Daughter Car

Remanufactured battery packs costs $1300-$1500. Depending on your skillset, you may be able to DIY. I doubt the battery pack has been replaced. Having a dealership, versus local repair shop, do the servicing depends on what's broken and how good either shop is. Only you can answer that. Your local auto parts store should be able to use a code reader to identify the cause of the maintenance light for you.

Would I have a 17 year old drive this car? My answer would be absolutely yes if locally. If driving cross country to college, heck no. Not with 255K miles already racked up. There's just too many things near the end of their designed service life.

 

i wouldn't let anyone in my family drive a car with that many miles. okay, maybe my mother in law. (just kidding mom!) you're paying a premium for a hybrid for what? not to save money, especially with $2. gas. get her a civic or something with lower miles.

 

Make sure to check your oil level on a regular basis. I have 232k on my 07, I use about quart every 2k miles.

Still have original batteries

 

Put her in the Prius to drive locally, simply because of improved crash worthiness. Put her back in the Accord if she drives to college.

 

you can have most of it repaired anywhere, but there are a few systems that need to go to the dealer or a hybrid specialist. i have no idea what would create a 'white spot', i would park on some clean paper and try to determine what it is, or put it on a lift and scour the bottom.

as far as the hybrid battery goes, if it dies, you'll be in for $2-3,000. repair for a new one, or less as mentioned above for used or rebuilt. the only problem with the second option is, you don't know if the battery is any good until you install it. and many people have had trouble with rebuilt battery quality.

 

Where in relation to the front or back of the car is the white spot?

For my 17 year olds if they were going anywhere out of my rescue range, I choose the simplest most repairable car almost anyplace can fix as opposed to a more complex car with 80K more miles. Its part like brakes, suspension, rubber, plastic I worry about. Sure you could have a big expense with some major system on any car (Ask me about my Acura transmission failure at 78k while 200 miles from home).

Do not ignore the maintenance light. If it were my 17 year old, I'd get it fixed where I thought they would fix it right. I don't want a breakdown at an inopportune time or place.

I'd also make sure they had a cell phone and AAA or some similar service to call.

 

Is white residue a symptom of leaking coolant? Which idiot light is lit?

There's an engine noise, a leak, and maybe the check engine light lit and there's concern over the cost of a replacement battery. I don't get it. It seems there should be concern over the cost of engine repairs.

 

I agree with those saying get the check engine light checked out.

That's kind of the first step whether it becomes your vehicle or your daughters.

 

1. Exactly which light is on? If the light is MAINT REQD, that is just a reminder that the engine oil/oil filter needs to be replaced. That light is based upon an odometer timer and the light comes on solid 5K miles after the timer was last reset.

2. I don't understand the question about your daughter driving the car and registering exorbitant maintenance/repair costs. Is it OK for you to personally be driving the car as it logs exorbitant costs?

Hence, I think a better question is whether the Prius with 255K miles is going to be subject to four-digit repair costs, regardless of who is driving it. The answer to that question is that any car with 255K miles is way past design end of life. Don't be surprised if the Prius experiences any number of failures: inverter, transaxle, traction battery, MFD, skid control system problems, who knows. The common thread behind all of those issues is that the systems are electronic in nature, hence there will be no advance notice prior to the failure. Then, you have the typical mechanical issues such as front struts/rear shocks, brake system, etc.

3. You might be lucky and have no failures during your period of ownership. There are many stories of Prius taxis that have logged many more miles than your car without too much repair effort. Or, you might not be so lucky, there are stories of Prius owners who have experienced various failures. It is really hard to say.

4. If you have to depend upon Toyota dealer service installing new parts, then plan to spend four-digits if any of the above listed failures occur. If you can DIY then you can do many repairs for three-digits if you install used parts.

5. Regarding the valve noise, the Prius engine at its best sounds like a sewing machine anyway. Replace the engine oil / oil filter now, and use 0W-30 viscosity full synthetic oil to improve engine lubrication upon startup. (5W-30 viscosity is the spec oil, don't use any oil which is thicker than that.) Keep an eye on engine oil consumption by checking oil level every other fill-up, so that you can see how much oil is being consumed.

6. Regarding the white spot, get under the car and see where it is coming from. One possibility is a coolant leak, if the spot is at the front of the car. If the spot is elsewhere, maybe a part is corroding and as water runs off, deposits are formed.

7. Regarding which car your daughter should be driving, the top priority should be to put her in a vehicle that has modern safety features (ABS, VSC and airbags everywhere) and is highly reliable. The tires should be in excellent condition and properly inflated. You'll have to evaluate the vehicles available to your household and decide which best fits that criteria.

 

Oooh! How much are you going to sell the Prius for and where are you located?? Im looking for a Prius for my niece, and we really dont care if it has 250,000 miles. lol. At this point, shes so desperate, she would drive a clydesdale around town.

If yours is truly a 1-owner car with mostly highway miles, I dont see what the big deal is. It sounds to me, that if it has made it to 255,000 miles and still runs OK, then it was reasonably maintained.

 

don't get all panicked yet. the maint light means you need to do an oil change which if you use good oil and filter might help with the valve noise. the white spot is likely a water pump leaking, and the prius water pump is about the easiest water pump I've ever done. takes a little extra patience to bleed the air from the cooling system but its not a big deal. check the belt when you look at the pump, it might be original and cracking. I think the idea of letting your daughter use for local use only is good advice if she likes the car that much.

 

I currently own 3 of these cars (one 2005 and two 2006), I'd say drive it until the wheels fall off. One of mine (the black one 184k) makes a little bit of engine noise when cold but it actually gets the best mileage of all three. They have not yet and never will, make a car that hasn't quit on somebody, somewhere. Having a car break down is something everybody would like to avoid but its non the less a valuable life experience.

 

albeit a painful one.

 

Really? painful? did you have to push it the rest of the way or something?