New main battery Saga

Well, it was time. I bought the car new, a 2006 prius with everything and leather. I got the triangle of death and a P080 code. All reading I could digest said essentially one thing. Replace battery with a new Toyota battery and drive another 12 years, so, that’s what I did. I called and talked with many folks about the estimated cost. In the end, I decided to do it myself. I’m retired and have the time, the interest, and liked the challenge.

I called all dealers locally. I live in Walnut Creek but typically find Walnut Creek Toyota to be somewhat higher on parts then almost anyone else but decided to call them. To my surprise, they had a new replacement battery in stock and they quoted 2599,00$ for the battery and another 2000$ core deposit. The next morning I went down and picked up the new battery. It comes in a huge plastic case and the parts guy just said to swap the battery out and return the old battery exactly as this new one was packed to get my core back. Make sure you have a truck to carry that thing. The dimensions of the case were about 2x2x6 feet and weighed about 200lbs. It will not fit in a trunk or back seat of a car easily and you need two people to move it.

I took it home and looked at it briefly. I also watched a you tube replacement battery video. I started by disconnecting the 12 volt battery and disassembly of the rear seats and interior rear side covers . It took me about an hour to get everything out and get to the battery. I removed the metal cover and removed the interlock switch and finally checked that the voltage was 0 with a VOM to dissconect the main battery cables and finally to remove the bolts holding down the regulator next to the battery and slide the battery out. I previously brought out a table in the driveway and placed both batteries side by side on the table. I began swapping all the components over from one battery to the other. I did notice that my old battery buss bars were corroded at many of the cells where they bolted to the buss bars and there was staining under the place where my batteries are stored indicating a leak of some kind. I washed down the stained areas with a solution of baking soda and water and removed the staining on the car and cleaned off any acid remaining. I buttoned up the new battery and bolted it into the car and got it all in. Then, I set to cleaning both the cooling fan and duct. After that, all I had to do was attach the vent. Oops, I forgot to swap over the vent system. So, it all came out again and I installed that pesky vent system and reinstalled the whole thing again. Before installing all interior trim I decided that I needed to start the car before proceeding. It would not do anything, it was dead. I checked the 12 volt battery and realized I had not installed the orange interlock. Thankfully, after the interlock was installed, the old Prius was back. I copied the original sales tag and taped it to the top of the battery case along with a note on top of the battery in sharpie the date, mileage, and cost of the new battery install. In reassembling the rear interior I also added new led strip lighting to both sides under the plastic window trim and across the top of the rear of the headliner in the cargo area behind the back seat. The led strips were wired directly to the switch light so they turn on when the rear hatch is opened and I also added a step down power supply to the leds set to 11.65 volts no matter the input voltage as not to overdrive the led lights. They were 5050 leds that are fairly bright in bright white. They come on a spool 16 feet long and can be cut every three inches. They need to have leads and connectors soldered to the contacts and you need to watch polarity. They are fantastic to add much needed lighting in the cargo area at night. And all is available inexpensively from Amazon. About 10$ for a spool of 5050 led, the connector and leads were 3 for 10 sets, and a step down voltage regulator was about 2$. You need some skill soldering and a soldering gun with solder. The self adhesive on the back of these leds is very poor quality and new self adhesive already sized to the strip is available on amazon as well. That is just life with Chinese made led strips. It’s also worth noting that in disassembly I broke at least 10 plastic Christmas trees holding down the interior panels. I ended up buying a whole bag of 250 interior fasteners and Christmas trees of all sizes and shapes from amazon for about 12$ which was a God send. I used at least ten of them replacing the fasteners that broke. They are one use items. The dealer charges 5$ each fastener and often don’t have any of the ones you need. Buy them in bulk befor doing anything.

I also shampooed the carpets and thoroughly cleaned the interior and washed and conditioned the leather seats. I removed all the old dessicated French fries, receipts, coins, and anything else I found. I also found an entire mocha spilled under the drivers seat and covered by the seat itself which required the removal of the front carpet to clean.

All in all, it took me a full day to do it, now that I have done it once, I could do it a lot faster. I returned the old battery and got my 2000$ back but the parts guy took 15 minutes to check everything I did on the old battery and case to be sure I put everything back just right. He reluctantly agreed that it was perfectly installed in the old case and gave me back my deposit.

It really was not that bad a job even though I have never done anything like this before, but having spent a lot of time around electronics and electrical installations, I know my way around electricity and high voltage and certainly know not to become part of a complete circuit but accidents can happen. I never used any protection including rubber gloves and It went without incident but if you do get shocked replacing a battery like this, it could spell disaster and it can potentially electrocute you. Be careful and know your limitations before attempting this install. This install occurred 6 months ago but I wanted some time to see if the install was a complete fix to the dreaded P080 code. I think that’s the code number. So, The cost for me was just under 3000$ but I had to spend close to 5300$ up front. I got the deposit and tax back and Walnut Creek Toyota had a replacement battery in stock and at a decent price so, it was pretty painless. As a side, each Toyota battery they had as replacement was new and had a ship date affixed on the outside of the case. The battery I received was less then 2 weeks old so, it was not sitting around at the dealer long before I got it. Who knows how long since it was assembled and shipped to the wherehouse. Good luck if you plan on doing this swap and pay attention to details like putting the vent system from the old battery to the new one. Otherwise, you’ll be putting in and removing that 150 lb battery more then once like I did.

 

I actually called Lucious garage in SF as they have many happy customers but my car would have to be towed there, yet another additional cost and pay them to install. I did call Oakland and Concord but they were actually higher and did not have one in stock requiring me to wait for them to order a battery and make multiple trips. I did not call Tracy. That’s a driveable distance. Retail on the battery at the time was 3599$. So, I thought I did pretty well. I also looked at other options but the more I read about alternative batteries the more disenchanted I became.ibuy a car to drive it not work endlessly on it! I do not like that Toyota will not warranty new batteries beyond 6 months unless a dealer installs them. Despite all this, I decided my best option was a new Toyota battery.