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New Prius Owner

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by joeslawn, Oct 19, 2017.

  1. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    IA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    We went to the city yesterday to buy my mother a car. We came home with a 2005 Prius. For us. Not my mother. So, we are now the proud owners of a 2005 Prius with 226,000 miles for only $2500 that has been the car lot's "gofer" for awhile- we've seen it for sale on the lot for awhile. Took it out for a 100 mile drive, gets 48.1 miles per gallon. Still need to check over the hybrid battery, seems to be working alright. Have the TPMS light, ABS and VC lights on still. Maintenance required light was on but that was easy to shut off.

    Our other car is a 2002 Honda Odyssey that rolled over to 348,000 yesterday with minimal maintenance. We bought it 3 years ago with 282,000 so we run a lot of miles, that gets 19-25MPG depending on what gas and what season along with the type of driving.

    Things we are looking at doing on the Prius include the 12V battery, 1-4 new tires, getting the TPMS light off and figuring out what's going on with the ABS and VC lights.

    Other posts have said that TPMS ABS and VC may all be related to a bad 12V battery. Battery has 12.9 volts yesterday after driving, need to check today after sitting overnight.

    Car also needs a new windshield. Book is $3000, body is still in pretty nice shape, in front of the rear wheels is the worst rust, clearly from not being washed and mud/salt accumulating in a pocket there.

    Looking forward to figuring out this car and joining the ranks of other Hybrid owners. Thanks!
     
  2. JC91006

    JC91006 Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2008 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Don't want to worry you too much, but you should have this car checked out asap by a qualified tech. There are no tpms sensors on this car so you're probably seeing a brake problem.....
     
    SFO likes this.
  3. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
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    Plug-in Base
    congrats and welcome, all the best!(y)
     
  4. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Yeah I agree with the brake problem. I do all my own mechanic work but do want to get this car looked at by someone who works on them on a regular basis, fortunately I do have "The Prius Guy" in Elk Point, SD only an hour away so I emailed him to get an idea of what it'll cost me to have him look the car over. I've had ABS lights on in other cars and it has been as simple as cleaning a sensor.

    When I bought it the car was 1/3 low on the dipstick so need to keep an eye on it. The PO said he put synthetic in it so of course it could be slugged up rings or as simple as they didn't bother filling it up to the full mark. Haven't noticed any blue smoke yet, need to keep an eye on the oil.

    Checked out the 12V battery voltage via the computer display today and it said it was 12.4 after sitting overnight and before starting the car. Backing out of the driveway the motor started less than 100 feet away from the house, even though the hybrid battery showed roughly 80% charged. Took it on a slow drive around town, 7 miles, >20-25 mph, came home with hybrid battery at 40-50% charged.

    Doesn't seem like it'd hurt to check out the hybrid pack and clean up the bus bars and make sure everything looks normal in there, checking cell voltages as well from other reviews here.

    However, being that I got 48.1mpg over a 100 mile trip with average speeds around 50-55mph seems like the hybrid battery is still pretty healthy however the slow around-town trip seems that it could use some work at some point in the future.
     
  5. TMR-JWAP

    TMR-JWAP Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    The motor starting was most likely the standard start-up/warm up sequence. No Big Deal. The other stuff you mentioned...not so much. I have no desire to be disrespectful, just honest. I've looked at a lot of Prii. Model year 2005, mileage 226k, rust, broken windshield, low oil (if something that easy isn't maintained then what else is lurking), 3 warning lights that typically mean big $$ repairs and a $2500 price tag = sounds like a 'pass' to me. I would 'look' at it and think about maybe buying it at ~$800. There are better starting points out there. Don't fall in love with it. Get it inspected fast and consider taking it back if that option exists.
     
  6. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    I cleared out the code on the ABS system via the jumper mod. Then I took it for a drive. Reversed out of my driveway, went 2 blocks, stopped at a stop sign and then in the next block the ABS light came back on at about 20-25MPH. I took off the front wheels and the driver's side inner fender liner was missing. So I took the connector apart for the wheel speed sensor, cleaned that up and took it for another drive. Lights still there but due to missing fender liner I hope it's something simple connected to wheel speed sensors. Car seems to be operating normally otherwise. Need to find a code reader that will read the ABS codes on the 05 Prius, can go to any of the major auto parts chains if anyone knows who has a code reader that'll work, otherwise to the dealer.
     
  7. 2k1Toaster

    2k1Toaster Brand New Prius Batteries

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    Vehicle:
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    Three
    If you're going to be doing all your own work on the Prius, you need to buy a real code reader. This may consist of an $8 OBDII dongle from Amazon and a laptop running Techstream, or a bluetooth dongle and Torque, whatever. But the Prius is not a car that is worked on without a laptop. Your life will be exponentially more sucky without a proper code reader.
     
    jerrymildred likes this.
  8. WXWISE

    WXWISE Junior Member

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    Location:
    Sussex, WI
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    The Brake warning lights coming on could be a faulty speed sensor or an improperly docked speed sensor if the car was worked on and it had to be disconnected for some reason. This very thing happened to me recently. Try to get a code on it to properly diagnose.
     
    SFO likes this.
  9. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
    IA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Very aware of that.

    Have a Bluetooth code reader and tried it with Torque Lite that didn't read anything

    Have a HF code reader that gave me an error message

    So now I need to find the obd dongle
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    Vehicle:
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    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    just get mini vci.
     
    jerrymildred likes this.
  11. dolj

    dolj Senior Member

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    Location:
    Wellington, New Zealand
    Vehicle:
    2007 Prius
    Model:
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    Get the one recommended by Torque, and pay the money to upgrade to Torque Pro, It comes with the Prius PIDs preinstalled, just needs to be activated.
     
  12. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    The one I have is this one... VeePeak Mini Bluetooth OBD2


    I'll try a few different apps see if I get better results.

    Thank you!
     
    SFO likes this.
  13. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

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    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Exactly what it is.

    Throwing 2 codes.

    C0205 Front Speed Sensor LH circuit
    C1236 Foreign Object is attached on tip of front speed sensor LH

    I downloaded 5 different OBD apps. First app I tried was ELMScan Toyota (Demo) and brought that code right up.

    So now I need to figure out if it's the actual wheel speed sensor or screwed up wiring to the wheel speed sensor.

    Fender liner on the LH side was ripped out exposing all the wiring.
     
  14. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    Location:
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  15. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Took it back apart today.... wheel speed sensor bolt was obviously destroyed... looked like someone took a hammer and smashed it into an S shape... took it out and there was metal shavings on the tip... put car in N and looked at the rotator through the hole... about 1/3 of the way around looked freshly shaven and wheel speed sensor looked messed up. Checked WSS with multimeter... got 1.6K ohms then 2.3K ohms with metal close to it so seems like it still works... turned it back on still throwing a C0205 code for LF wheel speed sensor circuit but foreign object code is gone.

    Have not noticed any noise from front wheel bearing. Next step seems to be replacing wheel bearing (I assume that comes with the sensor ring) and the wheel speed sensor.

    Tried clearing codes with obd app and code comes right back. Dust shield seems to be aligned, hole in dust shield is exactly in center of wheel speed sensor hole.

    I went to school in 2000-2002 for Auto Tech... those cars were easy to work on... even got a auto electrical certificate with honors, but fixing this thing has been annoying. I'm hard of hearing so haven't gotten a job in a shop working on cars.
     
    SFO likes this.
  16. joeslawn

    joeslawn Junior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2017
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    Location:
    IA
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Thanks to the info and pointers here I was able to repair the Prius with a $40 wheel speed sensor assembly from EBay. All is well and the lights went off as soon as I pulled it out of the driveway. Now it seems to be running great... got below 37 degrees so the mpg has dropped which seems to be expected on these cars. Nice to have warning lights GONE. Only thing left is to get a fender liner installed ASAP.
     
    Raytheeagle likes this.