Prius not driven for 3 mos. - ok to buy ?

The little inactivity shouldn't affect the car's battery

 

shouldn't hurt the battery/
the miles driven in each of the last three month were probably enough to bring the charge with each drive back up to normal/
I'd take it if the price is right/

 

We recommend our customers charge & balance the hybrid battery anytime the car sits unused for more than two weeks. We have many show bird customers who use our systems after the car has sat for sixth months or more to bring their battery back to full charge and balance. It does make a difference. A full battery can absorb the high current regen the vehicle will deliver much better than a discharged or imbalanced battery.

 

The 12-volt lead-acid battery probably suffered, unless it was disconnected or charged during those long periods of inactivity. That's a relatively minor issue, though.

 

Wanna know a funny story? An Audi that sat in my parking lot for a whole damn year doing nothing never moved. Next thing you know here comes an All State tow truck to come pick up this dead Audi off the lot. Soon as the guy got the ride up on the tow truck and getting ready to take off, the tow truck dies in the parking lot along with the dead car it's towing . Two people tried jumping the two truck battery but the battery wouldn't hold a charge so they stuck and can't move. The Struggle is real. They had to catch a ride with another dude to go get a new battery for the tow truck other wise it would of been another tow truck towing a tow truck with a dead car. But yeah that car was so messed up that the owner got him a new Nissan Altima. That's what you get for letting a car sit.

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Key question OP- how many miles on her?

3 months is not too scary for a Gen3.
Gen2 the smaller 12v batt might discharge, but Gen3 is less drain on the 12v.

In OHIO you have 8-yr 100,000 mile warranty on the HV Batt. You need to tell us miles, but if under 60000 or so you should have time to get it replaced if anything is wrong (low risk case).

 

Well that car is as young as a spring chicken! So you don't really need to worry about the major hybrid components. Instead you want to guard against things like unseen flood damage, rodent damage etc.

 

The traction battery WILL NOT be negatively affected by sitting. For up to 6 months according to Toyota. It can actually sit for a year. Or more. Oh, and even if the traction battery "self discharges" so much it won't start the engine, there is no permanent damage. The problem is getting it charged back up as you can't start the engine. You would need a 200V DC charger, and a way to connect it. It CAN be damaged if discharged by an external drain, such as trying to start an engine with no fuel, though even then, the HSD won't allow dangerous discharge to occur (it shuts off).

The 12V battery, not so much. You may want to replace it when you get the car, or perhaps as part of the deal. It's due anyway. They seem to last 4-5 years on average.

 

I would consider having load testing the Auxiliary 12 VDC battery for inefficiency than the HV Traction Batt.

 

The subject of the 12 volt battery is a good one. I too would recommend the OP going ahead and investing in a new one. Prius does not really give any warning like slow cranking with regular ICE cars. They just die at times. General consensus seems to be four to five years. Some get longer than that.

One thing not mentioned is a transaxle drain and refill. Might not be a bad idea on a Pri with 40K on the clock. Remember, just a "DRAIN and REFILL, NO FLUSH needed or necessary.

IMO Certified Pre Owned only means that this Toyota passed a bunch of criteria that pertains to used Toyota's. It doesn't mean everything will be perfect. YMMV (A former CPO owner here who bought used Gen II a while back)

 

And use the right stuff: TOYOTA ATF WS. Accept no substitutes, lol.

Even dealerships have been reported to push alternatives. There's some owners deliberately trying trying other fluids, even though the Owner's Manual strongly cautions against this. Sadly, when they trade in, their decision becomes someone else's science experiment.

 

You are correct that long term storage does not damage the NiMh cells. Starting the car without recharging the cells to full or near full beforehand would damage them. This is why Toyota designed the car to not allow this. A 250V DC nominal output is required to fully charge & balance the hybrid battery pack - along with battery cooling to prevent cell overheat damage as the pack rises toward full. We sell our Prolong Battery Systems to snow birds, body shops, mechanics, and Toyota dealerships all the time for this exact purpose.

 

12V AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) Battery is what was fitted with the car.

Avoid SLA (Sealed Lead acid), Gel, and Wet (traditional refillable) batteries.

 

Our 2010 was built in August 2009, we noticed it at the back of a storage/show shed in November 2010, dusty as heck, and dead 12 volt. There was about 15 kms on the odometer. Dealership installed a new 12 volt, and we bought it.

I didn't notice the build date at the time, probably for the best. It's been champion, no problems so far. This is a brand new car sitting though, might be a bit different, a car that's been used and then sits. Still, 3 months is not a lot.

 

It takes a container ship about 35 days to transit from Japan to New York. The cars are driven on and off of the ships, but see very little driving time otherwise. So if three months of virtually no use would destroy the car, then all of the Prius' would be destroyed.

I read about this once -- They drive the cars onto trucks, unload them at the dock, and they sit around until they have enough to fill the ship, and the ship has to be unloaded. Then, they drive the cars onto the ship and park within inches. They're so close that they park in a specific sequence so they can exit the driver door, then they park it in, and so forth.

They don't do anything special to the cars otherwise, they just drive them on and off the trucks and the ships. But most see virtually no driving for two months time, and all of them go a month without any driving.

 

I would definitely buy it, as long as nothing else seems off. Sounds like it checks out ok, and I would think once you really get to driving it again it would be just fine. Good Luck.