[lilah95]

This is my first post. I have a 2003 golden pearl Toyota Prius. I had it specialty painted with blue pearl ghost flames across it's nose 3 days after I bought it. I love it and I have never had any problems with it untill today. I went to start it and go to work as I always do, and it sounded like there was a bunch of rocks stuck in the gears. It was a horrifing noise. My baby then shut down and gave me all sorts of lights warnings and exclamation points. I had it towed to the dealer and they said it needed a whole lot of parts. I could not talk to the mechanic because he had already left by the time I called. The dummy service advisor knows nothing of this car. Has anyone experienced this? I am afraid the engine seized or something worse. Is there any defects other than the crappy tires?

 

[RSnyder]

There are plenty of rapidly spinning things under the hood (though not as many as in other cars). I would guess a mechanical failure due to manufacturing defect, shipping damage, or road hazard. Hope for one of the first two so that it's covered by the warranty. Your service advisor may not have known the details (that's what the mechanic is for), but should at least know whether it's covered by the warranty (most likely is).
Good luck on the repairs.

 

[lilah95]

Warranty

It is all covered by the warranty. I know this much, but I was wondering if the was an unknown posible recall that others have had happen to them? I have owned my prius for almost 2 years. I only had problems with the tires. (Which has nothing to do with toyota) I would consider trading in my 03 for an 05 if this problem will permantly ruin my car.

 

[lilah95]

I finally got to talk to the mechanic. He says this is not the first he has heard of this in the 2003 prius. They had to replace the whole gas tank, a relay and the engines computer. Yikes! Thats a bit pricey! Thank goodness this thing has a warranty (and I bought the extended one because of all the fandangle gadgety things on it!) The computer alone is approx. $1800 just for the part.

My car has about 23,000 on it . I bought it 1/31/03.

keep this in mind if you are looking into a used one. Get the stupid warranty. It will pay for itself in the first repair.

 

[moocatdog]

I finally got to talk to the mechanic. He says this is not the first he has heard of this in the 2003 prius. They had to replace the whole gas tank, a relay and the engines computer.

Good luck with the repairs. I'd be curious to learn what it was that was making the "rocks in the gears" noises.
Drive happy,
Moo