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Maintenance - What am I missing?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ru5real, Mar 2, 2015.

  1. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    Good idea. I'll get an estimate and post it.
     
  2. exstudent

    exstudent Senior Member

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    Dryer sheet might be too restrictive for air flow. Some have cut out a household furnace filter from a big box home improvement store. I believe the late model Primus essentially use a "screen," like the kind found on your home window.

    Filter or no filter. Probably good idea to periodically remove and clean. Easily done when replacing rear shocks as access has been created to replace the rear shocks.
     
  3. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    Prices are from a dealership in southern California. I didn't ask for pricing on the super easy stuff. Also, from the way the conversation went, it sounded like none of these prices were set in stone and he just pulled it out of his memory and quick calculation (basically, he knew the numbers were profitable, yet maybe not accurate).

    transaxle fluid - $221
    ICE coolant
    - $169
    Inverter coolan
    t - $169
    MAF sensor - $136
    throttle body plate - $136
    serpentine belt - $195
    spark plugs - $221
    PCV - $279
    HV battery blower - $379
    front sturts - $2150
    rear shocks - $645

    Clean/Adjust Rear Drums/Shoes - Couldn't get a price for this. The guy said $120 for inspection.


    oil change - didn't ask
    engine air filter - didn't ask
    cabin air filter - didn't ask
     
  4. Yakoma

    Yakoma Active Member

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    OK...I was going off the list in your OP so I didn't account for shocks and struts in my estimate. The total you have without those was $1,905. I was purty damn close with $1,895, but the oil change & air filters would be at least another $200. And the brakes would probably be $400, so I guess I did miss a bit.

    I assume these were all individual quotes, not a package deal because several of these things could easily be accomplished almost simultaneously (MAF, throttle body, spark plugs, PCV). The $379 for the HV fan is stunning. That was simple, took me about an hour and I was taking my time.

    Thanks for taking the time to get these quotes and document. I really don't think a lot of people realize how they're getting taken by these dealerships. It's kind of like - la, la, la....I'm not listening...la, la, la....

    Denial - not a river in Egypt.
     
  5. exstudent

    exstudent Senior Member

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    Holy @$#*%^€£¥+*^%#!!!those prices are beyond belief.

    He's probably making stuff up and has probably been able to get away charging some poor person those extortion prices. I bet if someone choked while on the phone, tone would change and be more accomadating: "let me talk to my manager to see if I can get you better pricing/an expired promotion/etc."
     
  6. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    Correct, individual quotes. They took some time quoting the HV fan. He discussed with the technicians because it's not something they usually do. Basically, they quoted the labor portion of replacing the HV fan. And you're right about how several things can be done simultaneously. So there's definitely a lot of room for negotiation.

    EDIT: HV fan replacement? Can't remember the exact price, but the part was over $300... for a small blower.
     
    #26 ru5real, Mar 12, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2015
  7. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    I was really shocked myself, especially the prices for struts and shocks. The only time I ever had the struts or shocks replaced was on an old Bimmer and a knowledgeable buddy helped me for a case of beer (he did most... all of the work). I had no idea that it could cost into the thousands. Had I known, I would have gotten him an extra 6-pack. :) We were just young kids in the Army, but he was a great mechanic.
     
  8. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    Another question. So after I did all the work, I noticed the car is now running super smooth. I thought it was smooth before the maintenance, but it's really amazingly smooth now. But, a few things happened. First, I used a lot of throttle cleaner and didn't soak up the excess like I should have and it may have caused the following to happen.

    The mpg per tank (not sure if that's the correct term) and miles traveled on the MFD regeneration screen, reset by itself, mid-tank. That never happened to me before. Now, I'm on my first full tank (70 mi) since the maintenance and it seems that my mpg has taken a slight hit, 2-3 mpg and there also seems to be a slightly longer delay when I press the gas to when I get strong engine power. It's not behaving in a way that makes me worry, but those are the subtle differences that I noticed. Theoretically, shouldn't the throttle open up even faster? The power I'm getting is very smooth and confident, but the split second longer delay is confusing. Also with the mpg hit, maybe too early to tell. Should I worry? Thanks.
     
    #28 ru5real, Mar 12, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2015
  9. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    It could be that the car is relearning your driving habits and remapping metrics after all the changes. I would give it a couple of tanks before you jump to any conclusions.
     
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  10. Yakoma

    Yakoma Active Member

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    Oh, that was for replacement and not cleaning. I guess that makes sense, but it's still ridiculous. :)
     
  11. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    Not exactly. They had a standard quote for replacement which was close to $700, but not a quote for cleaning, so they subtracted the cost of the blower from the replacement quote and ended up with $379.
     
  12. ru5real

    ru5real Junior Member

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    You're probably right.
     
  13. Yakoma

    Yakoma Active Member

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    [​IMG]
     
  14. Eclipse1701d

    Eclipse1701d Prius Enthusiast

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    I cleaned the fan on my Gen II and it took me one hour. That was the first time I did it. I would NOT go to that dealer for anything...
     
  15. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    On my gen 3 it took me about an hour to pry up the hatch floor: the fasteners are very tenacious, thought for sure I was gonna bust something. When reinstalling, I left about 80% of them off, especially the tough ones, still very secure.