Problems to Look Out for When Buying a Used Toyota Prius (Gen 2, 3 & 4)

There is a recommendation from Toyota Canada: tri-yearly or 48K kms (30K miles), whichever comes first.

 

Thanks, that I know. Just in case some people do it themselves at shorter interval rate since asrdogman haven't had an issue with his

 

The same on Gen 3. Spare tire well prone to condensation.

 

More used car buying stuff...

My car was a mouse house.

I had a mouse nest the size of a football in the windshield wiper transmission. Luckily, no damage.

It's a good idea to get a look under the dash & pop out the glove box. Damage to wiring harness of any sort would be an instant deal breaker for me. Likewise, if critters have managed to get into any part of the HVAC, walk away....

Almost no one changes brake fluid. For $10 you can buy a conductivity type brake fluid tester to look at moisture content. Some of these things are junk, but some work well. Mine is "Iteq" (amazon).

Test it on new brake fluid. Make a standard test sample from new brake fluid and 2% water in a paper cup and test that, so you know the thing works. More than 2% moisture in a modern car with ABS, I'd probably walk away. Brake actuator is nuclear money from the dealer. Buying salvage is a crap shoot (and therefore a pain in the nice person). My car tests at 1% (color and transparency are good). I'm going to change out the fluid soon.

The OEM 15" alloy wheels on mine are in bad shape. Winter salt + sitting in the driveway a lot. Not much to be done about this... I put snow tires on the OEMs, by the time the snows are worn out, the rims will probably be toast. I picked up a nice set of aftermarket alloy rims with worn out snow tires on Craig's list for $100. Those tires will get scrapped (2009 date code!) and replaced with summer tires.

Inspect front bumper cover and area immediately underneath closely. There's not a lot of ground clearance. One oopsie with a parking curb can do a lot of damage. An oopsie involving a rock or something can damage the AC condenser and radiator.

When I go shopping for a used car, I take ramps, an old jacket and a flashlight. For a car with a low front bumper like the Prius, I have a pair of 2x12 cut offs (these should be about 16" long, if shorter they will likely split) that I lay in front of the front tires, then ramps (Rhino ramps). The 2x12 trick keeps the bumper off the ramp on the way up/down.

 

Sellers light up when they see you coming?

 

They light up when they see my money.

When I bought our Honda Fit, I didn't take my ramps. On that car I missed a big dent in the AC condenser. I was terribly annoyed when I discovered that, but it never caused a problem in 33K miles. Dumb luck. Always take ramps!

We're sufficiently well impressed with the 2010 that we are considering replacing one of our other cars with another Gen3.

 

On a Gen 3, can a person tell if the transmission fluid is old? (I miss the days of the smell/color test on a dipstick, but CVTs are nice in their own way.)

I'm looking at one over 100k with no service records. Same question about the head gasket. Can you tell on a short test drive if it's going bad?

 

On Prius, at least the Gen III model like I have, the transmission fluid is not really meant to be changed. It's advertised as life long so customers don't have to worry. Of course, that's lifetime if you play to keep the car for less than 200,000 miles. Sincw it's sealed, there's no dipstick, and your best bet is to go under the car and actually unbolt the fill plug.

I honestly would recommend you replacing the fluid especially if you have it second hand and are skeptical about the previous owner(s). It cost less than $80 to DIY, and it may save you over $3,000 replacing the tranny if it fails due to you trying to save a bit of hassle.

For the head gasket, at least speaking from my experience, it's a common issue in Gen III. Typically what you would want to see is if the coolant level on the reservoir is dropping as days go without leak going under the engine bay. A rattle, rough start for 1 to 3 secs depending on the severity after it's been sitting for hours may indicate coolant leaking into one or more of the cylinders. If you want a quick test to determine this though, I heard about hydro-something test where it basically checks if there's a carbon or whatever inside the coolant reservoir. If that presents, then coolant have access to the combustion chamber, which you do not want.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Agree.
That's exactly what I'm going to do this weekend on my 300k km SH Prius 3.
Beside regular annual maintenace (engine oil and filters) I want to do a coolant/transmission oil/brake fluid change. For the peace of my mind.

 

You can tell if the fluid is old if the car has over 100K miles on it and you don't know for a fact that it was changed . Easy job. Did mine this weekend.

Take a look at the coolant reservoir. If there's any sign of anything other than clean pink SLLC coolant, walk away. If the fluid is low, be suspicious.

Take a look with a strong flashlight inside the valve cover through the oil fill cap. If you see anything other than clean, shiny, oily metal, walk away.