Things that start to fail on an 8 year old Prius...

Around 8 years ago (10/25/2003) we took delivery of our 2004 Prius. It now has 125k miles on it, and some parts are now failing with "age".

Wife reported a few days ago that the CD Changer no longer works (it's not ejecting or moving discs).

Took the car in today for an emissions test and to my surprise, it actually FAILED due to a gas cap that couldn't maintain pressure. Was an easy $14 fix for a 3rd party cap (no tether), but something to watch for as the car ages.

After coming home from the test, I noticed another part that needs replacing. After sitting in the hot desert sun off and on, the side window trim is now cracking and tearing. All 4 side windows, the exterior lower strip of trim that "seals" up against the window to reduce water entering the interior of the door are tearing or torn. Anyone have any ideas what this trim is called? I started to look up replacement parts and the illustrations at most "Toyota Parts" sites are vague at best as to where the part sits and what it's really called - strip, belt, etc. I know it's not the inner surround.

Lastly, of course, a good portion of those "lovely" plastic clips for lower body panels are gone. That's just expected with age I suppose.

Anyone else have some age-related items happening on their older 2nd Gen models?

 

That someone was me ;-)

I replaced one fog light housing due to a rock impact and then "made" mesh grilles to cover them to prevent that from happening again.

Bisque interior on ours is stained, but my wife is not so good at preventing the kids from "eating" in the car, and the spills/stains are there to prove it. It's well used. Some attention w/ a carpet shampooer has helped, but it needs more since some of the soda spills soaked into the foam.

The clear-coat is starting to craze/peel on the plastic trim just below the lower rear hatch glass (just above the Toyota emblem).

We can't seem to keep the rear cup-holder in place - the entire rear assembly pops out with heavy drinks - likely due to weakened clips.

Brakes are still original with a TON of life left on them. I replaced the struts somewhere around 95k miles - they needed it as the rears were leaking.

I thought mileage was suffering, however a recent highway trip shows 48mpg still. HV battery does seem to drain a bit easier, and the car is hesitant when it's really hot out (delay in battery power I suspect).

I thought I heard a CV joint crackling today, but it might just be a strut bushing that may not have been replaced when they did struts (they didn't replace the strut boots either and they're torn).

 

I found that I have to "bend" the spring that pushes the door out back into place every so often so that it will pop upon release. Same goes with my 2010 though.

 

Good points Evan:

- Dash warped and glove box won't stay open here too. Cause is springs that break out of the upper glove box and press up against the dash.
- Valve train is a bit noisy on the ICE - I'm sure it could stand some clearance adjustment, but it requires the use of custom-sized shims which makes it a multi-day job or a dealer job ($$$)
- I've noticed the hatch release can take multiple times, but that doesn't really get much better in the 2010.
- Same goes for the FOB response - battery has something to do w/ it, but it seems lately that new batteries aren't as helpful either.

- Water pumps (both inverter and ICE) have been replaced at 101k and 123k miles respectively.

 

My wife drives it mostly - I do recall it on occasion. I should pay more attention, or add an Xgauge to my scangauge (sits in my 2010 usually) to see what the batt temps are sitting at. Of course, we're starting to cool off, so who knows.

If it is pending failure, wonder if Toyota will be interested in assisting w/ the replacement given the extreme conditions + age (so they can analyze).

 

In our case, an occasional squealing or rubber smell from under the hood as the pump bearings began to bind, causing the belt to slip. There was also pink coolant residue spattering around nearby which indicated that the pump shaft seal was failing.