Replace 2006 batteries, ECU, and/or engine?

One thing I am glad of is that I have another vehicle to drive while my Prius sat in the garage. Even though it gets 13.5 mpg, it at least gave me time to scour through this and other websites learning more about my Gen II than I ever wanted to know. Before this adventure, I had never done any maintenance on this car myself. I had always taken it to the dealerships for maintenance, or NTB for tires or brakes.
Now, I will never take it back to a dealership. I will be doing it all myself from here on out. I just do not trust them, and they charge outrageous rates. My wife drives a 2002 Ford E150 full size van. My other vehicle is a 2000 Dodge Dakota 4x4 quad cab. And my Prius is a 2006.
I learned years ago that you can save lots of money by maintaining your vehicles yourself, and as long as they are reliable and in good condition, they will last a long time. We have money to buy new cars, but we choose to keep our old ones running as best as I can.

The Internet and this forum have been the best things that can happen to a Prius owner. We have everything at our fingertips plus the experience of all the thousands of fellow Prius owners to help out. There is never a loss of replys on this site, and I personally appreciate all those replys, because they helped me figure out how to do the repairs on my Gen II myself.
I did not need much support from you guys after I got started, and most of the time only, I only posted updates. But I always knew you were there if I ran into problems.
Thanks!

 

My thoughts exactly. I am an electrical engineer, but am also mechanically inclined. These past 10 years or do, I realized that I am probably more intelligent than most of those guys and gals that work on anything I own, so I get the tools and books I need, and do most everything myself, on my vehicles or my house.
I am just not as young and fit as I used to be, and it is getting more difficult to crawl, climb, bend, and fit in most places where I could have got to in my younger years. I am sure many of you are getting there yourselves, too.

 

This is my first attempt at posting pictures, so it may take a few trys to get it right.
The first shows the air bag removed from the steering wheel.
The next is the steering wheel and clock-spring removed.
The last shows the steering wheel control buttons removed from the steering wheel.
I still have my old steering wheel, so I can get better or different photos if you need.
There have been many posts on changing out the clock spring, so I won't repost them here. You probably won't need to replace it if your controls are not working on just the right side. As you can see from the last picture, the wiring from the right side controls plugs into the circuit board on the left side and the left one then plugs into the clock-spring. If you are lucky, just the wire harness is unplugged or loose from the left controls, that come from the right controls.
First and foremost - safety. Be sure to disable your batteries at least 30 minutes before attempting to remove the steering wheel air bag.
You will need a metric steering wheel puller or a metric threaded puller of some type to get the steering wheel off (the first time). I picked up a cheap set at Harbor Freight that worked just fine.
Let me know what you need help with and I will post just that info and photos. I have seen just the steering controls on the internet for $35, but I managed to get a fully equipped used Prius steering wheel for $75, which was a good deal.

 

I uploaded photos of the engine swap to my profile page.
PriusChat Forums - Hybrid_Tom's Album: 2006 ICE Replacement

 

1. The concrete blocks are the type used for piers under a house's foundation, and are much stronger than the type bought at garden centers.

2. It's hard to say for sure, but probably about 80k miles on the replacement engine. I inspected the cam shafts and timing chain, they were in good condition. The valve cover and beneath were really clean. I was taking a chance with the engine of unknown background, that hopefully will pay off by lasting a long time. I did check the engine VIN number on the Toyota website for maintenance and found out the dealership had been changing the oil with synthetic, so I know it was taken care of for a while. But if not, I have my old engine that I may attempt to overhaul and learn more about the inner workings of the engine.

3. Replaced the plugs, PCV valve, oil, oil filter, air filter, transmission fluid, all coolant in inverter and gas engine, serpentine belt and coolant pump as you stated. Also cleaned and replaced CV joint lubrication on both inner CV joints, and put on new CV joint boot clamps (my first time with CV joints as well). I did reuse my old intake manifold an fuel injectors and fuel rail, as the replacement engine fuel line still had some old gas left in it that smelled like it had varnished, and could be dirty. And I knew my old one was working before removing it and had good fuel in it. I also cleaned the manifold and throttle body while it was easy to access. Since I was there, and my old one leaked, I also replaced the rear main seal. Not knowing if this one was bad, I didn't take the chance. The engine had been cleaned, but it looked like the rear main cold have been leaking.

4. It was all removed as one assembly. Not sure if it would have been easier removing transaxle first, then ICE. It was difficult to balance the assembly level upon removal and installation, as the transaxle/electric motors were much heavier than gas engine and there was not good information available on where to lift the assembly so it would be balanced, along with not having many places to lift from. It was probably easier the way I did it, because I only had to lower one assembly, and did not have to worry about supporting the ICE while the transaxle was being lowered. I also did not want to separate the two units while in the car. I did not know how far the transaxle shaft fit into the dampener, and did not want to pull it at possibly the wrong angle. When on the ground, I found out it takes a little over 1" to separate the ICE from the transaxle.

5. I have driven it about 250 miles with no drivability issues. I took it in today to have my tires balanced and rotated, and checked front end alignment, and it was still good.

6. I am averaging around 41 mpg, and very pleased with the results.

7. At this time, and in my amazement, I feel the HV battery does not need to be replaced. Seems to charge and last better than before, along with great gas mileage. I put the back seat and all interior back together the past couple of days. I could have sworn the battery was going to have to be replaced, after the tests and the way it was driving before the swap. I guess the ICE was the cause of the poor gas mileage after all. The initial root of the problems was the 12 volt battery was bad, causing the HV battery voltage to swing rapidly from charge to discharge and made the HV battery appear to be bad. Surely just my cleaning of the battery jumper bars did not solely make the HV battery good again.