Prius hybrid battery just died. I need to drive 150 miles to place where I will trade it in for new car. Is this possible? Crazy? I've searched, and it says you can drive it, but no one says for how long. It's 2007, 123k miles on it. Just died, and maybe has 30 miles on it since the blinking light came on.
Depends on the failure. Sometimes you can go 100 miles. Sometimes only 2. The question is.... Do you feel lucky?
OK, thanks. Sorry, not blinking light - it was the red triangle with the exclamation point, and it comes on solid. Car starts and drives, but got pretty sluggish when I last stopped driving. Mechanic ran the test, and told me dead battery. Not sure what codes.
Jonnny, We need to get a bit more info for two reasons. One...there's no blinking light that I know of that indicates a bad hybrid battery. The only "blinking light" that I know of that indicates a problem is the "check engine" light if you have a serious misfire problem. A blinking "maint required" light is just a reminder that an oil change is coming due. An intermittent triangle could also be low oil pressure due to low oil level. Two..if someone is telling you that and trying to use that as an advantage on a trade-in, you are potentially getting ripped off, big time. A 120k mile 2007 has a lot of life left in it, depending on overall condition
Don't mind me. I'm just going to stand in the background and see where this thread goes. Carry On....
Do you have any mechanical skills? If you do buy a new battery from either Toyota or @2k1Toaster and replace it yourself. This video shows you how to remove and get into the pack. Not exactly what you would have to do but nothing harder.
You can try. I had some weird event that disconnected the HV battery for awhile. Never did figure it out and it 'cured' itself. No idea why. It ran, but you already knows HOW it runs-poorly. No idea how far it would go but I sure would stay off the freeway. I'd try a code reset first, via OBD2 or 12v battery disconnect. Might get it going for awhile.