My phone rings yesterday, my son in Los Angeles. The beloved Prius has died on the side of the road. We bought it new in April 2011. It was just after the horrible Tsunami in Japan and the cars were hard to get. Level 3, Tan side and out. My commute was 84 miles a day on the NYS Thruway. AT first I took at easy, read the hyper mileage posts and tried to see what I could obtain. That lasted 4 months- couldn't get any better than 52.7 indicated ( I didn't try real hard...) After that it was 80mph every day- all highway. 13,981 miles the first year. Bought a set of winter rims and kept Michelin X Ice on every winter. Harmony's in the summer. Never a problem. Put numerous sets of pads and rotors on - although the original rears did last 133k! Being a mechanics son, my car was the last thing to keep maintained properly. Safety wise yes, but normal maintenance, not so much. One morning in March 2020 it let me down. The dash lit up and no Hybrid drive. Thankfully it was part of the warranty enhancement for the IPM and was fixed at no charge. At the 169k mark it needed a RR wheel bearing. At 187k it was the LR wheel bearing, along with the ABS cable; the LR rotor shield had rusted off and tore out the cable on the highway. Oil sender leaked at 198k and was replaced. The converter flange rusted and blew out the donut. Cobbled that together with a new donut. Replaced the original 12v battery in 2023 at 217k. Had to finally replace all 4 original calipers in 2024 as having multiple sticking issues. Stopped like brand new again. New York salt tax took a toll. The underside was getting quite rusty. Taught my 3 sons to drive in the car. Took them to Chicago and Cleveland for college. My middle son kept it at school for the last 2 years. Then in the spring he got an internship for the summer in Los Angeles. ROAD TRIP! We drove from Cleveland to Kansas City, on to Denver (Where we snagged last minute tickets to the Nuggets NBA Playoff game) and then on to Los Angeles. I had noticed the rear wiper blade was rotted and hanging off so as we got near his apartment I stopped at Claremont Toyota to pick up the rubber insert. They didn't stock the insert, but the woman at the parts counter gave us wholesale on the assembly which was extremely nice. I installed it and we headed back out or so we thought. On starting there was a rattling and hammering in the driveline. It shook the car for 5-10 seconds and cleared up. Since we were there I asked the parts woman who we should talk to - she recommended "Oscar" in service. He said to bring it in. I think there was a miscommunication as we had to get to the apartment before 5 to get the keys, but he finally understood and grabbed a tech (I think Salvatore?). He had me start it and immediately said "Head Gasket". I was skeptical until he filled in the details. In California they go around 150k. I had 245k and never put a wrench on the motor- no spark plugs, no EGR, no coolant pump; nothing...! The cool NY climate must have slowed the failure. Due to the age and rust, it wasn't worth leaving, so we took off the coolant tank cap and drove on. I debated staying and trying to find a car, but my son insisted it would be fine. And it was! For 6 weeks! Commuting 26 miles 5 days a week on the freeway! I almost thought it would make it. Then he called. 45 minutes north of Santa Clarita on his way to Sequoia National Park.... At first I was mad- What do you mean you were taking this car up the freeway at 80mph on a 95 degree day for a 3 1/2 hour jaunt?!!? Then I was sad as I knew it was the end of the line. Almost 250k miles in 14 years. Total investment 27k purchase + 25 oil changes, 6 sets of tires, multiple sets of pads and rotors, 1 set of calipers, oil sender, 2 wheel bearings, LR ABS cable, 1 rotor dust shield, 3 air filters, 2 cabin air filters, 8 sets of wiper blades, and approx 6500 gallons of gas. RIP Well done Toyota!
