In another Prius thread it was recently commented that the cargo shade gets in the way. I commented that there is a dedicated storage spot for the shade in the lower trunk. Attached are pictures of that:
There's also a folding little kick stand that keeps the trunk floor propped up.
Way back on page 9 of this thread, on Feb 28, 2020 I bought P5 (my 5th Prius.)
It started like this:
It quickly and easily became this:
At the time I bought it, I had 4 Prius and acquired two more after it. I've sold off all but two Prius now. The '08 w/208k that I DD and this '04 w/160k that I have just been keeping around. Some of the others were easier sales but I kept this one around because its very nice.
Lots of change is afoot. This is my current fleet. I DD the green one, P2. The silver, P5, just sits there as an extra car and a spare. I could have sold it while prices were super crazy but with so little into it, I have kept it as a spare since I could never buy another so cheaply.
The Gov't Mule might be sold soon too. Part of the changes are that 6 months ago I took another job. A route sales position. With that, a 2019 GMC 2500 van comes home with me every night.
I call the green Prius my DD'er but the reality is that I'm pretty much only driving my own car on the weekends since the company van comes home with me every night. Zero work commuting in my personal vehicle is a nice perk.
P5 is gonna need a new 12v battery. The one it came with is just not recovering after years off the road. I shopped high an low for a good price on a Prius battery. No surprise, they have gone up in price in the recent years. Last time I bought a Prius 12v was 2019 for about $150 via Amazon for an Optima. Today, Amazon is $289 for the same Optima.
This time around, the cheapest was a AC Delco model from RockAuto for $168.59 all in which includes shipping cost and core charge of $11 that I'll never really get back from RA (because you have to pay shipping to send it back to RA.)
So, then the delema... In P2 the 12v battery works great. Upon inspection I see that the Optima is from Nov 2016 (5yrs 3 mo ago.) I went with the decision to take the Optima out of P2 and put it in P5 thereby giving my DDer the newer battery. Sure, the Optima could go 3 more years. Sure, the AC Delco could be dead in 3 more years. Who knows?
I like to use a Sharpie to write an install date on my batteries.
I'm glad to discover that the trunk battery well of both cars (P2 shown) is clean, dry and rust free.
Congrats on the new job John! Wish you all the best.
BBC
What else to sell P5...
From sound, I can hear that it has a bad RF wheel bearing. Front wheel bearings are very common in Gen2 Prius. The bearing is bad enough that it has caused the ABS and traction lights to come on. $100 part and $250 install = $350. Due to time constraints, I'll just pay the man!
P5 is sitting on crappy tires. Over the years I have bought 5 sets of Falken 201's from Tirebuyer and been happy with them. Along the way, one tire was covered by road hazard. I'll admit that it took TireBuyer a long time to cover the claim but they did. They offered me $68 (what the tires cost when I bought it) or a free tire. Since retail of the tires is now $82 I took the free tire and it is here in my garage, unmounted. The tires on P2 will be good for another year. I'm gonna move those tires over to P5 and get 3 more Falken 201's to have a full set of new for P2, my DDer.
I'll be down to just one Prius but it will have a new 12v battery and 4 new tires.
Part of my dilemma was which to keep:
2008 w/ 208k
or
2004 w/ 160k
For starters, miles don't seem to matter on these Prius. Is 4 years newer better than 48k less miles? A lot of my decision was that I have owned P2 since March of 2018 (5 years) and I know its history since then.
In reply to John Welsh :
I'd keep newer with higher miles because electronics have seen 4 years less thermal extremes
Congrats on the new job! I hope it works out well for you!
John you seem to be the resident Prius expert, how many miles is too many for a used one? My son was looking at a cheap one to get back and forth for work since his 4runner is eating him on gas. There is a local one for cheap with 260k miles on it that he can pick up for around $2400.
In reply to Placemotorsports :
Our own Indy Guy just did a bonsai run of 18 hours with 269k
The 260k is not too much but like any car purchase, updated maintenance is important.
Feel free to post or send me the listing and I'll tell you what I see... Jwelsh02... yahoo...
In reply to Placemotorsports & John Welsch:
Here are links to my Priuii threads. I now own 3:
1st: Voyager has ~240k miles
2nd: Delta (Double Dose) has ~269k miles
3rd: The Tribble has ~198k miles
I recently learned and performed maintanence on the high voltage battery systems. It's relatively easy and fairly cheap to DIY. At ~260k miles it'll be due soon if it hasn't already been addressed. As John indicated, over the weekend I just used the highest mileage Prius I own (@ 269k) for a 1000 mile plus round trip. I didn't even hesitate for a single second to take it that far. That should reveal to you, my level of confidence in high mileage Priuii.
John sent you the link, it's actually 275k miles on it
Question for John ,
If there is a Prius with a bad EV battery , will it drive only on the ICE motor until you fixed the EV battery ?
and if so will it drive at Highway speed or Limp mode ?
this is assuming the the 12v battery is good .
Thanks for the info.
In reply to californiamilleghia :
On these Gen2 Prius (04-09) it seems that both gas and battery have to both work to move more than just a few miles.
Admittedly, I have not tried driving one as gas only.
This happened yesterday. My DD, P2 turned 209k.
Oil was changed 9 months ago at 200k.
4 new tires mounted to P2, my DD, today at 209,650
Another set of Falken 201's. Probably the 5th pair of that brand model I've bought for the fleet over the years.
P2's old tires/wheels have been added to P5 which will be sold soon.
EDIT:
Today is July 9, 2023 and this morning I changed the oil on P2, my DD at 210,500. Generally 500 miles over due as I change at 10k intervals, on the 10's. Genuine Toyota Filter and 100% synthetic oil (though it was Walmart Brand.) I often use discount brand full synthetics.
Time for an update after long delay...
Earlier in this page, back in Feb of '23 I talked about selling P5. My fleet is just P2, my DD and P5. I've been keeping P5 around because I have so little into it (just under $2k) that I have been not sure if I can replace it for equally cheap. P2 has 212k and P5 has nearly 160k. My fear has been that if I sell the spare P5, I will then need it or P2 will get in a wreck the following week. I also hedge my bet on "old cars" that keeping a second one around it the recipe for "reliability. Is the combination of two $4k car in the driveway more reliable than having one $8k car in the driveway?
So, as you can imagine, P5 just mostly sits, not getting driven. This fall I discover than I have a set of chipmunks living underhood of the Prius. This discovery included an odd sound underhood after a relatively long drive. I opened the hood in a parking lot and a chipmunk scurried out. Scared the hell out of me! But, he wasnt the only one as the noise continued but lesser on the drive home where another escaped. Now im fearing the worse of chewed wiring. Nothing is immediately evident. But, this does lead me to the realization that this car really should be sold down the road.
I decide that step one of this sale should be to have the car detailed. As for the outside its been parked largely under a sappy tree and the interior needs general freshening of a car that has a "stale" interior.
Other problems with the car are that it rides on worn tires. They are actually P2's old tires/wheels and I bought fresh tires for P2. The radio only plays out of one speaker. Maybe a factory radio problem, maybe a speaker problem. Net result, a new radio and fresh speakers would be the wise action.
I make an appointment with a detailer that I have not used before and mention that I want to freshen the car so as to put it up for sale. Upon arrival the conversation quickly turns to, "how much do you want for it...girlfriend needs a winter car?"
Net result, I sold P5 for $4k.
Keep in mind this is a car with a salvage title, needs tires ($400) and needs radio/speakers ($400) and I was going to spend $200 on a detail = $1k
Even if I avoided those repairs I figured I'd ask $4,500 and settle for $4k.
Not bad for a car that I have less than $2k into and has been my safety backup car for a few years.
TLDR: fearing chipmunk damage I actually moved to sell this car and then selling it was so easy I never even had to list it or prep it for sale!
Foreshadowing: One week later, I bought another auction/salvage Prius
P8
The ugly clean car.
My early tip off was the sticker on the front bumper and rear as well. This is the California HOV lane sticker for hybrids.
California titled car at Cleveland, OH auction.
My hypothesis. During cross country trek and traveling through metro Cleveland, this CA car hit something in the road, popped a tire and swiped a jersey barrier. The traveler continued on in a rental car and this Prius ended up at a Cleveland auction.
What I hope to have here then is a car capable of cross country trek (up to date maintenance) and California rust free!
Tires are less that 2 years from build date and look nearly new. 12v battery manufactured 3/22. Hybrid battery is from LA based refurb company.
The ugly... The clear coat is heavily sun damaged. The car was given a "clear bra" probably by the selling dealer and nearly two decades later is horribly spider webbed. The clear bra was "all the options" including half hood, full bumper cover and even the headlamps. All look like E36 M3 now. Added bonus of E36 M3, the other half of the hood is a clear coat disaster.
To get back to road legal the car needs fender and door. Via car-part, one hour away is a fender and door of the same color from one car asking $75 fender and $100 door. Will need a plastic inner fender liner that I'll try to get thrown in...a $20 value.
That will make it legal. From there if I want to make it pretty then $150 hood, $150 bumper cover, $100 pair of headlamps =$400 more.
Expect the roof which is sun damaged to get white vinyl ala Mini Cooper ~ $50
One strong contingency plan here is to keep this rust free car and make it my DDer.
2005 w/202k
$723 purchase price ($425 bid) and $112 delivery = $835 all in, so far. I think I can have it legal for $1,100
Theoretical retail of $4,500 upon completion leaves ample room.
Because this board is so excited about these (and in part due to my fascination in reading your really informative posts) I've been passively looking at these things on FB MP. It's shocking how much very high miles cars bring!
Good luck on this one-sure seems that it's repairs are well inside your wheelhouse!
Congrats, so much prius love here. I bought a project one too, decatted 08 with a bad abs pump. Everything is on order, will start putting it together next week. Total investment so far is about 1500.
In reply to porschenut :
I have not done an abs pump. I actually had one go bad and sold the car.
Please share what you learn or at least link to the videos you find helpful.
Thanks.
In reply to porschenut :
Sending you a PM about the ABS Pump.
In reply to John Welsh :
Nice Score! Did it turn out to be as rust free as you had hoped for ? Let me know if you need any other parts for it. I have a source 
In reply to Indy - Guy :
Are you sitting on clean burgundy body panels from a 2004 or 2005?
In reply to John Welsh :
Burgundy, yes. Clean, no.
In reply to Indy - Guy :
That car looks just like my current driver. I call it sunburn.
Think we need a forum just for prius stuff.
I would like the info on the abs pump as well. I think the one on my wife's 06 is going out. The pump runs about every 10 seconds. It has only thrown a light one time, but I'm sure an abs unit is in it's future
Hey John, I'm deciding which of two to rebuild with the other as a parts car. One has no key. Have you ever had a key made or swapped the transponder module and smart key from another car?
I'm thinking that paying a few hundred $$$ to a locksmith might be better than pulling 2 dashboards apart.
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