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Need help: Is this car's undercarriage in bad condition? Looking to buy soon.

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by Haschwalt, Aug 1, 2019.

  1. Grit

    Grit Senior Member

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    That specific vehicle is missing the aero covers, all trims have aero covers.
     
    #21 Grit, Aug 1, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 1, 2019
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  2. Vman455

    Vman455 Senior Member

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    My thoughts:
    -It doesn't look like you're missing any plastic shields; we can only see the very front of the car in that picture, from the catalytic converter heat shield forward
    -the two circled parts are: lower) suspension lower control arm, upper) steering arm (sorry, I'm blanking on the name of that right now!)
    -that looks to me like just dirt on the frame, I wouldn't worry about it
     
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  3. Vman455

    Vman455 Senior Member

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    For reference, here's a picture of the Gen 3 underside:

    [​IMG]

    The part we're looking at in the OP picture is that open area behind the front wheel (disregard the x; I stole this picture from teh interwebz).
     
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  4. Haschwalt

    Haschwalt Member

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    Is this the 'aero cover' -
    2012 Toyota Prius Four HYBRID Floor Pan (Left, Front). Interior, Body - 5811247900 | Evans Toyota, Fort Wayne IN
    &
    2012 Toyota Prius Four HYBRID Floor Pan (Right, Front). Interior, Body - 5811147903 | Evans Toyota, Fort Wayne IN
    ? When I google 'aero cover prius' I only get references on PriusChat for the hubcaps. So I assume you too are talking about the undercarriage black pans? They're also known as 'splash guards' or 'engine cover.'
     
  5. Vman455

    Vman455 Senior Member

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    You can see the very front of the RH floor pan cover in your first photo; so, no it isn't missing, and I would bet the other isn't either.
     
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  6. kc5dlo

    kc5dlo Active Member

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    I can't imagine why the bottom panels would not be factory installed on a level 4 Prius. My '14 level 3 still has all the panels including the oil flap door at 170,000 miles. Perhaps that is the story he is telling you since replacing the panels would be dipping into his profit? If that was the case it might make you wonder about the true value of buying a certified used car.
     
  7. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't think so. look on car parts.com, one of them, the 'engine splash shield' is only 28 bucks
     
  8. Haschwalt

    Haschwalt Member

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    Update: so I got a better look of the car's undercarriage and it did have the black plastic parts. However, I decided to not buy the car because of a lot of rust. I intend to keep the car for a while and I want one that's cleaner. Guess I'll need to go down south, but it's hard to find a 2015 Prius 4 with solar roof in clean condition and decent miles. Don't want to go on the 2016 because I can't add a high watt inverter to it (though the 4th gen Prius has better handling/stability but no cheap sun roof option). I'm also going to stick with only the 2015s to hopefully prevent/minimize the chance of oil burning (Toyota supposedly had a fix for it but not enough data to see if it works).



    upload_2019-8-3_11-48-17.jpeg upload_2019-8-3_11-48-17.jpeg upload_2019-8-3_11-49-29.jpeg upload_2019-8-3_11-49-34.jpeg
     
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  9. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    15 gets new pistons and rings, i hope that does it!
     
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  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Good luck. You are correct that it is very hard to find a rust-free vehicle in the north east. No matter what I do, my cars always show some problem related to rusting by 10 years old.
     
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