Should I fix or sell?

If they couldn’t find evidence of chewed wires, did you ask them why they thought it was rodent damage?

 

if it's running well, and not burning too much oil, i would either diy repair the battery, or get a refurb replacement from a reputable company. 210k is not a ton of miles.

to get started, you will need tech stream for proper codes and sub codes.

as for rodents, they are popular, but without evidence, i wouldn't worry about it

 

You have a few options:

Find a good, experienced Prius shop which will work with you. They are rare.
Learn to fix it yourself. The learning curve is steep, daunting, and will take you a while,
Just keep running it. Learn how to clear codes (temporarily) with a scanner, or by disconnecting the 12v battery. You can probably get away with this for 3 months. I've got away with it for 2+ years. But you will still have (more brief) learning curve.
Sell it to a Prius DIY person with full disclosure. You will have to learn how to negotiate. If the car is as good as you say, the battery issue is inconsequential to a DIY person. But they won't tell you that!!
Sell it to Carvana or some other scum used car place. This will bring you bad karma because they will do a hokey, useless, cheap, temporary fix and sell it to a college student buying her first car.
Do not sell it to such a college student yourself. This will triple your bad karma.
You do not need to part it out.
Keep your options open for vital trips - Uber, friends, rentals as fallback backups.

Good luck.

There is a lot of good advice on PriusChat but many of the advisors have a lot of resources and experience - see "learning curve" above.

Contrary to some (smarter people than me) I think 200k miles is about the limit on these cars. After that there are a lot of problems, some very complicated, some very expensive. This is NOT a simple vehicle.

 

Welcome to PriusChat!!

Which part of Michigan are you near, as another member may be able help.

FYI : you're moderated until you've posted 5 times.

 

A bad 12 volt (reg car battery) will cause ALL KINDS of issues. More so on a Prius than most other cars.
I'd check that first.

 

So far the only thing I experience with two of these that went way beyond 200k is drive train steering suspension wear out. Those parts are cheap enough new for after market. I havent had any of the issues some have with electronics or pumps or weird prius cooling systems etc etc being an issue.

 

based on my experience buying old and high mileage past 200k+ Priuses -
- wheel bearings at the front will go out, this will cause noise, howl, grind and abs/vsc to light up
- rear drum brakes needs servicing
- hid lights flickering (even at low miles)
- instrument cluster will turn off (capacitor issue)
- blower motor will make a noise
- inverter coolant pump needs to be replaced
- timing chain might stretch (not following oil change intervals)
- interior will be worn out, they are cheaply made.. worst than Volkswagen or domestic brands (Chrysler/Ford/GM)..
which are very basic issues, so far I haven't experienced major issues such as brake actuators failing or inverter replacement. I did replace the timing chain components on my very 1st one because the chain is stretched causing a check engine light. The 1st 2 Priuses I sold to my friend still has good hv battery (not sure if they were replaced) past 240k miles even with the 12v.

 

Do you need a car now? If you sell, can you replace it now?

A working car will sell for more than a broken one. It's up to you to decide if getting 9 months of use and higher resale is worth fixing it for you.

Who knows when the used car bubble will burst?

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

- wheel bearings at the front will go out, this will cause noise, howl, grind and abs/vsc to light up
yeah no big deal, like changing a tire, much easier than most of the vids out there show you
I can change both fronts in 1 hour. Have done 5 cars. cheap too for good parts, about 150 a car with quality parts

- rear drum brakes needs servicing (mine needed this 2 years ago i am ignoring it lol (SQUEEL when wet and locks up)

- instrument cluster will turn off (capacitor issue) had this on the 2008 we just got, drove the display to west va he replaced the component in 5 minutes)

 

Curious what is considered quality (or even good) these days, and how the replacement parts on the 5 cars have held up over the years.

 

TRQ
Trusted Reliable Quality
brand i have used, they hold up, wheel bearings cv axles etc
and MOOG

most of the wheel bearing videos are wrong, they have you take all kinds of stuff off, you dont need to remove
from memory
remove the wheel, remove the caliper and let it hang, remove the abs sensor, remove the axle nut, remove the two bolts on lower shock so the wheel can be forced down and away from the axle, makes just enough room to push the axle out. there is a dust cap on the inside you have to pry out gently, once the cap is loose you can get a wrench on the 4 bolts on the bearing housing, then i use an air chisel to work the bearing housing back and forth, once it breaks loose comes right out, its aluminum in steel so it corrodes and is a bear. air chisel persuades it. I can get one side done in 30 minutes.
make sure to ALIGN THE DUST CAP or you will be buying an ABS sensor