Hi all, I'm on my second Prius. This one's a 2007 and has over 169k on it. It has been burning oil more quickly for the last year on and off. It's well loved (dent on the front of the hood, another on the right front fender, it got keyed on the right side, rear wiper straight just came off one day but It's in the driver seat pocket, heh...). ...And now the battery's failing. Red triangle of death, car/exclamation point icon on the touch screen, a bunch of other errors on the dash. It does fine getting me to work in the morning (fan's always running) but sometimes on the drive home it's warmer and then with gas pedal to the floor it's inching along, with one purple line on battery showing and no charge going to it. At this point I'm not sure how much life is left in the car. Should I try and replace the battery (as the dents and such are cosmetic) and keep feeding it oil (also, should have consulted this site first as Jiffy Lube upsold me on the Lucas Oil Stabilizer...). Or should I haul it as-is to Carmax and see how much I could get for it? I'm eyeing the new models but haven't had enough time to do research, either... I also don't know if Carmax would give me more money than or Toyota would if I used it as a trade in. Apologies if a similar situation has been answered. I found other threads that were similar but not one that really answered my question...
Quick engine oil burning also implies that the catalytic converter and its associated two sensors probably will go bad in the near future.
Would those two sensors be throwing different dash error lights on than what the battery would be? I can check in the morning... It also has been sometimes giving me issues when I start, which is the clock and lights will turn on, but dimmer, and the car won't turn over. I make sure everything's off and try again and it'll start. (Disclaimer, I didn't drive the first Prius I had into the ground as much as this one... that one (a Gen 1) made it to 200-250k after my cousin took it off my hands...)
In my case, the error code was for bad catalytic converter, and I replaced everything at the same time. There probably will just be the check engine light on the dash to indicate error codes exist. The two old sensors (oxygen sensor and fuel ratio sensor) were coated badly with burnt oil. Of course, the repair will be useless unless the engine oil burning issue is resolved first. Please make sure your 12v battery is healthy. HV battery should only be replaced with another NEW HV battery from Toyota.
A bad 12v battery can make the car throw bogus error lights. Get 12v tested and replace if necessary.
If it really IS the traction battery dying, I don't think it is worth putting that much money into, even if there is a reputable shop near you that will do it for ~ $1500. BUT......some of your reported symptoms suggest that maybe your 12 V battery is going bad. That can be replaced for less that $200 and would be a good gamble......IMHO. A new one needs to be fully charged before use.
YOur opinion. Many others seem to have a good experience getting one that is "completely" rebuilt from a reputable supplier. About half the price as one from Toyota. Hard to justify putting $3500 into a car that old. Trying to go real cheap and just replacing a few cells.......or getting a "rebuilt" where that was done is not wise either. A LOT of people who have tried that end up in a real mess.
Car max will not pay you anything for this car, your best bet is to sell it privately and that may only get you $1000 with the failed battery and dents on the car. As others have said, the oil burning will be an issue that will affect the catalytic converter and that repair in California is $2000. Best to get another car because you are looking at high expense repairs in the near future. Battery Catalytic converter Engine
Theoretically, if I had tried to trade in the car before the battery had failed and it wasn't throwing codes, would Carmax or the like have bit? I'm kind of kicking myself for not having anticipated this sooner, and thinking a random quirk here and there weren't signs of impending doom. ...Like it starting to want oil 2,500 miles after a change (and then on the next change not want ANYTHING at the same miles when I asked for a top off)? I saw someone else went to Toyota that was out of warranty (barely) on time or miles, but under on the other, and they repaired her problem for free. Something tells me I wouldn't be this lucky. I had to rebuild something on my older Prius too (it's been over 10 years so I don't remember). Bummer.
