Prius has been sitting for 5 years

welcome! wow. i would be very concerned about the hybrid battery. that's a $3-4000. hit. even if they can charge it up and get it running, there's probably no way to know the extent of damage to battery life.

prius are so cheap, i would want to pick this one up for a song. all the best!

 

It's under warranty, I would buy it

 

good point. you have 8 years from the in service date on hybrid components. but if it ran for another 3 years and then died, that would be a problem.

 

Well in TN you get 8-yr 100k miles warranty on Hybrid components including HV battery.

OK ...like minds posted in the meantime

 

I don't think you should buy it.
It sounds horrendous.
If you buy it you will definitely be maimed or injured.

Oh, and could you please send me all the contact information for this car.
No reason. Nope none at all. Nothing to see here.

Seriously, though. There are concerns about some of it, some of which you touched on. But nothing that can't be overcome if the price is right.
I would be sure to change oil and the gas.
The brakes may drag a bit from sitting so long.
The dealer should be able to do a pre purchase inspection. It would be worth the cost.

 

OP: pleas keep as posted. we would like to know if the traction battery can be revived from that deep hibernation. i personally doubt it, especially considering the hot climate it was subjected to.

 

Sitting idle for 5 years might void the warranty. Either way, unless diligent storage techniques were used (likely they were not) so many systems will be toast.

 

I can't remember ever reading that clause about sitting idle. But still, nobody has to disclose anything about how it failed. We are just assuming it's failed right? The 12v for sure, but the HV? I'd like to know for sure!

 

The A/C might be knackered, seals failed. Maybe.



Yes, yes! My Fuelly Icon FINALLY got down to 4.9.

We're doing tank after tank around 4.5~4.8, but chiselling away at big debt. My spreadsheet still puts the running average at 4.952, but I'm not going to argue.

 

5 years shouldn't kill the AC. Maybe there's an extended warranty in place? Actually this car would only be worth it if it was garaged for the 5 years. Out in the open......maybe not worth it.

 

Tires would be likely be toast, pushing it for age, and flat spotted. Or just flat, lol.

 

When you say "it does not start", does that mean it won't even start after attaching a start-help to the car? I mean: the battery is probably flat, but that is an easy fix. What does the car do when you hook up a proper 12V source?

 

Here's what I would do, trying to keep things cheap:

Put a new 12 V battery in, don't buy a great one, just enough to test the vehicle & try starting it. Borrow one temporarily from another vehicle & make sure the connections are made correctly. Prii just use the 12 V battery to start up the electronics and engage the traction battery.

Drain the oil & put new oil in with a new filter.

Probably the biggest problem will be fuel deterioration causing flow problems & injector clogs.

Drain or pump as much of the old fuel out as possible, put fresh gas in with a can of Berryman B12 chemtool. Disconnect the fuel line at the fuel rail & arrange for the hose output to go into a gallon bucket. Getting to the hose connection may be a challenge, as it's on the back of the block on the right end as you look at the engine. With the new 12V source, try starting the vehicle & flush a gallon or more of fresh gas thru the fuel system. Shut down & reconnect the fuel line to the fuel injector rail and try staring the engine again. See what lights show up on the dash, and if it starts & runs, see if the traction battery will charge based on the dashboard gauge. You'll get a "check engine" light just because the fuel line wasn't connected when the engine was started. Also, trying to start the engine with new oil but with the fuel line disconnected means new oil will flow thru the engine & lube everything before actually running the engine.

If you can rent an OBDII reader or drive carefully to a nearby car parts store (assuming you get it running!) that will read the codes for free, you can look up the codes on-line & get a decent assessment of the vehicle's condition before taking it to a dealership & paying big $$ for the same information.

The disc brake rotors could be corroded so the brakes may be very noisy when stopping. The tires probably have flat spots, so driving will be bumpy & noisy. The fuel injectors may be partially plugged from old fuel varnish so the engine will run rough. If the vehicle & traction battery are basically OK, have ALL the fluids replaced, including the cooling, brake fluid and transaxle fluid. I'd change the oil again as well.

If the traction battery is knackered, you can get used traction batteries for about $2k or have the traction battery rebuilt. Look on eBay.

 

JiminTN,
I should have mentioned that I'd be happy to talk to you via phone if you have any questions or just want to bounce ideas around.
I'll be passing through TN in a couple weeks.

 

Other than the "normal" things, have the Dealership perform a hybrid battery health check like they do in Europe.

 

There was no load on the traction battery, so it is probably fine, though may be discharged. It won't be damaged by sitting discharged.

You will need a new 12V lead acid battery. It's a "special" one, and will cost in the area of $250. Easy to change, once you get into the hatch area (it's under the hatch floor on the right, behind the rear wheel). You can get into the hatch area using the emergency hatch release or by putting 12V DC (get the polarity right!!) on the "boost terminal" in the fuse box under the hood. You can tell what it is because it has a red "flip up" plastic cover over it. Apply the positive 12V there and the negative to any chassis metal you can get at. The current won't be high so don't worry about that. You can use an "alarm battery" if you have access to one, or just another vehicle.

Note that the engine won't start if the traction battery is too far discharged. But at least the 12V will let you know if that is true. The 12V powers up the computers and allows them to close the relay in the traction battery assembly, which then powers up the high voltage part of the car.

So the order of action would be:- I would get the old fuel out of the car and add some fresh stuff -before- anything else, because -if- there is enough charge in the traction battery to turn over the engine there will probably be only enough to do it once or twice. Then do the 12V battery to see if the traction battery is indeed too low to crank over the engine. You will know right away if it can't. You will get lots of warnings. Don't panic. It will be expensive, but the traction battery can be charged back up by the dealer. It may take a few days for them to get the charger and tech in. I would expect to be charged around $500 for that, maybe more.

Good luck!

 

I wonder how practical it is to drain the gas. Isn't it nigh impossible to get a tube down the filler neck?

And if it starts up, for sure trying running the AC, see if it's still viable, or has lost it's charge.

Brakes: see if you can roll for starts, lol. Then try the brakes, they'll likely be noisy at first. And see if the parking brake functions.

Why am I thinking of the "tin man"?

 

Might want to have dealer drain fuel as I think its hard to do. The main thing I think there could be water in there after all the years. Any moisture will tend to magnify as free water will pull the ethanol out of the fuel. Just had this issue with my lawn mower.