misdiagnosed it, replaced the hybrid battery for no reason, requested $1000 - $1500 to diagnose a wiring issue and never figured out what the issue was. Towed the car to Boulder and Paul discovered the issue in a day and repaired it in two. It was a known issue with a recalled part. Just can't believe the dealership couldn't figure that out.

I highly recommend Paul. He's knowledgeable, courteous and sensitive to the hassle we had been through.

 

Yes, I would guess Paul could give better details but the Inverter coolant pump short circuited and blew fuse AM2. He replaced the pump. I included the recall notice below. Our check engine light did not come on, however.

This is the recall notice:
On 2004 through certain 2007 model year Prius vehicles, there is a possibility that air may remain at the bearing of the Hybrid Electric Water Pump (HV Water Pump), causing pump actuation to be slow. In this condition, the temperature of the coolant could rise and become high, which will result in illumination of the Malfunction Indicator Light (check engine light “ON”) for diagnostic code P0A93 with information code 346 (Inverter cooling system malfunction).

 

No, it hadn't and, yes, I'm contacting Toyota. I believe I should be reimbursed for the repair cost and the cost of the tow. I have a bit of a list of items I'm addressing regarding Pedersen. They also replaced part of my dashboard that needed to be removed to view the wiring with a part from a different Prius. Not happy with them at all.