Buying a Gen I "fixer" with P3125, P3130, P3006, P3020, P3023

I'm looking at a 2002 Gen I that a broker bought at an auction and then closed his business shortly after, the car has been sitting for about 3 years as the owner got into other interests. He is now trying to clear his yard out but now the car has battery problems. He paid $4,600 3 years ago but is now asking $2,800 for it even though it is very straight and clean w/ navigation, cruise etc. From my research on PriusChat it looks like it needs an inverter coolant pump, and probably at least 2 modules replaced in the HV battery and an Aux battery.

The Aux battery was dead so we had to use jumper cables. It started and ran normally, but after 10min or so the dash showed the red triangle, a battery light and check engine light. The display showed a warning with 3 icons - left one had "PS" on it, the center one had a battery icon with the word "MAIN" under it, the right icon was red with picture of a car and an exclamation point through it. When I test drove the car the engine was running faster than normal, almost like it was in granny-low gear. If I tried to accelerate too quickly it bucked and lurched like transmissin was "slipping in and out of gear". After driving a few minutes the "slipping" got worse, then the display turned white and fuzzed out. After waiting a couple minutes it started again. This happened 3-4 mre times as I limped it back to the owners place where it died without being able to restart at all. He brought out an extra battery to "jump-start" it and it started right up and ran fine. We took it for a short drive with jump battery sitting in trunk and car felt like it was running completely normal (except for warning screen remained). I pulled codes - P3125, P3130, P3006, P3020, P3023. I tried clearing the codes and P3125 & P3130 came back immediately if engine was running - the others showed as pending.

The auction manifest shows the car had the transaxle replaced but owner said this may or may not be true. I have changed the inverter pump on our GenII so that seems easy enough. Info on PriusChat makes repairing the HV battery sound do-able. Do these codes warn of anything more insideous?

 

I like your sig-line usnavystgc - I too will try to fix anything...not only do I enjoy the challenge, but I just hate to see something fixable go to waste. Only problem is, there isn't enough of me to go around and sometimes I'd rather go for a bike ride than be stuck in the garage all weekend.

I'm hearing you all loud and clear and I also trust your collective experience and judgement. As nice as the Prius is otherwise I guess I'll let it go - as they say; "Discretion is the better part of valor".

As for the price, I wonder if the Portland Oregon market is on the high side?

I bought my daughter a 2002 Prius about 6 months ago for $3500 but felt like I almost stole it when compared to other cars on market at the time (mostly $5,000). It had 180k miles and was very nice & clean except some slightly wrinkled body near rear bumper and worn out tires. Paint and headlights looked great like it had been kept garaged. I felt justified in offering $500 less than the $4000 asking due to hi-miles, need for new tires and minor body damage.

Unfortunately my daughter recently hit a power pole on the left headlight and totaled the car (no injury, lo-speed crash - yeah, I know how in the...) - on the bright side, her catalyst recently failed and the car was due for DEQ inspection and new registration so we dodged that bullet. Insurance valued car today at $5,832 minus $745 for hi-miles, lack of cruise control and existing minor body damage leaving me $5,087 before deductible as shown below.



My daughter loved her little Prius and is determined to have another one so I am currently shopping for a replacement for her. The prices mostly range from $4,200 to $5,995, but most commonly about $4,500 and many of these have salvaged titles, it seems to make little difference on asking price whether title is clean or not. Does this sound higher than asking prices in other areas out there? Just curious.

 

Yeah I know, we have a 2005 Gen II and love it!!! My wife especially, as she hauls kids and things around putting on over 25k miles per year (now over 200k miles and still running strong!). However, beyond the fact that the Gen I is just cute and easily maneuverable and so fits my daughter well, she just isn't keen on driving a car like her mom's...if you know what I mean.

It occurred to me that I could buy back the wrecked Prius from insurance company for $1100 and would then have a spare of everything except left front bodywork...no, wait, I think I need to go for a bike ride.