I didn't mean it like that at all. In fact like you said most of people can't even replace 12v battery. So they will need mechanic for any car. Prius is pretty common car in US is it really that hard to find a mechanic how understands it? And for hybrid battery. I meant just paying to replace it with new rather than paying for replacing modules. Or paying for battery made out of used modules. Would that be so expensive that it's not worth it? That's what I meant in my previous post. For cost it's not much more than you would pay for an automatic transmission.
Yes. Good mechanics are rare. Hybrid mechanics of any quality are rarer still. I drive 150 miles away when I need a dealer due to the ignorance and incompetence of my local dealer. After trying the first free dealer service I never went back. I do my own oil changes rather than trust them for the free ones. NEVER buy a battery made from used modules from a company. They cannot spend the time to make and test properly. There are only 3 types of good replacements. 1. Battery from a low mileage scrapped Prius. These are getting difficult to find, even for newer generations where just the modules would be used in your car. 2. New OEM Toyota replacement either dealer installed or personally installed. 3. The kit of new cells made by @2k1Toaster here and sold by newpriusbatteries fir $1600 delivered anywhere in the US. This is personally installed only, generally but is usually the lowest cost available option.
I think this is what @valde3 meant by battery made out of used modules. It's what I did. You can't put a 2015 battery in a 2007 Prius. But you can transplant all the modules from the 2015 battery into the old case, and that makes it a battery made out of old modules -- as opposed to a refurbished one made of a mixture. That way you get the newest possible modules and they are a matched set from the factory.
Ok. Just seems so weird that there's so big of a need for good mechanics and still no good mechanics available. Exactly my point. Don't pay somebody just to replace one module. Or don't pay somebody for trying to mach used modules from different (failed) packs together. Even if there's a guarantee does it pay for everything? How long will you have to wait before it gets repaired?
Replace the word mechanics with knowledgeable Prius sales people and it is equally true. My preferred salesman still drives a Gen 1 Prius. Before our test drive he spent 45 minutes explaining and demonstrating the Prius features.
The hybrid battery gets all of the discussion, but what killed me on my used prius was the brake actuator, headlights, etc. Stuff that is easy and much cheaper to repair on a corolla/civic/etc. Just seems like everything is way more expensive on a prius. I was actually glad when it got totaled since no one was hurt. Felt like I got out from under a money pit. Obviously other people have bought used ones and never had an issue. (I did get a full inspection prior to purchase and it passed) I would consider a new prius but would never buy a used one again.
Not all of us. This morning's adventure was disassembling the condensate pump for the house air conditioner and getting it working. I thought it might be failing, but it was just clogged with algae. Total cost of parts, $0. Total cost of labor, $0, two gallons of sweat, and one drop of blood from a knuckle that got too close to a coil fin. Cost of the satisfaction of being able to wipe my own bottom and tie my own shoes, priceless.
Get some Pro Treat drain pan tabs. Drop those in your drain line from your AC once or twice a month. Algae and crud will be a thing of the past.
I don't think you should just worry about the battery being a ticking time bomb. The car at 175k miles can have a lot of failures and maintenance items including expensive brake actuator for $2000+, Hybrid battery for $2000, Shocks/struts for $500+ in parts only, combination meter when it fails $150 in parts and lots of labor, AC failures, engine and transaxle failures, the paint fading and clearcoat peeling, and the list goes on and on. So I'm not sure what you were thinking when you thought you were going to save money with a 175,000 mile car. Many will argue you can buy used parts and reduce the price of ownership, however if you can't DIY on most items, you would spend labor over and over again for failures on used parts. And labor is what's most expensive in maintaining this car.
I know but even after you got the ABS you still got the ticking time bomb in the trunk. When it was new my 07 was a darling. For years. I hyper maintained it and that paid off in that the engine and trans are in really great shape and run perfect and I just bought a new battery for it the NewpriusBatterys works great but now I got the ABS in the back of my mind. cars suck lol...nothing ever fased me on a car but now i can hardly bend over most time's. To be honest I was going to sell my g2 when it needed a battery but the wife loves the car she has bashed the front up good and Im done replacing body parts and I don't yell at her any more when there's new scratches and the side of the rims look like they were polished by a brick and on and on lol. a nice around town car hauls a shit load of stuff and the dog likes it. yes...the dog likes it.
Well from my understanding I though a Prius would need less maintenance than a regular car since it uses two different engines. I'd i've heard of people getting there Priuses up to 400,000 miles. And the guy I bought it from said he replaced the hybrid battery once already, he even gave me some extra cells. But after watching a few videos on replacing them, I thought there's no way in hell I'm risking my life for a couple thousand bucks. The Dr.Prius app says there's about 60% capacity left so I think I'll be good until at least 230,000 miles
The car was actually only designed to go about 180k miles. Anything you want to get beyond that will usually require investments in replacing parts on the car. Any car can reach 400k miles if you continue replacing failed parts. As with the battery, a full battery replacement where all the modules inside are replaced (28 modules), that's usually over $2000. Replacing 1 or 2 modules inside a pack of 28 modules is not exactly "replaced the hybrid battery already". The is like changing out 1 battery out of your 4 battery flashlight with dead batteries and keeping it going for a short time. It's really not as simple as it sounds and the youtube videos you are watching.....well good luck with learning off that stuff. Some are good and many more are very bad.
The kit of new cells from NewPriusBatteries is only $1600 but you need to install them and they are different than OEM.
And yet, some people get 300,000 miles on the original OEM battery and hybrid drivetrain without any major failures. There are more battery failures in continuously hotter climate locations, than there are in generally cooler temperate climate locations. Methinks having your Gen 2 sitting unprotected in 40c to 45c solar radiation won’t do that battery much good - and will eventually contribute to premature failure. We had a few days of blistering 34c to 37c heat here in London; though commuting 17 miles daily, I parked in the shade at work - preventing the interior of my car from getting even much hotter via the greenhouse effect. It’s interesting to note that my air conditioning was down (turned out it needed to be re-gassed) during the heatwave, so I drove everyday with ALL windows down (in the afternoons) for about 3 weeks - and still achieved 68.1 mpg - my highest ever! Anyway, my last hybrid check was when the AC was checked and gassed up. My HV Traction Battery is still working within design parameters. I’m hoping to get at least 250k out of it - but; even if it failed at 200k, I’d happily replace it with an OEM. It’s been faultless for 7 years so far, and at 12 years old, it’s excused for any wear and tear at this age. It’s only got 124.5k miles on the clock right now. I’ve also luckily, got a Toyota Engineer friend, who can carry out cheaper repairs for any major failures (brake actuator for example) to avoid getting scalped at my local stealership! Talking about stealerships, I’ve changed my Toyota Dealership. They lied about my AC earlier this year, claiming there was a major leak that needed 2 days to trace and fix. Took “The Spaceship” to another Toyota dealer 19 miles away, and after a whole day of checking the vehicle over (using various probes and equipment), they reported they couldn’t find a single leak - not big, not small! They recharged the system and it now works. Incidentally, it stopped working right after I’d taken my Gen 2 in for a service at my old stealership last December...!!! Makes you wonder, right?!!! Apologies for the off topic rambling! iPhone 6s +
Please send me a PM if you wish to unload this car. You won't have to regret it any longer. I live in Florida but I'm willing to travel to come get it off your hands.
