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Moving Prius from USA to Europe/Spain

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by Lina postmyr, Jan 2, 2019.

  1. Lina postmyr

    Lina postmyr New Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2018
    1
    0
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    Location:
    Barcelona
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    ----USA----
    Hej to all clever Prius owners and Happy New Year! I own a 2004 Prius, since it was new. I have been happy happy happy throughout and made a mistake of brining my beauty to Barcelona, Spain in September of 2018. There has been nothing but trouble since, and getting worse.
    Nothing is that same in a US car as inEurope, it turns out. I had to add fog lights, change all the light fixtures and covers and then they said the car is too heavy to carry 5 passengers... We managed to cross all these hurdles with patience and a bit of empttying and then putting back some items in the car - for the second weigh -in.
    Then started the real nightmare...I went to buy a CD with Europe instead of the US for the built in GPS. At a Toyota dealership. They took out the CD (first time ever removed), and when awe came to put the new CD in , it got stuck. I was charged 400 Euroes to fix the broken (by them) CD player eject button, and once fixed, the dealership said - oh, the format is different... I had of course asked if format mattered and if it was going to work the first time I went to the dealership, to order the new CD!..
    During the process of repairing the CD player, the car had the warning triangle on, and when we asked - the dealership said "don't worry, its just on because parts of the electric system is detached with the CD player". We kept driving and the car atarted acting strange, loosing power, but unevenly. I took it back fro diagnostics and was told 2 cells (8&9) in the (just refurbished!) battery were blown. Learned that this happens when the Voltage surges.
    My question, and pardon the long story to get here, is - did this happen wheel part pdf the electrical system was unplugged while they were fixing the CD player?
    This dealership is not helpful and has lots of angry clients, so I need to have proper ammunition when I go back with this theory.
    Right before we took the car in, we had a day trip up the coast, about 2 hours each direction with no problems.

    Also, where do I turn for higher up Toyota help? There must be a higher place to go?

    Than you!
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,784
    48,990
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    welcome!

    sorry to hear about your troubles.

    how many miles on her? sometimes and old battery that sits for awhile will have a few cells go out of balance.

    might be worth testing the 12v health first

    in the u.s., toyota has a customer service call center. the number is in the manual. see if you can find one for spain. maybe on the net?

    all the best!(y)
     
  3. Prodigyplace

    Prodigyplace Senior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2016
    11,696
    11,317
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    Location:
    Central Virginia
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    You say the battery was refurbished. That is just fancy talk for an old “repaired “ battery. There is a reason Toyota only sells new batteries for the Prius. If the refurbished battery is bad I doubt you will get much help from Toyota. People have had just months old refurbished batteries due.
     
    valde3 likes this.