Gen 1 - should I fix it?

The car has had a great life. I would get rid of it. Buy a newer Gen 2 2009 model.


iPhone ?

 

Does it still run? I believe you can drive with those codes depending on what kind of problem it actually is. Those hybrid codes also shouldn't trigger engine codes, so car should pass inspection if you fix the misfire (depending on state law). Those codes can be a result of a variety of conditions. The misfire I would consider fixing by getting an Iridium plug. If you can do it yourself, you can test it by switching the plugs in place and seeing if the misfire moves. Then try the same with the wires if it does not move. Otherwise it can also be something more complicated like a fuel injector or something internal in the engine.

What MPG are you getting and how much do you drive? The Prius won't save you much money compared to a traditional small car like a Versa if you don't drive far and often. I'd do some cost-benefit analysis, but I don't think it's worth it to replace the battery. KBB is nice, but who is going to buy a 15-year-old car with 300,000 miles on it, especially given that it's a hybrid and has two engines that can fail!

I also remember reading about those codes and how they can come from the transaxle. Apparently there is a way to test for that, but just remember that a new battery might not fix the problem, but you'll be out of the money anyway. Ask for some kind of guarantee that it will fix the problem and get it in writing!

 

Are you handy and work some basic tools? IF yes, I would DIY and check the bus bar with sensor condition. You live in an area of high moisture and combo of oxidizing battery could have compromised the sensors I bet you will see lot of this:


Green is copper rust and the white is the sensors being compromised

 

Wow when your second Prius has 270k you are definitely getting your $ worth. The gen 2's are great cars - I still think I would just get another one of those.


iPhone ?

 

You can, but you couldn't call it prudent. Think about it. You don't have a battery short-circuit until you have two leaks. Ordinarily you would have no way to know that was coming until it came, but Toyota went out of their way to build in a special circuit that can give you advance warning as soon as there is one leak. That's what the code is. But nobody can predict how much time you get between that first path forming and the next one that wins the race to touching the case. We also don't know whether the next one to touch will be the neighbor 15 volts down from the first one, or the far end 200 volts down. You might not notice anything at all, or a funny smell, or a pop, or a trunk fire. You'd rather attend to it during the advance warning period when you know you have one leak but you don't have the second yet to complete the circuit, right?

One other caution: a battery with a detected leak code is not as safe, while you are disassembling it, as one that still has the designed-in voltage isolation between the modules and case. Even if you normally like to be a little cavalier about safety, you might adjust your style just a bit when tearing into a battery with a known voltage leak. Check your gloves an extra time, and just pretend you're an obsessive rule follower even if that isn't always true. You can always relax again once a few bus bars are off.

-Chap

 

I suppose it also depends on the frequency. My code only appears when the temperature changes from cold to hot suddenly. Otherwise it stays off. Has a Prius ever caught fire because of a problem like this?

 

Who should and should NOT buy a 2001-03 Prius | PriusChat

I posted this as a sanity check. It's hard to let go of a vehicle that has mostly served you faithfully. Unfortunately, with all things, past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Given that my recently reconditioned battery with Gen2 cells in it gets 46-47mpg, I would expect your battery is severely deteriorated. Even if you find and replace the bad modules, it will likely be a game of whack-a-mole as modules continue to fail.

Steve

 

I rebuild batteries.

Do not have you original battery repaired.

There are very few Gen I battery modules that have any significant life left in them. Most good rebuilders will not work with Gen I modules anymore.

Ask your 3rd party garage if they have an account with Toyota. The industry standard discount is 20%. Their cost on a new Toyota Gen I battery should be $1850. With a reasonable labor charge for installation the price of a new battery could be close to the cost of rebuilding with used Gen II modules.

Brad

 

Having recently rebuilt my own Gen1 battery with Gen2 modules at great "time expense," I agree with Brad. My 162K mi '03 Gen1 had 36 of 38 modules bad. I don't mean weak. I mean BAD. Really bad. unrecoverable bad.

Did I mention they were bad?

Steve

 

What makes your question tricky is that the battery fire reports that appear on PriusChat are usually after the fact, and between the combination of incomplete photos/evidence, severity of damage, lack of detailed history, we just end up armchair speculating about the proximate cause. My fires at ECU sense connector thread tries to be limited to fires in one specific area of the battery; I don't add an example to that thread if there is enough evidence to see that it started in a different area. You can do a general forum search for other battery fire reports that don't implicate that specific area. Strawbrad posted one earlier this year with the most severe damage near the other end of the battery; that one had been a rebuild and the question of workmanship came up regarding nut torques, but there was uncertainty there too because of the lack of discoloration near the nuts, and the damage being concentrated elsewhere. My suspicion in the case of the fires near the ECU is that they would have likely been preceded by leak codes, but you don't always find that out. People are astonishingly good at saying "oh, why no, it just caught fire right out of the blue, there wasn't anything like a warning code I ignored for 6 months, no no, not at all..."

-Chap

 

+1 Amen Brother.

 

You probably don't need me to point out that's an old Prius with very high miles. And you say that's the original hybrid battery.
I think you are easily past the point of investment into repair and maintenance being "less than" what the entire value of the vehicle will be.

Which means most likely all together the past few years you've probably already invested more into the vehicle than it's total value. So it kind of comes down to how much do you want to keep it on the road?

You can personally decide it's worth MORE to you, with a new Hybrid Battery, as a working vehicle and make the investment.

At it's age, and mileage, I really wouldn't invest into tracking down shorts, or replacing individual cells. The Hybrid Battery has had a good long life, it's probably time for a new one.

I don't know how much DIY skills or desire you have. I don't know what your budget for purchase or maintenance might be. So really it's all up to you. But at this point, I don't think the decision to keep the vehicle running can be tied to being a value added scenario.

If you decide to invest, it has to be because you want to keep the vehicle, and think the investment into the Hybrid Battery will leave you with an otherwise relatively restored-in good running shape- Prius.

Otherwise the simple answer is....time to move on.

 

Savanna Georgia, heck that is not that far away. Let me see if the wife would like to take a weekend trip. <GRINS>

The 3009 is a ground fault and typically indicates a weak short to ground. I suspect it gets worse in damp weather and near the salt water.

I know it sounds like a broken record but if you could get a miniVCI and/or Scangauge II, we could go over how to survey the pack. Personally, I'd drive it till the wheels fall off and that is not the case, yet.

Bob Wilson

 

Well, it's not great, but it's not terrible I suppose. It really depends more on driving, range, and distance. I'd wait for it to fail and meanwhile do the math on getting another car. Include range, how often you drive, price, MPG, etc...

 

$800 installed is not bad at all. Make sure that is warranted too

Gosh, if I had to do it again, with what I know now, I would borrow or buy a TIS and check the state of the replacement, so I can be prepared or at least do some swaps of cells prior to install. I would also keep the bad one and salvage good cells for back up. Just my 2 cents.