Hello my Toyota Family been a longtime, Here is the update

So here we go my TOYOTA Family.

Green Bean LLC swapped my hybrid with a reconditioned exact factory swap. So what was the out of pocket lets cut straight to it with a brand new 12V battery also installed for good measure $2076. That is nearly a third of the price Toyota had quoted me. And NO NO NO NO NO Toyota does not love you enough to do out of WARRANTY discounted work on your car ever so after ownership aging experience rating is terribly low in my book compared to my FORD experience which I discuss at the ECOBOOSTNYC page over the ecoboost owners corner check me out as I discuss 7 years of ownership experience and monthly updates from time to time when things come up. So yeah Toyota does nothing special and don't make you feel special and well they are a Japanese automaker and I am surprised at you TOYOTA USA. You know things are hard right now and your owners could use your care during these times but anyway this is part of the ownership experience and seeking other places to get work done or learn to do it yourself. So Back to Green Bean they give 3 year warranty on the battery with a $375 swap fee if you dont clear any throttle body related or engine related codes. Which brings me to my next subject the cost of repairing the throttle body at a NYC mechanic shop. So far my running repair cost is at $600 but today they found water in my oil when they dropped the filter and pan. How did water get in there you might ask and no I dont mean antifreeze I mean rain water. So I did have the 4 fuel injectors cleaned and reinstalled but the reinstall took a bit longer then expected. It rained the night of the removal into the morning and well the rest is history luckily the car sensors have been saving my butt and at the end of this adventure I realized that being a mechanic in NYC or like a hobby mechanic with no garage is freaking hard and riddled with room for error and mistakes and situations you thought were urban legend situations. Anyway so yeah I think another 12 years of ownership experience might be in the cards. I am curious to hear from my audience of readers. I hope you are digging the content as I am digging the ownership experience even though I got beef with Toyota directly I still don't have beef with the car which is why we are all in this forum because this is the best car in the world is it not.

 

So the long awaited continuation 9 months of pain and frustration. So lets get into the final repair cost and possible pit falls that you my Toyota Prius family can avoid if this happens to you in the near future and believe me 11 years comes faster than you can imagine with this amazing platform. The car was driving on electric only as I mentioned above so the issue was not the High voltage battery even though Toyota sent me down a path of absolute destruction that almost bankrupt me during a recession but hey live and learn. So what created this doomsday ownership scenario was a failed fuel pump that got choked up and was actually making breathing sounds during a heavy frost in NYC. The pump got water inside which caused it to choke up and finally fail to provide fuel to the system which ultimately killed the engine by suffocating it which lead to the hybrid system failing and ultimately killing my perfectly good hybrid battery. Greenbean is an amazing company check them out they give you 3 year warranties on there reconditioned battery builds and will come out and swap it out for no additional cost during the three years. Unfortunately I had them come out and swap one already as it was defective but they did it the next day which was mindblowing to me. The original swap was $2000 which beats Toyotas $6500 OEM factory new swap with 12 month warranty. I rather have 3 years and a third of the price but that's just me playing the chance game I guess. But think about this if your fuel pump or any other system fails to charge that OEM brand new battery after the 12 month period you my friend will have one dead OEM battery below the floating level and once that happens its as bad as a reconditioned battery at that point. Longer warranty gives you room for future failures. So Toyota did service the engine after the battery swap since it needed a new fuel pump along with cleaning out the fuel lines and tank which had built up containments from the failed pump, new spark plugs, fuel rails, $229 an hour labor charges, fuel injector cleaning and honestly not much else that totaled to a whooping $5800 in Toyota service charges. It was the most painful experience of my life and the most expensive repair I ever paid for on any car ever. I had the windshield replaced as well for $100 at the hunts point glass repair those guys rock check them out, along with a $60 tire change at lugos tire repair in Harlem. So lets do a grand total if we may. $8000 total damage to get my 2010 65000 mile Prius back on the road of life giving me smiles for miles and I would do it again in 11 years if I had to because that is the kind of platform this car is and it pays you back faster than you can imagine. I work in the carrier business so I will jump back in 3 to 4 months because that is just how amazing this car truly is compared to my other 4 banger American turbo. So with that being said swapping that fuel pump or get that engine serviced if your Prius runs electric only when you get that check hybrid system light cause that means its not the battery its the gas combustion side or something in the fuel delivery side or the inverter side. I know that leaves alot of avenues but this car is a transport not just any car. This is the Millenium falcon of cars and is still the best car in the world. If you got a Prius or want one keep it they dont die and they love to be owned forever just be patient and have a back up vehicle but don't ever get rid of this car it just that good. This is GoliathMV signing out see you on the road of life in NYC loving this amazing platform and driving it till the wheels fall off.

 

Lol I evicted the homeless gentleman from the car after Toyota gave it back but with that being said another trouble code for my Prius family to digest. So recently the Charcoal Evap has decided to die on me seems like a Prius kept outside to fight the changing seasons for 12 years completely falls apart in every way it can find. So I can barely put $2.00 in gas without the pump clicking off every single time. The tank is even breathing out the pressure every so often its like Darth Vadar lives inside the gas tank now. This sound usually happens on freezing cold days and its like a ventilator sound. Not sure how much its going to cost but its got my inspection sticker out of date and got me nervous leaving it outside awaiting a nice fat NYC ticket. Not wanting to got back to the dealership so soon after paying that ridiculous bill for all the work they did but want this evaporator thing done right so it might have to be we shall see.

 

Sorry about that long script.

 

Hello again. The Prius has been working very hard these past few months. I picked up a job that requires that I drive about 100 miles a day. I was able to source the tire pressure sensors on eBay for $50.00 Denso brand OEM and got them put in at a local tire place. They could not program them but charged $50 to install them. I had to go to a local Meineke shop to have them programmed with a TPMS handheld which took all of 3 minutes to do as the dash cycled through all of the lights it settled and my Pressure sensor light finally went out after nearly a year and half with it just always on. The only issue I need to resolve now is the charcoal box that needs to be swapped out so I can fill my gas on continues flow. We are running at 82000 miles now and the engine is still running strong after the $8,000 in repairs needed to get the ole girl to run.

If you are willing to pay some of the higher costing repairs this car will keep on running and runs good. Still Prius proud after 13 years of ownership. This car is not garage kept and the paint still looks great and the car runs hard when needed but not often.