Newbie Looking At High Milage Mk2 Prius

[bunglebear]

Hi all ,

Looking at getting a used Prius seen a 2005 model at reasonable price and seller seems like a top bloke from chatting in phone....my concern is it has 153k on clock!!!

I've bought cars with high milage before,with little problems, just wondering how the hybrid system and those HV batts stack up?

Its a leather trim model with all paperwork apparently and the gearbox has allegedly been replaced last year with receipt ....

ANY advice please

TIA

[Dancing Badger]

I'd be a bit concerned about the claim that the gearbox has been replaced - it doesn't have a gearbox, no Prius does. It has what Toyota describe as an eCVT (electric constantly variable transmission) which kind of does the job that a gearbox does in a conventional car (that's an oversimplification - it's a complex and clever system and there are much better descriptions then I could manage knocking around the interwebs if you're interested) but I'd be surprised if that had needed to be replaced. I'd be inclined to ask a few questions of the seller.

[Sagitar]

Might mean that the transaxle has been replaced. Which could be good. But it needs more questions.

[bunglebear]

Thanks guys....

[PeteB]

...it doesn't have a gearbox, no Prius does.

...it's a complex and clever system

...I'd be surprised if that had needed to be replaced

the software to make it work is complex and clever, but mechanically it's remarkably simple with far fewer moving parts than a conventional manual, auto or CVT gearbox.

Essentially, if you think of it as a 'Y', with wheels at the bottom, engine and electric motor/generator either side of the top and a glorified differential in the middle. If one speeds up or slows down, one or both of the others must change to compensate. Nothing slips, engages/disengages, swaps cogs or moves up/down pulleys.

It's actually slightly more complicated because there's a smaller motor/generator effectively attached to the engine to start/govern it.

It's extremely rare for a transaxle (AKA power split device) to fail - I've only heard of one and that was in the early days 13 or 14 years ago. But obviously it's possible. If it has been replaced, I'd want do know it was done by someone who really understands Toyota Hybrid systems if it was me buying it.

[cootuk]

Looking on priuschat, there is a possibility of metal particulates in the transaxle fluid contaminating exposed motor windings

T-SB0306-08 (Oct 3,2008) for Toyota update.

You would think the cost of replacement would be almost the value of the car.

I would delve deeper into this to see what work was actually done. If by Toyota then the records might all be online but certainly available from a friendly dealer.

[PeteB]

My last Gen 1 Prius had done over 163,000 miles when I sold it, still with original transmission fluid.

I discussed changing it with my dealer once or twice, but it was pointed out that Toyota didn't require it ever to be changed and deemed it unnecessary.

However, the chap who bought the car does a lot of work on various Hybrids and changed the fluid himself. He reported back that it was very heavily discoloured (no sign of the original red colour left), but fortunately no significant metallic debris.

On that basis I would probably have it done if my current Prius gets towards 100k.

He did state that my Gen 1 had no transmission whine at all, unlike some Gen 1 & 2 models that had passed 100K, so I guess the jury's out, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. A fluid change costing maybe £60-£100 once every 10 years or so isn't going to drastically affect the overall running cost, whereas a new power split device (transaxle) probably would!