Well, my 2010 just lost it's hybrid battery at 105K mileage

Yes, just an added insulation layer from dropped tools or sweaty arms, etc.
Just a friendly reminder of where the parts that can bite you are! Red Duct Tape !!!

And not to get too personal,,, but it sounds like you have two able-bodied youngins that can do the heavy lifting parts of this job.
Have a good work bench or cart capable of the weight of the pack close to the back of the car.
Have them lift it out of the back of the car and onto the bench and Bob's your Uncle !! Then let the fun begin !!

And get the youngest away from their dang screens and come out to the garage to help Granpa! (too personal?)
Tell them Robots will need big battery packs,,,,"Just like this one". Don't get into the Ni-MH vs Li-ion debate until they're ready!

'Personally', I'd much rather have a well cared for 8 yr. old Prius than an unknown '3-5 yr. old used car'.

 

It was YOUR attitudes.... I'm 91, Veteran, still doing stuff. Like others have said, looks like you have help.
Always WISE to spend the least amount of money to get what you need.
You need to not "nice person-u-me". Do whatever you want to do. People were trying to help you, and you get defensive.
So get off your high horse, and listen to what people who are trying to help you are telling you.
But since we live in America, you are free to do whatever you want, anyway you want....

 

Good man! Be sure to take lots of pics, maybe a few videos! I'll be doing the same when the time comes!

 

Thanks Alphawolf, we'll get you a battery as soon as you get an order going. None I see today are heading to Utah, so I am guessing none of those are for you.

I don't really have anything too helpful to add. But I'd say the prevailing theme I've seen in the forums over the years is that dealer-serviced vehicles are much more likely to get good-will discounts on anything. That's why on my mom's car, my sister's car, etc they are all dealer serviced. I really have no idea why this is a thing, as I am not aware of how dealer service like oil changes make any money for TMC. I'd say it's a big zero. The local dealership franchise gets all the profit. But I've seen it over and over on the forums that dealer serviced vehicles get priority treatment from TMC versus independently serviced vehicles.

I also wrote a small response to the "hybrid premium" elsewhere, I'll copy some of that below:

But you know, people spend money on all sorts of creature comfort, safety, and reliability options in every car. The upgrade to “premium sound” or navigation can easily be $3500 for just that feature bundle. And just like there is someone who will want to pay $3500 to make the seats adjustable 14 ways instead of 8 ways, there will exist someone who will gladly pay $3500 to get any of the hybrid benefits and that’s why I believe the “hybrid premium” is a fallacy. It’s more of a “hybrid option” because that’s what it is. An option that comes with benefits for a cost, just like the upgraded 360 degree cameras for parking. Useful to someone, maybe not everyone.

In your hybrid option packaged vehicle, you won’t replace the brakes. I mean, ever. Many Prius vehicles and hybrids in general go 150k miles, 200k miles, 300k miles before the pads need to be replaced. In my non-hybrid civic the brakes lasted roughly 30k miles between changes, because we live on a friggin’ mountain and that daily decent takes its toll, even with engine braking. The Prius and other hybrids use regenerative braking where the car uses the energy of the car to spin the electric motors in the transaxle and generate electricity. The same ones that can consume electricity to make it go vroom, can harvest it. Now, this is very inefficient but it means the car can slow down using MAGNETS and never touch a physical pad to a physical rotor (friction braking) down to about 7mph or until the battery is all full. My Prius is still on the original brakes 180k miles later, and they’re at about half life. This is the same terrain that kills normal brakes. Assuming $150 per axle (average price in the US), I’ve saved $900 in brake jobs. And I’ve never had to go in to get it serviced for brakes meaning my time isn’t wasted. If I linearly extrapolate the brake life out, and they last to 360k miles, that will be $1800 saved over the life of the vehicle just on brakes.

My hybrids don’t have transmissions with selectable gears. It has a single fixed gear. That’s correct, not even a reverse gear. I will NEVER have to replace or repair the transmission because I don’t have one. This also gives me the greatest driving pleasure when just cruising, I never feel any shifting what so ever, because there is nothing to shift. I have every gear I ever could want or need available at any time. Going up or down hills, passing, coasting, whatever. It is all seamless and smooth. Every time I drive an old vehicle with a normal transmission it grinds my gears. Once you drive a HSD vehicle, you can’t go back for a normal daily driver. How much would you pay for that? People pay thousands of dollars to get different style transmissions that allow more gear choices just so they can drive the kids to school in the morning. So is this a $3500 option all by itself? I think so. There are lots of vehicles I’d love to buy and pay $3500 or more just so that I don’t have to feel the transmission shift.

Another hybrid only feature is how the car starts. In your non-hybrid version you turn the key and the 12v battery spins up a starter motor connected to the engine. It gets it spinning and then the 12v starts the fuel pump injecting fuel and getting it going and this now spinning engine recharges the 12v battery via the alternator. What happens when the 12v is low because you left the dome light on all night? Or what happens when it is -30C outside and your 12v battery is basically frozen and the car just chugga-chugga-chuuuuggga-grrrrr and doesn’t start? Guess what, doesn’t happen in a hybrid! In a hybrid, the 12v battery (it still exists) does very minimal duty and that’s why it’s sized like a golf cart battery. It is responsible for energizing some relays and then it’s done. It’s the laziest battery you’ll ever meet in a vehicle. These relays only need about 9v to flip over meaning not only will a “dead” 12v battery still work but a super dead one that will make nothing but clicking sounds on a normal car will also still work. After these relays are energized the hybrid battery pack is now connected to the vehicle through the inverter. The 12v battery is already being charged up. All the electronics in the car are being powered off the hybrid pack now. It now can spin up the engine using MG1 (Motor Generator 1) and start the fuel injection to get it going. Voila. No cranking. No alternator. No starter. I’ve had alternators and starters go out before on non-hybrids. Another few hundred dollars for each repair in addition to being stranded at the side of the road (alternator failure). The first time you miss some important meeting or just need to go somewhere and can’t because the 12v is dead, you will be swearing at yourself for not just getting the hybrid version. Using my hybrid I have jump started many very large vehicles. These large vehicles need larger batteries to spin their larger starters and then larger motors. After being parked for 10+ hours outside in below freezing weather at a ski resort, the batteries just can’t do it. The Prius fires right on up without even caring. I then have 100A available via the jump points under the hood that is powered from the inverter and big battery. No revving the engine needed. I’ve easily started large diesel vehicles stranded in the parking lot that way. I did have 1 truck refuse because he wasn’t going to let my sissy Prius touch his manly truck. Ok then, have fun waiting for the tow truck.

And speaking of this awesome always available power, the hybrid is the best light duty generator you can ever buy. In emergencies or even just out camping it can give you 1000W of power in silence. When the main battery runs low, it can fire up the engine, replenish the battery, and turn back off. When stopping at a rest stop during a cross country drive, you can keep the car on (READY) and the AC will still work, it’s electric… When the battery is low, the engine turns on for a few minutes and then off again. About a gallon of gas burned every 8 hours, which is phenomenally low for that type of creature comforts. I am sure someone would pay extra money for that as an option. You used to pay extra just to get an additional cigarette lighter port in the back for things like beach parties. People will buy it because it is useful for some.

All of those examples are things that are only possible with the hybrid version and each of them make a good case as a standalone option. It just comes with great fuel economy as a side benefit to the “never be stranded in sub-freezing temperatures” optional package for $3500. And the list goes on, these are just a few. Ok, one more briefly. No torque converter! When I press the accelerator pedal, it just goes. No lag. That alone is worth money to any gear head as you have to get into super-car territory for that to work the same way. I’m the fastest thing with an engine (not you Tesla!) from 0mph to 5mph. And that can give you giggles.​

I love cars. I work on them, I make stuff for them, I do weird stuff with them, I race them, I collect them. I don't know why. And yet the Toyota/Lexus hybrids are my favourite to own. Hands down.

Just a few months ago our RX450h was destroyed by hail. We went down to the local Lexus dealer and looked at the new ones and a couple different models. But since we were shopping we wanted to make sure that was still the best car for that purpose. We went to the Porsche dealership and drove around the Cayenne plug-in hybrid, the Mercedes dealership for the GLC 350e (plug-in hybrid), and the BMW x5 plug-in. Each of them were great vehicles if we had never driven a hybrid before. As soon as you accelerated every single one of them lurched and chugged. These are $100k vehicles basically and they drive worse than a Prius. At slow speeds they are constantly trying to find gears. The MB almost tried to eats its tranny on the interstate onramp. Punch it to get up to speed and the MB lagged and there was no power at all then it lurched forward, decided that wasn't the right gear, hesitated and then downshifted again and lurched even harder. Heads were bopping like a bad 1980's concert. Absolutely terrible.

When you drive a hybrid you take a lot of these little things for granted. When you drive a Toyota hybrid you take even more for granted. Until the other automakers figure out how to get rid of a transmission I won't buy them. I would happily spend $3500 or even $10k to get a vehicle that has a simple non-transmission like the Prius (no cone and belt thankyou). If the Prius got 30mpg and had no other features but that, I'd be over the moon. Just yesterday driving up the Rocky Mountains I truly enjoyed never shifting and it just going up the long steep hills at 80mph.

 

A wise decision.

 

Careful on that one dude. G3's can have the brake caliper slider pin issue which if not periodically lubricated, can eat your rotors and pads.

 

Isn’t that on any car?

Particularly in salted roads country. But you should be aware of that factor and plan accordingly .

I know that’s what I did when I lived there.

If you do that, they will last a very long time.

 

I never thought of using my Prius as a generator if power goes out for extended time. Thanks for the idea,, now to search for a convertor plug for the 12 v outlet....

SM-S327VL ?

 

Are extended down times detrimental to the hybrid battery? And how much? I'm not debating, just curious. Maybe some of the rebuilder members here can comment.

My personal experience:

Our 2010 was built in August of 2009, and we bought it (with 10~20 kms on the odo) in November of 2010. Over 8 years later it has 78K kms on it. It often sits idle for 2~3 days. I keep the 12 volt on a smart charger pretty solidly through those down times.

The hybrid battery seems to behaving the same as day one, so far. I may be in a fool's paradise though.

 

up there it's kept well refrigerated, but its chemical clock is ticking. use it or lose it.

 

Not that cold here, on the wet coast. Raining a lot, lol.

 

no doubt. i think you made a good decision, ev's are really daily drivers for now. all the best!

 

Move below the 49th parallel and you’d call it the best coast.