NEWB-Interested in 05 Prius with Odd Problem! Need Help!

Hi Guys. I got the Prius picked up and home. I don't know if it told you before but I've never seen the car before due to distance. Just saw online facebook pics which I posted here. The good news is that I hooked up my jump pack and the car's power lit up, though very dim. I was able to get it into Neutral with no problem. We got it loaded on the tow truck with no problem and got it unloaded with no problem. That's where the good news ends. The seller said in her ad that the car had the red triangle on and the check engine light on and that it wouldn't start. When I talked to her on the phone, she said she was driving and then the check engine light and red triangle light came on and then it stalled. With my jump pack on it, I cannot get it to say "ready" so obviously I can't start it. I can not get the red triangle to come on. I am waiting for my bluetooth OBDII scanner to come in the mail. When I first turned on the 12V jump pack, the display screen showed the hybrid battery at like 4 or 5 bars. Car has just shy of 183K. Then I saw a Prius Haynes repair book in the car which is bad sign #1. It looks like someone attempted to fix the problem before? There is no splash protector on the front right tire side, maybe even not the driver side. I didn't look at the driver side. Then the person that met me to give me the key and title told me that others looked at it and must've broke the piece that is shown in the picture. She was upset that the piece was broken. When she said that other people came and looked at the Prius and passed on the $1000 price, that was bad sign #2. As for cosmetics, the inside is dirty but nothing that can't be cleaned with my carpet shampooer. No rips or anything like that. No rust on the car. The front bumper cover looks like it lost all it's clear coat. The piece on the bottom of the bumper cover is missing. It's the piece that is hiding the radiator and the pieces over the foglight holes are missing. She said it was never in a wreck but it either hit an animal or those pieces were taken off to access the car? The rear bumper cover has clearcoat everywhere and needs to be redone. Until yesterday, most tow truck companies wanted around $400 to tow it back to my place. I paid $800 for the car and $200 for the tow. Bad sign #3 was that the tow truck driver told me that he tried to turn the water pump and it wouldn't turn. Maybe he doesn't know about the water pump because he said it didn't have a belt around it. But then he said he saw another belt hooked up above it. Doesn't the Prius only have one belt? Bad sign #4, when I got home and the tow truck started rolling off the flatbed, there was a huge pile of oil laying on the flatbed! Tow truck driver said maybe it's a hose? I don't think I'll get that lucky. Bad sign #5, when I got home, and went to put the car in neutral again to unload it from the tow truck, the hybrid battery said 1 bar, not 4 or 5 like it did when I briefly put it in neutral to load it onto the flatbed. The car came with two regular style keys to unlock the door handle and it came with one fob which looks like it was ran over 20 times and then chewed up by a dog. The car does beep when I insert the fob into the slot, so I'm hoping it will work? But the buttons aren't even pressable I don't think. Maybe I can find a new eBay hollow key fob? I need the outside but maybe my insides will work? So, where to go from here? I don't see a red triangle on the dash but I also can't get the car into "ready" mode so maybe that is why I don't see a red triangle? Maybe it was erased with a dead battery? With my 12V jump pack on it, I tried running my Actron code scanner to see if I could get results because the check engine light is on. It says "no codes". Do any of you know where to start?

 

Thank you for that link! I'm going to "try" to use plastic waterproof epoxy from lock-tite on it, if I can get the two broken clips that hold the busted piece off. The plastic epoxy is good to up to 5500lbs I think. But otherwise I'll get a new piece now that I know what it's called, thanks to you! I figure worst case scenario as far as the engine is concerned, is that it may need a new engine. There is a Prius engine with only 132K on it, just two miles away from my home and my mechanic friend can install it for a reasonable rate. He wants me to bring the Prius to his shop first, to see what really is wrong with it. But a low mileage low price engine only 2 miles away makes me hate to turn it down, even if I don't need it. I have another friend that is knowledgeable on engines but doesn't have the shop to swap an engine. But he is willing to come to my house and look at the Prius without me towing it across town. So that is my next step. Yeah I'm disappointed in a way, but the car is still worth $800. The inside is not that bad and the outside just needs some clear coat work on the bumper covers and that broken piece fixed or replaced. There is always a possibility that it needs a 12V battery, an engine, and still needs a hybrid battery as well. At that point then yeah it probably wasn't a good deal, but at least then I'll have a car with low miles with an ever lower mileage engine, a new 12V battery, and a replaced Hybrid battery. The shop that I can get the engine for $300 also offered me the hybrid battery from the same car with 132K on it. They said I could have the hybrid battery for $300 and they'll guarantee it for one year. And I deal with them a lot and trust them fully. So I think it'll be nice to rescue this car. But I'm sure I'll need help from all the people on this site!

 

@Skibob disappointed wasn't the right word exactly. Yeah I'm bummed out that it has more problems than I was hoping for, but yes you're right. it is a site unseen $800 car. As I've said in this site multiple times, I often buy cars site unseen. That's just the name of the game. And for $800, I could part it out. So yeah I'm bummed that it is rougher than I thought it would be. Can you please follow me to my new thread. I'm getting ready to post a problem that I need help on over there. Thanks!