Want to Ck OUT a 2003, but Im SO new, I need Experts

Greg, did you get the car? Tell us all about it.

 

It should show multiversions of Techstream. I believe I clicked on the latest one and it went into an installation wizard--YMMV. If there's a video with on the disc, you'll need to run that to know the ins & outs of installing and setting it up. The video on mine ran SO fast. There is a speed control, but I had to also take it one step at a time--going back and watching several times to get the individual steps correct.

Not all of these pirated disks are the same. Mine had errors that came up as virii and XP wouldn't access those files. All the keys and things are on the disk, it just takes patience to get it all to work.

It won't hurt anything to try to start the car. If the HV battery is below a certain voltage, it just won't turn the ICE over.

I have the Prolong grid charger and last week the red triangle of death came on. The cable and techstream helped me to track down a couple of disconnected fan wires. Nice!

 

Got my fingers crossed!

 

Probably best to let this one pass. $1200 is about a grand more than it's worth. HV battery pack alone is between $1500 & $2500 plus installation. Dealer installation of Toyota HV batteries comes with a 3 year warranty.. The o2 sensor is probably affordable, but a cat. will run about $1000. Do it all and you still have a 14 or 15 year old car with all the wear and tear and cosmetic problems.

Expand your search to include 2nd gen Prii as well I love my little gen 1, it's one of the nicest cars I've owned, but there were definite improvements when Toyota designed the '04 and later cars.

 

Good call on bailing out gkalexdc.
There will be other options

Take the time to get techstream up and running correctly. It will be worth it.

 

Replacing inverter and hv ecu will not have any impact on the immobilizer.
You should not run into any problems with the immobilizer if you buy those components used.

If you plan on owning a Gen 1 Prius, invest in diagnostic tools so you aren't blindly guessing on issues when they come up.

You will get much more help if you have the diagnostic codes to help guide any problem analysis.

 

This guy says he got a quote of $4500 or so. Replacing the Inverter Assembly on a 2002 1st Gen Prius « Russ' Do It Yourself Home Workshop

Looks like a lot of work, tho nothing too tough. Just lots of steps. If you can find the parts used and do it yourself, it might be worth buying and fixing. With the newish batteries, it's a high end parts car, so the better you can do on the price, etc. I'd probably run up to Austin and have a look, and see what you can work out. It wouldn't be too heartbreaking if you got it for about $1000 (even) and had to invest money in some used parts (if you can find them) and time to install them.

Dealer service departments aren't going to install used parts you bring them. And they'll probably hit you for full list on new ones.

 

$4,500. Yipes!

Would be nice if you could get them, or an independent shop to put in a used inverter.
Let's say under $500 for a used inverter; under $300 for a high voltage ECU.

Then you just need someone to do the labor.
At $100/hr for labor, there is no way it would take the 37 hours needed to come up to $4,500 in cost.

 

Yes, I agree. I looked at Camelback, msrp for the inverter assembly is $4076, their price is $3483! One can find a used inverter assembly on Ebay for $200 to $300. For me, because I work kinda slow, it would probably take about a day. I was suggesting that sending the car to a dealer probably would not be realistic. I probably would buy it, but would tow it home on a dolly or a trailer behind my truck. He was originally looking for a project car, I believe.

 

A dolly will do, imho. I believe that the rear wheels are fairly stand front wheel drive. No worries about drive train and the brakes are just conventional drum brakes. Shouldn't even need to put it in neutral. Good luck, send pics when you get it home.

You'll find that the learning curve isn't much steeper than other cars, tho probably your tesla has a steeper learning curve. Are there Gen 1's in the local junk yards there? My local pick and pull type yard has had two, alas, they recently crushed 'em both. For what your parts list may cost, it might not be a bad idea to revisit that other Gen 1 you looked at. As a parts car. (If you have space enough on your property.) They may be getting more motivated to accept parts car level money.