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New (to me) Prius Intro

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by Cory151, Mar 11, 2012.

  1. Cory151

    Cory151 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    102
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    0
    Location:
    Las Vegas
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Figured Id make my first thread here as i have learned a lot from the wealth of knowledge and perhaps my knowledge and expeirence can help others. The only other Toyota product I have is a 1994 Supra TT converted to a turbonetics big single, AEM standalone, manual shift.

    Just purchased a 2005 genII with 131 k on it for $8,000 here in San Diego. The car fax showed no real issues, I test drove it and it seemed to be fine (BTW why are there so many salvaged cars in Cali?). However, after driving my roommates Gen III for awhile I became a fan of the Bluetooth and back up camera.

    Since the Prius this lady was selling, was a base model with just a CD player, I initially low balled (after the test drive) her on purpose because I wanted to find one with the option package I wanted. To my surprise though rather than tell me to "get lost" she said that she would need to think about it for a day.

    To make a long story short I end up with the car for the above mentioned price. The first thing i did when I got it home was change the trans axle (ATF- WS) fluid and spark plugs with genuine Toyota parts. I also ordered brake component (backordered) as the brakes seem to rattle on the pins whenever I go over bumps while the breaks are not applied. It should be noted that the original owner gave me a PFD file of all the service she had done including getting the ATF "flush and refill" at 63k and it wasn't noted that any special type of ATF was used . Uh oh, I thought, but after seeing the fluid and the drain plug I now assume its probably more important to get that break in oil out of there ASAP that the type of ATF used to replace it. But I may be wrong.

    The next day my Optima Battery showed up thankfully as my battery has been showing between 12.1-11.4, so I load tested it with my trusty $15 Harbor Freight tester and it was showing week. Basically, when i would get in my car after setting for awhile I would have the 2 purple bars and the motor seemed like it was taking forever to get the traction batt charged. That issue seems to be resolved and my traction battery now maintains a much more even charge instead of bouncing around at
    extremes.

    Last night i cleaned out the traction battery cooling fan and man am I glad I did as there was a massive hairball in it. It took me awhile to get it all out even after the main hunk was removed. Ill have to come up with a better way to remove the oil, dust, and dirt that had accumulated.

    Here is the hunk I pulled out

    ****Love to share but it said I need more posts to post pics, oh well***


    This is after about a 1/2 hour of cleaning
     
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    congrats, all the best!
     
  3. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    772
    95
    0
    Location:
    Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    no law against low balling someone, I was bored with my blue 2005 prius so I saw an ad out for a black 2004 fully loaded with 41K miles last fall, I offered $10,000 and it was accepted, I couldn't get to the bank to have the check cut any faster. Now i have 2 prius, or prii maybe?

    prices on prius are on the rise due to speculation of huge gas prices this summer, and used prius always sell for higher amount on the west coast so congrats on the good deal, don't order any brake parts yet, find a reputable shop and pay them to lube the front caliper slides and clean the rear drum of brake dust, they'll do that for around $30 and be more than happy to tell you how many mm is left on the front brake pads and rear shoes. But more importantly ask them to show you how rusty the front rotors are. with regen braking a good prius driver almost never uses the brakes, so rust accumulates on those unused front rotors, an honest shop will tell you if the rest level is acceptable or if they need to be replaced. I know carbon ceramic won't rust, but only super exotic cars and race cars can afford them, I've yet to see aluminum rotors for sale, but if they do exist and cost extra it would be worth it in my opinion.

    The car is overdue for spark plugs and serpentine belt, maybe a pcv valve, other common failures include wheel bearings and HID bulbs (if you have them which it sounds like you may not)

    welcome to priuschat and prius ownership, it appears this is your first post but you've been very smart about reading other posts, just in case you missed it here are some big no no's:

    don't let anyone not very familiar with prius jumpstart your car
    don't ever jump start any other car, unless she's super hot and actually says, "I'll do anything for a jump start . . . anything."
    try to add gas before the last pip starts blinking
    when the car shuts off the gas pump, don't top it off!!
    if something weird happens, don't panic, its probably the fault of the 12V battery (won't apply to you once that new optima is installed)

    if another prius owner waves at you, wave back . . . or else we'll hunt you down and . . .
     
  4. cnschult

    cnschult Active Member

    Joined:
    Jan 9, 2008
    772
    95
    0
    Location:
    Michigan
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    . . . keep waving at you until you wave back.

    oh try to add Chevron gas, your car will run cleaner, last longer and you will get the most mpg with Chevron, if Chevron is unavail like here in Michigan than you have to go to toptiergas.com to find suitable alternatives, Shell is also very good.
     
  5. Cory151

    Cory151 Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2012
    102
    27
    0
    Location:
    Las Vegas
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    All great info, thanks. I try and get most of my fuel from all the military installations around here as they are consistently the cheapest by a decent margin.

    Oh and i opted not to change the belt simply because it had good tension, no cracks and only has to turn a very small water pump (and turns it less often than any other vehicle). Now that I think of it I haven't had a belt snap on me in probably 15 years?