I have a 2012 3. Looking for the best route to take. Getting the traction battery/ hybrid battery code. The car has 286,000 miles on it. The head gasket is blown. (Water in the oil) only means of transportation and I need to do something as quickly as possible. And still try to maximize every dollar. Amazingly the car still runs and "drives". (Quotations because it won't drive far before temp light comes on and I have to pull over to let it cool down and/or reset the codes.) I've tried to research best I knew how. And gotten various offers from different online car buyers and hybrid battery dealers. The offers range from about $300 to about $1000. However I feel like I would be leaving a lot on the table. Any information, direction, and offers would be greatly appreciated. The car still has OEM cats as well. Thanks
286k miles, with a blown head gasket and needs a hybrid battery. Have you replace the brake booster yet? I mean if someone offered you $1000 for this car, you're not really leaving much on the table.
Depends on your money situation. The BEST thing would be a new or remanufactured engine. What "code" for the hybrid battery are you getting? Have you replaced the 12v battery? A week 12v battery can cause a lot of false error codes. Depending on the code, you could try the Prolong system to bring some life out of the hurbrid battery. Can you do any of the work yourself? It's rare to have coolant in the oil for a Prius. Likely the head is warped and or cracked. It "might" be repairable, not sure of the cost. If you can remove the head yourself, you can take it to a machine shop and they will put a straight edge on it and tell you if it's warped, and how much and it they would be able to shave it down to save it. Hopefully, it's not cracked.
Now is your best time to exit out of the generation 3 family. Go back to a generation two by a Yaris I don't know for yourself only you can make this decision. But I wouldn't be spending any money on this no more It's done these are not the Toyotas of yore. This is pretty carefully thought out.
Thank you. That's great info. Not something I'd considered. I'm not a mechanic by any means. But a lot of the work I could do with relative confidence. The 12 volt is weak. I'd run an aftermarket stereo set up and didn't calculate my amp draw. So it killed the 12v battery. And it was definitely throwing faulty codes. One thing I failed to mention is that the water pump stopped working on the engine side. Idk if it isn't getting the signal from the ecu. But the coolant disappearing was happening before that. I noticed excess vapor in my exhaust. And a weird look and smell to the oil. Money is an issue and I have done what I could just to keep the tires turning. I'm definitely going to look at the head. I appreciate that advice. Looks like I have a busy morning. Lol.
If you have the room, buy another cheap gen3 in the same color and keep the dead one as a parts car. Install an auxiliary 12v battery for your audio needs.
Sell your car and buy a different car. It is not worth trying to fix your existing car unless you do all the work yourself.
I greatly greatly appreciate all the feedback. I wish I had the tools knowledge and time to get a donor like don k otay recommended. But I would have to agree with the "be done with the gen 3". It's time to move on. Though I absolutely cannot complain in any way about the car. With a little pampering and a lot of attention it made it to almost 300k. Not a lot of vehicles you could say that about. Especially the way it's been driven the past year doing deliveries in the evening. As was advised I'll take what has been offered and be happy to receive it.
300k miles works out to about 150k miles in gas free miles or $18k in fuel savings. I’d say you “Stuck It To The Man” real good like. “When the world has screwed you And crushed you in its fist When the way you're treated Has got you good and pissed There's been one solution Since the world began Don't just sit and take it Stick it to the man.”
Every Toyota I've owned before the 2009 Mark basically made 400,000 mi with no maintenance because years ago when I was younger I was a real asshat and I drove a whole bunch of these cars and when they left me they were still running onto their next owner and most had over 400,000 on them very easily except when I lived in the New England states they would rust out in 4 years and have about maybe 200,000 mi on them. The only cars I ever had that did not last like this for the likes of Chevrolet Pontiac that sort of thing.
