My wife's prius had the water pump go out. No, no, not THAT water pump, the
separate electrically operated one that cools the inverter that the big
battery feeds. I don't remember what the dealership wanted to fix this
KNOWN problem that should have a been a reacall, but it was over a
thousand. I found some possibly-competent local shops (oxymoron) that would
do it for under a thousand. I found a new pump on ebay for $108 shipped and
that, with a Haynes manual and a saturday morning, did the trick. Oh, and
the dealer did get $40 for a gallon of that orange antifreeze they say that
you have to have.

Jim

On Fri, Sep 20, 2013 at 12:03 PM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> Some of you may recall my rant about the "multi-function display" going
> out in my Toyota Prius, and the exorbitant (extortionist) price for
> replacement ($6.3K new, $2.9K rebuilt).
>
> I got a used unit, allegedly from a low mileage Prius, and to avoid
> possible electronic glitches during installation had a dealer put it in.  I
> paid $175 (including shipping) for the unit, and with a "loyal customer
> discount," got it installed for $99 (one hour labor at $125, discounted).
>  It works, at least for now.
>
> But another thing to irritate the customer (me) popped up.  After I had
> already bought the used unit, but before it was installed, one of the
> dealers I'd spoken with about this called me, and said they had a repair
> program.  They would remove the unit, send it to "the factory," where it
> would be rebuilt, and install it, all for $375.  I certainly would have
> done that.  That option should have been offered up front.  I would have
> had to drive around with a hole in the dash, and be without air
> conditioning (not a trivial thing in Oklahoma in September), heat, and
> audio (or at least their full functions) for ten days or so, but would have
> felt better about a repair with a Toyota warranty than a used unit of an
> electronic component known to be failure prone.
>
> But oh well.  For now, I have a functioning unit.
>
> mcneely
>