dealer upsell or rip off? Please help!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by zoooch, Dec 3, 2025 at 7:46 PM.

  1. zoooch

    zoooch New Member

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    2007 Prius
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    211,000 miles on 2007 Prius Gen 2. No real issues to date.

    Dealer recommends following. Am I getting ripped off? Am I being upsold unnecessary work?

    Transmission fluid service 350
    Transaxle fluid service 189.99
    Coolant service 240
    Inverter coolant service 205
    Fuel injection service 191
    PCV replace 270
    Hybrid vent clean 229

    What’s skippable?

    Most of these are posted publicly as common. But I’m not sure re pcv and injectors. Thoughts?
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    transmission and transaxle are one and the same. i would like to be in the shop watching them accomplish that magic trick. :cool:
    to know what you can skip, we have to know what has been done.
    consult your maintenance schedule. it goes to 120k and 10 years i think. then just keep repeating the same intervals.
    brake fluid is a good idea and may not be in there. same with the tranny fluid. hybrid battery fan and vent cleaning you can do yourself, should you choose to.
     
  3. BiomedO1

    BiomedO1 Senior Member

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    This car shares fluids and is a all-in-one unit - so they're double-charging you for ONE job. Dealership should know better, an independent shop might've made that mistake - dealership shouldn't.
    Your way overdue if it hasn't been done. You can have them run a litmus & glycol test to see if it's any good or still can be used. Those are test strips that the shop should have on-hand to prove to customers that the work needs to be done.
    SKIP!! go to an auto parts store and get a can of injection cleaner to dump into your fuel tank - I'd like my commission NOW:p
    You can get the PCV replaced when the car starts running dodgy. If your handy, I do recommend you take apart and clean out the vents, especially if you have pets riding with you. Pet hair tends to gum-up the inner workings. There are YouTube videos on how to do this.

    Good Luck.....

    PS; the brake fluid should at least be tested for moisture content. I personally flush-out all my fluids every 100K miles not Km. If the brake fluid has high moisture content, they could be rusting you system from the inside out.
     
    #3 BiomedO1, Dec 4, 2025 at 11:38 AM
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2025 at 11:59 AM
  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk MMX GEN III

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    Considering the extortionary prices, the double-dipping @bisco mentioned, AND most of the items being superfluous, I wouldn't let them near the car...

    Are you willing to DIY some?
     
    #4 Mendel Leisk, Dec 4, 2025 at 11:51 AM
    Last edited: Dec 4, 2025 at 12:02 PM
    BiomedO1 likes this.
  5. priumium

    priumium Member

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    Run away from this mechanic and grade them accordingly for others to avoid.
     
  6. Hayslayer

    Hayslayer Active Member

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    First, I would request they explain what is performed for the transmission fluid service and what is performed for the transaxle fluid service. I'd love to be there to hear the answer.

    The fuel injector service is likely just them adding a bottle of techron to the fuel tank. You can get that for 10 bucks at Walmart.
    If you've ever had the inverter cooling water pump replaced (and it's very likely you have) that coolant is supposed to be replaced as part of the pump job, if done at a dealership.

    As for engine coolant? For my own cars, I've found it's just as easy to drain and replace a gallon every couple years instead of doing a complete drain and refill. It eliminates the hassle of trying to get air out of the system.

    Hybrid vent clean? If this doesn't include the battery fan, the vent on a gen 2 is right next to the rear seat, passenger side, shoulder height.
    Look in it with a flashlight. The fan is pretty easy also, but involves removing floor and passenger side trim pieces in the hatch area.