I have an autozone bringing a Duralast H4 in for me size up and see if it fits well. If it ends up working well than I think it’s a great option for people looking for an alternative to the Truestart from Toyota.
I won’t pay anyone to install a battery so I’m not sure about installation fees. But the cheapest I can find the Truestart from Toyota is $280 shipped. From the dealer it’s $320. The Duralast from autozone is $135. My only other question is- If all gen4 priuses use the same auxiliary battery, why is Toyota charging $300+ for standard priuses and less than half that for the “eco” model? I don’t really care. Just curious.
The dealer site I linked in post 2 shows the same 12 volt battery & price for the Two Eco as listed there for the Two.
Not familiar with Duralast but here is a report on an AGM battery of there's, although the test is 3 years old. Group 48 Duralast Platinum AGM car batteries fall short in Consumer Reports' life test - Consumer Reports
They are charging that price because they think they have the market locked up, you on the other hand are proving them wrong.
I see that now. With shipping it’s still almost $100 more than the Duralast. Gonna check the fit on that one first. But it does look like that site(is that dealer??) is selling the battery for $120 less than every else. Weird.
That is a dealer I found several years ago. I have ordered from them a few times, mainly filters, etc. They do charge shipping. New Toyota and Used Car Dealership near Cleveland, OH | Metro Toyota in Brook Park, OH
A little off-topic, but does your car use any oil between oil changes? Some Gen 3 Prius have seen oil consumption issues. I know @danlatu and other Gen 3 users would be interested. Toyota made some engine changes for Gen 4 but we do not know if they mitigated the issue.
You know I guess I can give some info on it to all the Prius lovers here: 2016 Prius 2 (base) bought brand new with 1 mile on it. No upgrades, changes, or mods. It’s current state: Roughly 140,000 miles. Roughly 70/30 city/high Still on original brake pads. Oil levels have never changed. All synthetic oils used at 8-10k intervals. One alignment with minor corrections. No check lights (other than my 12 volt) No problems. One replaced windshield due to rock on highway(not the cars fault). I have multiple vehicles and am very keen on performance loss even slowly over time. This particular one is at 99% if not 100% the same performance levels. That’s how little it may have changed. I am not a Prius expert. Not even a “true” fanboy. Cars and trucks are just tools of transport to me. This is the cheapest Prius I could buy on the lot. In my personal economy, the reliability is worth more than asking price.
Thank you for the detailed report. My 2017 is very young at 15K miles after a little more than a year.
I experimented this morning. My car always starts but gives me the 12 volt battery warning right at startup and then goes away. This morning I turned on accessory mode and turn the fan on. Went back 5 minutes later to actually go to ready mode and the battery was toasty. It even has low whining down sound on the front end. I’ve done it before but not for a while. The Duralast H4-DL is finally at my local autozone. Gonna check it out soon and see if it fits.
I thought the 4th gen battery was conventional, being under the hood. But it's stall odd-ball, hard to find aftermarket compatible. $320 in the States is ridiculous; I dread to think what it'd be up here in Loonies.
Thanks for keeping us updated; I’ll be eager to hear the results. That’s the AGM battery for the previous-generation Prius, listed in the double-asterisk note at the bottom of page 1 of the Toyota battery application chart (PDF) I linked earlier. The chart says the replacement battery for the fourth-generation Prius is 00544-H4052-470, as @Edward Kennedy kindly reported at the start of this thread.
Readers considering do-it-yourself battery replacement should review the important safety warnings and information on pages 580, 586, and 598–600 of the Owner’s Manual (PDF) and on the battery label. The Repair Manual (available by subscription to techinfo.toyota.com) gives step-by-step instructions. Here are a few notes for experienced technicians: To preserve radio/navigation settings, “after turning the power switch off, make sure to wait at least 120 seconds before disconnecting the cable from the negative (–) auxiliary battery terminal.” Torque specifications: Battery hold-down bolt (No. 2 battery clamp): 15.4 N·m {157 kgf·cm, 11 ft·lbf} Positive (+) terminal: 5.6 N·m {57 kgf·cm, 50 in·lbf} Negative (–) terminal: 5.4 N·m {55 kgf·cm, 48 in·lbf} System initialization, after reconnecting the battery: Open and close the fuel lid before turning the power switch on Steering Sensor Zero Point Calibration: “Drive the vehicle straight ahead at 35 km/h (22 mph) or more for 5 seconds or more.” “If the back door is locked and therefore cannot be opened, it is necessary to unlock the back door using the door control switch [or] electrical key transmitter sub-assembly switch.”