San Diego area, help for young Prius driver

I've already guided you on how to repair her car for $80 to $180. Not sure why you are being paranoid and asking around for shops it is so easy a blind person can do it.

The part, at that exact dealership, and every Toyota dealer in the country is approximately $80. It should already be in her possession.

The labor, if you have a friend, is so incredibly easy (5-10 minutes to remove, 5-10 minutes to put back on) that they will do it for FREE...Or buy them lunch...Or give them $5!!!! That easy and quick...Pull into a gas station that services cars...an oil change shop....anyone can do it. A gas station mechanic or oil change shop mechanic will probably do it for $50. An independent mechanic shop no more than $100 labor (this assumes she pulls into shop...pops hood, and points at the part and says how much to change this part).

There will be no coolant spills....and these cars last to 500K miles there is zero point in changing the coolant right now. It is preventative maintenance that is pretty much pouring money down the drain as you aren't going to prevent anything because they aren't known to have problems from not changing the coolant.

 

Why wouldn't the coolant come out when you remove the hoses from the valve?

 

I definitely would not recommend changing coolant at oil change shop. For that I would advise spending the $150 or whatever they charge at stealership. They have the equipment and the correct coolant.

I would be very comfortable with a partially blind mechanic at a gas station for the coolant control valve (just saying it is a simple 30 minute or less job)...And then take to Toyota to flush and bleed system.

I have a very wild 3 year old so won't be behind the wheel until the 2030s!

 

What were the other repairs the stealership recommended?

Many times when there is a bad 3 way valve, they will also find coolant leaking from the engine water pump. I'm wondering if that was one of their recommendations to change out.

 

Here in California, the hybrid diagnostic charge is around $120-$140. They hose you when you own a hybrid

 

The leaks on ball joints and stabilizer bar sounds like an axle seal leak on the driver's side. That's the only common leak from this generation Prius. Never really heard of grease leaks on ball joints etc.

The cracked drive belt is $15 to replace. But I'm sure they quoted a crazy price for this too.

I don't think your daughter's car has anything urgent that needs immediate care. Take your time in finding a fair mechanic that can do the work, there's no rush as her car won't be breaking down while she's driving.

 

I recommended the out-of-warranty hybrid specializing shop on Miramar Road (which is 6 miles from KM Toyota)..

 

$2300. Holy cow. And you have the HV battery replacement in the future. Did they try to sell your daughter a car while she was there? Cause those quotes would scare the crap out of me and I would want to just ditch the car.

Predatory pricing at it's finest. Going in for a "check engine" valve issue and get recommendations for multiple other issues. I guess they have to justify the "diagnostic" fee.

I would get second opinions on those repairs

 

If she has already gotten a second opinion and they don't feel much of anything is needed at this time, you should just keep driving the car until you find a mechanic that will do that valve repair. It's pretty straight forward, will take about 1 to 1.5 hours to complete if you're rushing.

If you're bringing the car to a mechanic to fix, it's probably not a good idea to supply them with parts. They would never guarantee the repair that way. Just have them do it (my guess $300) and be done with it. Without this repair being done, your daughter will not be able to pass a smog check when it's time to register the car. If the belt is really worn, you should get that replaced too.

I would still double check to make sure the brakes are sound (it's a safety thing).

 

Sent him my recommendations via pm. He should be set now hopefully. Stealerships are generally in the business of making money off repairs so they do this sort of thing. Nothing new, or unexpected.

 

It’s part of the wallet flush procedure .

 

They forgot to change the blinker fluid!

 

Classic dealer rumping.

The only thing in the dealer list that got my attention was cracked drive belt. That’s the one that will bingo the car. The belts only job is to turn the engine water pump. Belt falls off pump stops turning no temp gauge
To show engine over heat car is driven till check engine light comes on.
Too late damaged head from over heat. Seen lots of those on this site.

If I was her father I would instruct her to get that belt changed now. It’s probably the original belt.