Accelerator stopped working - mechanic estimate $$$$$$$$

i posted this topic yesterday and got informative replies. i'm startlng a new thread because the other one got long from going off topic related to another problem with my car, i don't know if they're related but they weren't in that thread.

After the car stopped having acceration while i was driving and i was towed home, i took it to a mechanic today to see about getting it fixed.

it was towed to a place called California Automotive. i did not have a current mechanic.

They just called with the outcome. Very bad.

the codes are

p3000 battery control system
c2318 low voltage error.

Worst case scenario could come to over $10,000, or, totaled.

She told me the possible repairs

replace transmission

clean battery motor fan which appears to have never been cleaned before, congested.
(the area around the battery fan motor, take that out and clean the whole area)

replace inverter and inverter pump, and valve.

She hopefully thought the inverter would be ok but worst case scenario, it would
need replacing.

She said she thought the hybrid battery was ok, she said it was charging at 85%
with the battery fan blocked with built up debris

They had to drive it on the freeway to test it. She said it accelerates fine now, she could
drive it normally on the freeway. i forgot to ask why that is. i guess maybe this
morning when i had it towed, it was drivable again after cooling off.

She said they use remanufactured transmissions with 1 year warranty

The prices were,
transmission, with labor (not tax) - $4307
This price includes removing and cleaning battery fan motor, area around it

If the inverter needs to be replaced,
that is another $6500 with labor, not tax.

So, if it needed the inverter, it's totally hopeless.

i can't imagine life without that car. it seemed fine, awesome,
until March 29 when i went over a road hazard with the left tires.

She said the above repairs include alignment but my information is that
whatever is causing the steering problem needs to be fixed before
alignment. (it's been aligned twice since March 29).

if the steering can't be fixed the car is useless to me. She said
when she took it on the freeway, she could only
feel the problem i'm talking about subtly. For me it is subtle and i
always forget about it, i have so many other things on the plate.
and then i'll be driving and i'll become aware of it. the steering is
having a returnability problem since going over the road hazard. it
it has a problem returning to center. She said fixing the transmission
might fix that.
all very confusing.

She called me earlier to say she got some codes on her scanner but
that they weren't right and she was waiting for her guy to come and
update their scanner. She was letting me know why it would take
longer to let me know what was going on than she had thought.

 

This was after the scanner was updated, i asked what it was before and she said it threw about
30 codes.

Anyway, so finding another car to buy doesn't seem like something i can do in a hurry, i'll have to keep using a rental indefinitely, it's a lot of pressure to make a decision. it's mind boggling. maybe it would be less of a gamble to fix my car.

i'm glad to have the referral of Avi's. i don't know if my AutoClub road service policy will tow it that far, find out tomorrow. go from there.

it sounds like something that is going to take a long indefinite amount of time of renting a car for $30 a day.

If i decide not to fix the car, then i have to find a replacement. I appreciate any info on how to replace it with a decent Prius, if it checks out with a mechanical assessment. for that i would go to Avi. It's mind boggling.

Once i have more information, i will feel a lot better, life brings a lot of learning curves. Without knowing how to get a car as good as mine has been, my first choice is to fix my car, depending on how much, and i need someone known to be expert on Priuses to find that out. It's frustrating to know there must be at least a few other mechanics nearer to me in this metropolis with no idea how to find out who they are, and time pressure to act. i know it will all get figured out though, imperfectly.

i think the mechanic i took it to today is may be ok but not for this situation. i think not many mechanics are capable in this situation, at least i don't know how to find one, i can't just do it by trial and error, like today. i can't make decisions without having information. sometimes it's necessary to do that though.

 

audiodave, thanks for feedback. that's why i posted this here, seeking help with perspective and appreciate replies so far.

i want to take it to a dealer--there is one a couple of miles from me that i went to for all maintenance since i got the car 10 years ago, but a couple of years ago the service manager changed and my service advisor left suddenly, and the two or three experiences i've had since didn't feel good, really different. But mainly i want someone experienced and knowledgeable--i guess you can count on that at a dealer? Someone on NextDoor did tell me she likes her service advisor at the agency in Reseda, i'll look into that. She's a Prius person.

On Prius Chat i read one person's post saying their nearest dealer only had two mechanics that worked on Priuses and they were gone for the day, kind of put me off but i guess two is a lot, compared to nothing.

i wish i knew a shop closer that has the basic skills to address the inverter, transaxil and battery so i could go from there. if i could get whatever the current problem is fixed for less than $4000, i could get the steering fixed after that, i don't think steering will be more than $1000 and probably a lot less, from what i've read. It just takes someone who knows what they're doing, not shooting in the dark. Easier said than done or it would have been fixed by now.

 

yeah, i just renewed my road service in May, the cheaper plan. i used to always get the 70 miles of towing one when i was working, i got paid mileage at about $150 a month on average, a lot of driving, far driving, but i barely drive since retiring, that's why my car has low miles, i barely drive, so i got the cheaper plan. I'll call and see if they'll let me upgrade immediately. they always thank me for my 36 years as a member, see what that's worth. i learned my lesson on this, stick with the 70 mile towing plan.

 

Since i retired i am driving about $7500 a year, which is half what what i was driving when working.

i didn't realize it's not good for my car to not drive enough and want to know how much is enough. i imagine there's no exact amount, but generally, i didn't know this was harmful to my car. Driving less began in 2013.

i just got my car back from the mechanic, driving it home, and they said don't drive it at all once it's home, because lots of parts are getting burned out and every drive does more damage.

why is it harmful to a Prius to not be driven much? Mechanic said because the battery needs to cool

i called Avi before going to pick up my car. He talked about things that might explain what's wrong, more and less common, and of course he would need to see it, but that conversation was encouraging for me, that at worse, it's highly unlikely to be as bad as the other guys thought .

i told him it's a very far tow for me, i think maybe a couple hundred dollars at $10 per mile. He said it's possible to drive the car over there, he said usually with this problem the car will work again if you turn it off and turn it back on, not on the freeway but on surface streets, i could drive it over and each time it stops accelerating, pull over, turn it off and turn it back on and keep going, it can happen repeatedly.

That's a different perspective from the other guys who said don't drive it an inch because you're damaging it.

Avi didn't know anyone in the Valley that he recommended for this kind of car. i would be better off paying for a tow to get over there because it seems scary to have it starting and stopping for such a long distance in LA traffic, not always a place to pull over. i can understand that it's doable but i don't think i'm mentally in shape for that right now.

But talking with him was good, informative, reassuring. he said call him any time with questions, and i will, that's really great. i'm motivated to get my car over there, but won't have time til Thurs or Fri at the soonest, i'm not sure if i should get a rental car or if it's ok to go for short drives around home a few times.
Like to the store, that's all.

Driving my car home was very motivating for fixing it. It's in really good shape, the seats, interior, it seems like new to me. it's a package 6, i don't remember what that included anymore, but really user friendly. If someone could keep it going for me, it's something to seriously consider, Avi was skeptical about needing the repairs quoted by the other mechanic and/or about the prices. He quoted prices that were all doable and not shocking.

The mechanic i just got the car back from said there might be a misunderstanding from what she said the day before--$6500 wasn't the price of the inverter, $6500 was the total for repairs recommended, if an inverter was needed, so the inverter was more like $2200 including labor. Before tax