Replace brake acutator and skid control ECU or not?

How much in labor?

Personally I’m a gambler, and I would give the salvage parts a shot.

 

Check the battery voltage yourself. These cars are well documented for having odd problems when the 12v battery is old/ low charge.

 

The car has relatively few miles, but is now almost 15 years old if the information in your profile is correct. Before you spend anything, I would want to know the condition of the HV battery. More than likely it has been replaced since it would unusual for this type of battery to last that long, especially in your warm climate. I would guess that the replacement was not a new battery from Toyota if you were able to buy the car for such a low price. If it turns out that the battery had been salvaged from a much newer car and is likely to last for several years, it would be worth spending money to replace the braking system, but I would probably go with the salvaged parts and hire an independent mechanic. If your replacement battery was one that had been rebuilt from older modules (as has so often been the case with others posting here), it is likely that the previous owner knew it would not last much longer and was willing to let the car go for a low price. In that case, you will shortly have an even bigger problem than the brake actuator and may want to reconsider spending any more money on the car at all.

 

Overall the Prius is a very reliable car, but it's true that when something breaks it is likely to need an expensive part, particularly if you need to buy it from the dealer. If you can salvage a part from a reliable source, however, it becomes much less expensive, and if you are brave enough to attempt some of the repairs as DIY, you can save even more. Now that you've explained that you know some of the history of this car, I would be much more inclined to recommend that you make the effort to search out the braking system parts you need from local salvage yards. With so few miles and a known history (hopefully your friend has kept up on all required maintenance), it might even be worthwhile to invest in a new HV battery if the current one fails at some point in the future. A smaller worthwhile investment would be a scan tool such as this,

, which combined with the Torque app on your phone, would allow you to monitor the car's hybrid system and possibly get ahead of some needed future repairs. Another alternative is this device,

, which can be used with Toyota's Techstream program on a Windows laptop for a more complete analysis of the systems on your car.

 

Toyota's pricing makes mafia people jealous.

ABS modules wear out on the hybrids (ie Prius and Camry hybrid).

If you don't trust a secondhand part then there will be somewhere that is reconditioning them.

Find a taxi workshop - they'll be changing ABS modules on hybrids regularly, and will have figured out the cheapest option.

You'll want to get the job done by someone who's done it before (eg taxi workshop) as it needs Techstream (or another computer option) to bleed the brake fluid.

This clip shows how the job is done - it's not particularly time consuming or complicated for any mechanic with Prius experience.

 

I think I'm back on the fence as to whether you should spend any more money on this car, even with the ability to find some information about its maintenance history through knowing the previous owner. I would absolutely want for either you or your mechanic to have a working knowledge of Techstream and access to the online repair manual at techinfo.toyota.com before spending even as little as $250 for the new 12V. If you are careful, you can connect a borrowed fully-charged 12V to the jump points under the hood before replacing the battery you have now. This will allow you to more precisely evaluate which components have failed using Techstream and the repair manual. Then you can make better decisions about whether to proceed or not.

 

Wow.

Your hybrid expert is doing rather well.

If you have a daughter then get her to marry him.

Their kids will be able to go to the best private school on the island.

How to replace the ABS module:

$900 labour for that is insane.

 

I was just diagnosed needing an ABS Actuator and Skid Control Module, and was quoted the repair estimate to be $6000+! The labor was $1400!!! I am still in shock!!!!!!

 

There's a thread specific to Teresa's issue over here.